Oil Palm and Deforestation
Palm oil is found in packaged foods everywhere, though it leaves environmental destruction in its wake.
Deforestation Caused by Palm Oil Production
DIFFICULT TO AVOID
Palm oil is pressed from the fruits of the oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis), a species native to Africa that thrives in the tropics (Union, 2013). Roughly every two weeks, each tree produces a 50-pound bunch of fruit, full of extremely versatile oil. It’s the world’s most popular edible oil, making up a third of all vegetable oil consumed across the planet (Rosner, 2018). Its high yield and low labor costs also make palm oil is the most inexpensive vegetable oil on the market (Union 2013). Around the world, it has been a staple ingredient in junk food and basic commodities like soap and toothpaste. It’s also become a key ingredient in biodiesel, fuel for diesel engines made from vegetable oil, and part of a growing market for alternative fuel sources (Lustgarten, 2018). Its widespread availiability and presence in everyday necessities makes it difficult to stay away from, even though its production has environmentally devastating consequences.
PALM OIL PRODUCTION
Trucks carrying palm fruit; Deforestation caused by palm oil production; Harvesting palm fruit.
Oil palm is a very efficient crop, but it has historically been grown at the expense of vast stretches of thriving forests, and has resulted in loss of biodiversity, species declines, and dangerous levels of carbon dioxide emissions (Rosner, 2018). Oil palm plantations worldwide take up over 40.6 million acres, an area greater than the state of Georgia (Union, 2013). The process of transforming the natural land into a monoculture crop is simple and environmentally devastating. Once palm-oil companies gain control of land, clearing can begin. The fastest and most efficient method is to rip out the native forests with excavators and torch what remains behind, creating massive, damaging fires. First, workers use excavators to cut trenches across the swampland, fill them with water and create canals that can transport heavy machinery by boat. With the machinery, the forests are cut down and their timber is removed. The peatland they grew from is left to drain and dry, and then burned (Lustgarten, 2018).
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Top Palm Oil Producing Countries In Metric Tons, 2019 (Source: US Department of Agriculture)
Oil palm is currently grown in 43 countries, although approximately 85 percent is grown in Indonesia and Malaysia. This widespread application of a singular crop and the destruction required to maintain it is devastating for native animals and plants, as well as for local peoples who rely on these ecosystems for their food and livelihoods (Union, 2013). Areas in Southeast Asia at risk of deforestation from oil palm plantations serve as a habitat for species like the Sumatran orangutan, elephant, and tiger, all critically endangered, as well as the endangered Bornean orangutan and pygmy elephant. Only about 15 percent of them can survive in oil palm plantations (Union, 2013). The deforestation of tropical forests also creates another problem, which stems from the ground the trees themselves grow in. The forests of Indonesia, especially the peatland regions of Borneo, have large amounts of carbon trapped within their trees and soil. Peatlands are natural carbon sinks that keep CO2 out of the atmosphere, making them vital to the reduction of global warming (United, 2013). Slashing and burning the existing forests to plant palms releases that carbon. So much so that NASA researchers believe the accelerated destruction of Borneo’s forests contributed to the largest single-year global increase in carbon emissions in two millenniums, making Indonesia into the world’s fourth-largest source of these emissions (Lustgarten, 2018).
INDONESIA AND BORNEO
Indonesia is a prime example of the effect palm oil production has on biodiversity and the disruption of a natural ecosystem. Indonesia had one of the highest rates of primary natural forest loss in the tropics annually between 2001 and 2016 (Austin, 2019). As with other palm oil production areas, rapid deforestation endangers the country’s biodiversity and has resulted in severe air pollution and fires from clearing land (Austin, 2019). However, much recent plantation development has occurred in areas that were cleared before 2000, long before the plantations were installed. This means that not all recent development caused conversion of forests to plantations. Both Indonesia and Malaysia have set sustainability standards in recent years through the Indonesian Standard for Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) and the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Standard, and have taken other steps in an attempt to slow deforestation (Fraser, 2019).
Timelapse of Borneo deforestation 2000-2017. Green to white= forest loss, green to black= forest cleared and converted to plantations in the same year, green to blue= forest permanently flooded by hydropower dams.
WHAT TO DO?
Aside from limiting personal consumption of palm oil, which can be a difficult task considering its ubiquitousness (and avoiding it altogther is not entirely recommended), there have been larger attempts to lessen its impact. Consumer pressure has helped push palm oil companies towards deforestation-free sources, and implementation of government regulation (especially in Indonesia and Malaysia) could help incentivize protection of biodiversity and natural ecosystems. The main organization responsible for certification of sustainable palm oil is the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), made up of oil palm producers, processors, traders, manufacturers, retailers, investors and organizations. This system requires producers to follow criteria involving transparency of management, conservation of natural resources and social and environmental impact assessments. Currently, RSPO certified oil palm plantations produce around 21% of global palm oil (Vijay, 2016). Additionally, analysis from 2010–2015 shows that the rate of deforestation from new plantations has remained relatively stable since 2005, despite large increases in the extent of plantations. The proportion of plantations replacing forests has decreased from 54% during 1995–2000 to 18% during 2010–2015. (Austin, 2019). However, oil palm production is still an extremely disruptive practice, and without stronger change and enforcement worldwide, meaningful change is unlikely to occur before irreversible damage is done (Union, 2013).
WORKS CITED
- Austin, K. G., Schwantes, A., Gu, Y., & Kasibhatla, P. S. (2019). What causes deforestation in Indonesia? Environmental Research Letters, 14(2)https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf6db
- Fraser, B. (2019, January 15). Is deforestation in Borneo slowing down? CIFOR Forests News. Retrieved May 31, 2022, from https://forestsnews.cifor.org/59378/has-borneos-deforestation-slowed-down?fnl=en
- BBC. (2021, November 19). Deforestation: Which countries are still cutting down trees? BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/59136545
- Lustgarten, A. (2018, November 20). Palm oil was supposed to help save the planet. instead it unleashed a catastrophe. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/magazine/palm-oil-borneo-climate-catastrophe.html
- Rosner, H. (2018, December 13). Palm oil is destroying rainforests. but try going a day without it. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/palm-oil-destroying-rainforests-household-items?loggedin=true
- Union of Concerned Scientists. (2013). Palm Oil and Global Warming.
- Vijay, V., Pimm, S. L., Jenkins, C. N., & Smith, S. J. (2016). The Impacts of Oil Palm on Recent Deforestation and Biodiversity Loss. PLoS ONE, 11(7), e0159668. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A459324653/AONE?u=s8405248&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=82737e87
