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What is palm oil and what is it produced from?
Palm oil is an “edible oil” produced from the fruit of an oil palm tree.
The oil palm is a tropical palm tree that originates from the coastal regions of West and Central Africa and Central and South America. The tree was exported to countries in Southeast Asia in the 18th Century
Oil palms require a constant wet tropical climate with an annual temperature range of between 24 to 32C, generally limiting its suitability to latitudes of approximately ten degrees north and south of the equator, at altitudes below 700 meters. This is approximately the region in which the bulk of the world’s tropical rainforests are also located.
It is a perennial crop, which reaches maturity in three to four years, when it is about 2 meters high. Its economic life continues until it reaches the age of 20 to 30 years during which it can reach a height of more than 10 meters. Although, the oil palm is productive throughout its entire life, it is most productive in its sixth and tenth year.
The oil palm tree produces a fruit which grows in large bunches (fresh fruit bunches). These bunches can weigh between 10 to 40 kilograms each. Crude Palm Oil (CPO) is extracted from flesh (or the mesocarp) and palm kernel oil (PKO) is derived from the kernel. A third (by) product is the Palm Kernel Meal (PKM). Each of these products have separate and distinct uses.
What are the common uses of palm oil?
CPO is used mainly as an ingredient for food production (i.e. margarine, ice cream, biscuits, cooking oil etc). It also has a number of other non-food uses including greasing and softening agent in leather production and as an ingredient in the production of plasticisers, paint and surface coatings. PKO, however, is generally used for other non-food purposes such as soap making, detergents, cosmetics, ingredient for insecticides and fungicides, hydraulic brake fluids and other substances used in the electronics industry. Palm Kernel Meal is mainly used as an animal feed.
Palm oil (CPO) is also increasingly being used as a biofuel.
The key advantages of the palm oil is that it has better performance, versatility, substitutability, yield per hectare and cost effectiveness than other major vegetable oils.
Generally both CPO and PKO are perceived to have better performance than their competitor oils, as they are extremely stable, blend very well with other oils, and have a good resistance to oxidisation and longer shelf life of finished products. Furthermore, the high content of lauric acid in PKO gives it excellent melting properties (it can maintain hardness at room temperature with a low melting point just above room temperature).
It is also considered to be the most productive vegetable oil crop, yielding more oil per hectare than any other major oilseed commodity. For example, the oil yield on a per unit area basis from properly maintained oil palm plantation is significant greater than oil yields from commercially grown rapeseed and soy. Given its high yield content, it is the most cost effective of the five major edible oils (Rapeseed, Coconut, Soybean, Sunflower and Palm Oil).
Finally, most edible oils are substitutable for one another. As oil palm competes directly with soybean oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil and many other edible oils, generally speaking, one edible oil may be substituted for another (depending on price and availability).
Why has the demand for palm oil grown?
The production of palm oil has more than doubled in the last thirteen years. This increased global production volume has been mainly driven by the increase in palm oil under acreage rather than through increase in technology and yield per hectare (average yield per hectare has remained relatively constant throughout this period) – i.e. the mature area of oil palm plantation has grown by more than 7% but the growth in yields has remained constant at approximately 1%.
Source
- Oil World Annual (1999 - 2005) & Oil World Weekly (16 December, 2005
- MPOB - For data on Malaysia)
- United States Department of Agriculture
Oil palm is now the world’s most important edible oil when ranked by global production and consumption. In the 2006/2007 year, it held approximately 32% of the market share of all edible oils by production in comparison to soybean oil, which held approximately 29% of the world market for oils.
Malaysia and Indonesia produce the majority the world’s palm oil, accounting for approximately 86% of the total production.
As China’s and India’s economies have grown, so has their demand for palm oil. Vegetable oil is a major source of fat in the developing world specifically in the least developed world where consumption of nutritional staples is limited.
In addition to being less expensive, many food manufacturers in the western world have turned to palm oil as an alternative to hydrogenated oils (or transfats), which contribute to heart disease. As palm oil is perceived to be a healthier alternative, demand for this product has grown. However, recent research has indicated that palm oil, high in saturated fat and unsaturated fat, actually promotes heart disease as well.
Moreover, perverse energy subsidies around the world for fuel from renewable sources have further promoted the use of palm oil as a biofuel. By accelerating the growth in biofuels, as a means of combating climate change, this has led to a growth in palm oil plantations, thereby accelerating the rate of conversion of forests, ironically increasing the level of carbon emissions (through forest fires, release of carbon in peat swamps etc) – see further discussion below.
Has the growth of the palm oil been at the expense of irreplaceable tropical forests in Indonesia and Malaysia?
Yes.
The total area under plantation in Indonesia and Malaysia has tripled since 1990 with the size of the palm oil plantation estate growing by 7 million hectares. During this exact period, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has estimated that Indonesia lost approximately 28million hectares of forest (approximately 24% of its forest area) and Malaysia lost 1.5million hectares of forest (6.6% of its total forested area).
The following table summarises the growth in the area subject to palm oil cultivation.
Claire Carter, Willa Finley, James Fry, David Jackson, Lynn Willis, “Palm oil markets and future supply”, European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology, Vol. 109, No. 4. (2007), pp. 307-314.
Although it is difficult to draw an exact link between the growth of oil palm plantations and the conversion of forest, some say that approximately 66% of Indonesia’s palm oil plantations and 87% of Malaysia’s palm oil plantations have involved forest conversion.
Not even Indonesia’s national parks and protected estate’s are free from deforestation. A recent study undertaken using satellite data has shown that Indonesia’s protected lowland forests in Kalimantan have declined by more than 56% through logging and conversion, with these protected forests being increasingly isolated and deforested and their buffer zones degraded.
Some of the critical issues surrounding deforestation / conversion for oil palm include:
- The rainforests in Borneo are one of the oldest, consistent rainforests on Earth, dating back to the Pleistocene Epoch 70 million years ago. It has a biological richness and diversity unequalled by that of the Amazon or African rainforests. These forests are home to multitude of different species (many of them that have not as yet been discovered), including the orang-utan, sun bear, clouded leopard, Borneo elephant, and Borneo rhinoceros. The loss of biodiversity in these forests is often irreplaceable. Palm oil plantations planted on converted forested areas can only support a fraction of the previous flora and fauna. Often those animals that can survive are perceived as pests.
- Forests, especially peat lands, are the world’s most critical carbon stores. Covering 3% of the earth’s land surface, it is estimated that they store approximately between a fifth and a third of the total carbon contained in the terrestrial biosphere, including all soils and vegetation. The drying and burning of Indonesia’s peat land forests alone accounts for 4% of the total global emissions of greenhouse gasses.
- Trade in flora and fauna is exacerbated in areas developed for plantations, as poaching and trade is common in areas where plantations are being developed. An estimated 1,000 Bornean orang-utans are supplied to markets in Bali and Java each year.
- Forests are generally not “uninhabited”. In converting lands to oil palms, local indigenous people’s land rights are not often respected or considered. This often results in conflict over land and resources, which are often violent and involve human rights violations. The plantations business is extremely conflict prone and account generally for approximately 1/3rd of the forest and land conflicts in Indonesia.
What do you think is the number one cause for the diminishing number of Orangutans in the world?
The single greatest threat to Orang-utans is the loss of habitat. Orang-utan generally inhabit lowland forests (dipterocarp, freshwater and peatswamp). Indonesia, however, has the highest rate of tropical forest loss rates in the world, with an estimated 64 million hectares of forest having been cleared over the last 50 years. It has been estimated that Borneo has lost 50% of its original forest cover and Sumatra more than 70%. The United Nations Environment Programme has estimated that, if current trends of forest conversion continue unabated, up to 98% of the forest cover could be lost by 2032. The lowland forests, the primary habitat for the Orang-utan may be lost much sooner.
It is generally accepted that the biggest cause of forest loss is the conversion of primary forests for oil palm plantations. A recent report by the United Nations Environment Project states that the "rapid increase in plantation acreage is one of the greatest threats to orang-utans and the forests on which they depend."
What needs to be done to stop the production of palm oil?
Stopping the production of palm oil may not be the answer, as palm oil and soy oil (oil produced from soy beans) can be directly substituted. Soy beans are a crop mainly grown on large plantation in South America (in respect of which there are equally similar and compelling environmental concerns). Substituting unsustainable palm oil with unsustainable soy oil is not the answer.
A more difficult path to reducing the demand for palm oil is to:
1. Reduce our consumption patterns for this product such that the world
demand for edible oils is less than supply;
2. Ensure that biofuels cannot be generated from monoculture plants such
as soy, palm oil etc (or at least ensure that we are not subsidising
biofuel generated from these sources);
3. Ensure that there is strong enough downstream regulation that
requires any oil palm or other product from large monoculture
plantations brought into Australia be sourced sustainably;
4. Place significant pressure on Indonesian, Malaysian and PNG
Governments to enforce the law with regards to the protection of the
natural environment; and
5. Lobby for a strong international body with tough enforcement power to
regulate this industry (i.e. regulate the production and supply in both
western and developing countries).
What happens to the Orangutans living in the areas which are destroyed?
Generally, Orang-utan living in areas that have been cleared (that have not been killed in the clearing process such as fires used to prepare and clear the land) will continue to seek food in their former habitat. Orang-utans (and other wildlife such as Sumatran Elephant) often cause damage to new plantation of oil palm and community crops, which often leads to conflict between plantation owners (and their employees) and the orang-utans. Often the Orang-utans are seen as pests and killed to stop the damage to the crops.
What can people do to stop the trade in displaced species as a result of Palm Oil Plantations
As with any illegal trade in endangered species, each one of us can do our part by reporting any illegal activities to the authorities if they happen to see this when travelling overseas (and obviously not directly encouraging this activity).
It is also worthwhile noting that "we" (in the western world) commercialise the use of Orang-utans as part of advertising. Recent commercials for American Express (featuring Katherine Zeta Jones) and Optus mobiles (featuring Tommy Lee Jones) included Orang-utans. It is never really quite certain where the Orang-utans are sourced from. A letter to the company using these animals may help them change their policies towards the exploitation of animals. |
