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Products That Contain Unsustainable Palm Oil

Palm oil plantations are a huge problem for orangutans in Indonesia and Malaysia as entire forest habitats are destroyed to make way for plantations. Indonesia is the world’s second largest producer of palm oil (behind Malaysia). According to data compiled by Sawit Watch (an Indonesian NGO), as of 2006 Indonesia had about 6.5 million hectares of oil palm plantations. Almost three times that area—nearly 18 million acres of rainforest—had been destroyed by plantation owners, mainly for access to timber. According to current plans, there will be 26 million hectares of palm oil plantations in Indonesia by 2025. According to a January 2007 report by the United Nations Environment Programme, 98 percent of lowland rainforests on Borneo and Sumatra may be destroyed by 2022, with many protected areas becoming severely degraded even earlier, by 2012.

The oil palm has been used for hundreds of years in the production of food items, medicines, woven materials and wine. Increasing consumer demand has spurred a dramatic growth in palm oil plantations, which now threaten to destroy forest habitat in areas such as Indonesian Borneo. Currently, palm oil can be found in one in ten of a wide variety of supermarket products (including, for example, lipstick, moisturizing lotions, candy, and baked goods). The demand for palm oil is predicted to increase sharply as, in a misguided attempt to slow global warming, some look to vegetable oil as a renewable fuel (biofuel) to replace fossil fuels.

When the costs of production are included, palm oil has a carbon “footprint” that exceeds even fossil fuels. Oil palm plantations are often planted on newly-cleared forest land rather than abandoned agricultural land (even though large amounts of such already-degraded land is available). Because oil palms take five years to begin producing a crop, companies prefer to log intact forests to make way for plantations, so that they may use the profits from the timber to subsidize the first few years of plantation operation. Therefore, slash-and-burn agriculture, long a threat to the rainforests on a small scale, has expanded to commercial proportions as massive acreages of forest are destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations.

Loss of these tropical forests results in the loss of their capability to absorb CO2 emissions from other sources. Moreover, as peat swamp forests are drained and trees are cut, the peat soil, which is composed of organic material built up over thousands of years, breaks down, massive amounts of CO2 are released. Finally, when forests are burned to clear land, even more CO2 is released, and peat fires in particular are very difficult to put out. Not only do these fires contribute to global carbon emissions, but they also create hazardous levels of local and regional air pollution—just the tip of the iceberg as far in the way of palm oil’s negative impacts on local communities.

In both Indonesia and Malaysia, the increase in palm oil plantation acreage is the primary cause of permanent rainforest loss. With the native peat forest that is destroyed goes the incredible array of biodiversity the forest supports. The number of species that live on Borneo alone is immense: 210 mammals (including orangutans), 420 birds, 254 reptiles, 100 amphibians, and 368 freshwater fish. There is a similar diversity of species on Sumatra, and many of the species that live on these islands (including orangutans) cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

As a consumer, you can make a difference!

The Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil, a voluntary association created by organizations involved in every step of the supply chain for palm oil, is working to promote the growth and use of sustainable palm oil. Through your purchases, you can help shape the future of the rainforests of Sumatra, Borneo and elsewhere. Commit to reading the label before you buy the goods. Any product that contains palm oil, palm kernel, palmitate or any derivative of the word “palm” is an opportunity for you to help save our planet’s endangered animals and their habitat. Support companies that are members of the RSPO. Purchase products that contain palm oil, palm kernel oil or palmitate only from companies that are members of the RSPO.

For a list of products made by members of the RSPO, click here. If you’re not sure whether the product you’re considering purchasing is made by such a company, write to the company and ask! Click here for a letter that you can customize and send. By helping companies become aware of the impacts of unsustainable palm oil, we can all help to ensure a better future for orangutans, their rainforest homes, and all the people, plants and animals that depend on them.