Introduction
Palm oil is one of the most abundant and used vegetable oils among humans from all around the world. The oil is obtained through the fruit of the oil palm tree and its kernels. Oil palm trees can grow up to twenty metres high and five metres wide. About 50% of each fruit grown on an oil palm tree is composed of oil. Because of this, ten times less land is needed for oil palm tree plantations than any other vegetable oil plantation. About forty seven million tonnes of palm oil are produced every year. Palm oil and soy oil contribute to about 60% of any form of oil production on earth. Palm oil is one of the world’s most versatile raw substances. On a world wide average, palm oil can be found in about 50% of items in any supermarket, worldwide. The substance can be found in margarine, cereals, crisps, sweets, baked items, and soap, washing powders, cosmetics, animal feedstuffs and bio fuels. ‘Palm oil’ is not often a listed ingredient on products; however, 'vegetable oil' is almost always listed on products as a substitution for the label ‘palm oil’.
Oil palm trees grow at their finest in tropical climates. They were native to Western Africa and South America, but had been brought to South East Asian countries; mainly Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. Together, Indonesia and Malaysia produce 87% of all the palm oil in the world. Palm oil is grown in plantations. It is estimated that about 300 football fields of tropical forests are cleared every hour for these plantations. This is the largest contributor to the destruction of the tropical forests in Indonesia and Malaysia. However, it is not understood as to why these delicate tropical forests are destroyed for palm oil plantations when there are about 300-700 million hectares of abandoned land that can sustain these plantations around the world. Furthermore, 20 million of these 300-700 million hectares are in Indonesia, the largest producer of palm oil by nation.
It was stated by ‘The Wold Bank and Asia Development Bank’ that the palm oil industry in Malaysia employs 570,000 people and creates about $22 billion dollars from exports per year. There is an alternative to unsustainable palm oil. This is called ‘Certified Sustainable Palm Oil’ (CSPO). This palm oil has been produced in plantations that are well managed with high environmental, social and economic standards. This palm oil can only be produced on plantations that were founded on land that was cleared before the year 2005. Sadly, in 2009, only 4% of the palm oil produce globally was ‘CSPO’; but this was its first year of existence.
Oil palm trees grow at their finest in tropical climates. They were native to Western Africa and South America, but had been brought to South East Asian countries; mainly Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. Together, Indonesia and Malaysia produce 87% of all the palm oil in the world. Palm oil is grown in plantations. It is estimated that about 300 football fields of tropical forests are cleared every hour for these plantations. This is the largest contributor to the destruction of the tropical forests in Indonesia and Malaysia. However, it is not understood as to why these delicate tropical forests are destroyed for palm oil plantations when there are about 300-700 million hectares of abandoned land that can sustain these plantations around the world. Furthermore, 20 million of these 300-700 million hectares are in Indonesia, the largest producer of palm oil by nation.
It was stated by ‘The Wold Bank and Asia Development Bank’ that the palm oil industry in Malaysia employs 570,000 people and creates about $22 billion dollars from exports per year. There is an alternative to unsustainable palm oil. This is called ‘Certified Sustainable Palm Oil’ (CSPO). This palm oil has been produced in plantations that are well managed with high environmental, social and economic standards. This palm oil can only be produced on plantations that were founded on land that was cleared before the year 2005. Sadly, in 2009, only 4% of the palm oil produce globally was ‘CSPO’; but this was its first year of existence.