Palm Oil:
What You Need to Know
By Danielle Williams
P
alm oil —What is it? What does it mean to
me? Why should I care?
If you stopped someone
on the street to ask these questions, they would
probably reply, “I don’t know… nothing... I don’t…” and
just five years ago, my answers would have been very
similar. However, as a primate ZooKeeper, part of my
responsibility is to learn and share conservation issues
that affect the animal ambassadors in my care. The more
my knowledge has increased, the more I have realized just
how much influence we have on the palm oil crisis and
why we should care.
So what is palm oil?
Palm oil is the most widely produced
edible oil in the world. It derives from the African oil palm
tree, but don’t let the tree’s name confuse you — these
palm trees grow wherever there is plenty of heat and
rainfall. While agricultural palm oil is expanding into
both Africa and South America, it is primarily grown in
Borneo and Sumatra in Southeast Asia. It is important to
note that these trees are not part of the primary rainforest.
The forest is clear cut, sometimes sold off as illegal timber
and burned, before huge palm oil plantations are created.
You might be inclined to think, “Well I live in the United
States,
what does that mean to me?
”
For me, as a primate
ZooKeeper, the answer is clear. Currently, the land
being converted for palm oil plantations in Borneo and
Sumatra is the only place to find wild orangutans, as well
as gibbons, tigers, elephants, sun bears and more. If that’s
not enough to catch your attention, consider the effects
on greenhouse gasses. Indonesia emits 1.9 billion metric
tons of CO
2
per year from burning the peat swamps under
the forests — that’s the third largest amount in the world.
Peat fires are the biggest contributor to the smog that
has covered countries such as Singapore throughout the
past year. Additionally, palm oil is big business funded
in part by large U.S. corporations. Unfortunately, due
to contradicting laws, it is not uncommon for native
people to lose their land to palm oil plantations, and
conditions for workers on non-sustainable plantations go
unregulated. Much of the money made does not trickle
down to the local people, and human rights violations are
a prominent concern.
Now that you know the palm oil crisis is a serious
problem, ask yourself,
“
Why should I care?”
The palm
oil crisis is a conservation issue for which we hold the
power. We are the consumers, and we have the power to
dictate which products are acceptable to sell when we
choose what to purchase. By reading labels in the grocery
store (palm oil is in everything from cookies to shampoo
to dairy products), and making educated choices, we can
ask big businesses to be more responsible in their palm
oil choices. We can encourage them to source palm oil
from previously depleted areas rather than forests, to treat
workers fairly and to be transparent throughout a supply
chain. As of this past March, two very well-known brands
committed to meeting these types of principles by the end
of 2015, and consumer awareness and pressure were the
driving force.
Now it is your turn to step up and use your consumer
influence to help end the palm oil crisis.
QR code generated on
cmzoo.org
QR codegenerated on
sumatranorangutan.org
QR code generated on
palmoilapp.com
For more information, please visit:
SUMMER 2014 ANIMAL TRACKS
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