Palm oil is in demand. It’s found in nearly half of the processed foods in our supermarkets, from ice cream and cookies to canned soup and baby formula. But plans to cultivate the oil palm tree in its native Africa are raising concern about deforestation and the protection of primates.
Oil palm plantations have already wreaked havoc in South-East Asia, which produces more than 80 percent of the world’s palm oil supply. There, native forests have been cleared to create huge oil palm estates, resulting in widespread deforestation and damaging impacts to species like the Sumatran orangutan.
According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the number of acres set aside for oil palm cultivation worldwide quadrupled between 1961 and 2007, the majority in South-East Asia. But now, agribusinesses are turning to Africa, where taxes are low, labor is cheap, and oil palm trees thrive.
Many African rainforests have already been ravaged by deforestation. Aside from the loss of forest, a surge in oil palm plantations could push critically endangered primates out of their habitats, further exposing them to hunting.
Conservationists have already stepped in to campaign against several proposed oil palm plantations, but there is a lack of policy in place to ensure responsible farming.
While there is clearly a global demand for palm oil, it is crucial that it be produced in a sustainable way. Plans should include input from ecologists and primatologists to ensure its production doesn’t do irreversible damage to Africa’s forest ecosystems.
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Web Links
Spare Africa the ravages of its native oil palm
Yara Ghana lends support to oil palm sustainability
Photo, taken February 20, 2010, courtesy of Neil Palmer via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.