Enviromental Impact of Palm Oil
Introduction
The purpose of today’s presentation is to highlight the issues surrounding retail of products containing palm oil. You may be aware that our company has been ranked very close to the bottom of WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) Scorecard for Palm Oil Buyers. This has been recently highlighted in the national press. The article has brought up to the public’s attention that our company is not working towards introducing certified sustainable palm oil into our products. Damage of our reputation has been reflected in sales and board of directors is keen to introduce changes to improve our position in the ranking and consequently reassure customers that we take our corporate responsibility towards the environment seriously.
Environmental impact of palm oil
To fully understand the need for change it is important that we look closely at the environmental impact of palm oil production. Palm oil is derived from the pulp of the oil palm tree. Agricultural industry behind palm oil has been directly implicated for a wide range of environmental problems. Palm oil plantations have been identified as a leading cause of deforestation in Malaysia and Indonesia.1 A recent study has shown that oil palm plantations were responsible for 44% of rainforest loss in Indonesia. Replacing the natural variety of plant species within a rainforest with a monoculture of palm trees creates a ‘biological dessert’, unable to sustain varied animal wildlife. It has been shown that plantations provide habitat to only 20% of the pool of animal species previously inhabiting the rainforest in the given area.2 Animals that has been identified as being particularly under threat as a result of fragmentation of their natural habitats by palm oil plantations include rhinoceros, tigers, orang-utans and elephants.
Palm oil plantations play a role in global warming in a number of ways. Destruction of rainforests reduces their capacity to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Furthermore
The purpose of today’s presentation is to highlight the issues surrounding retail of products containing palm oil. You may be aware that our company has been ranked very close to the bottom of WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) Scorecard for Palm Oil Buyers. This has been recently highlighted in the national press. The article has brought up to the public’s attention that our company is not working towards introducing certified sustainable palm oil into our products. Damage of our reputation has been reflected in sales and board of directors is keen to introduce changes to improve our position in the ranking and consequently reassure customers that we take our corporate responsibility towards the environment seriously.
Environmental impact of palm oil
To fully understand the need for change it is important that we look closely at the environmental impact of palm oil production. Palm oil is derived from the pulp of the oil palm tree. Agricultural industry behind palm oil has been directly implicated for a wide range of environmental problems. Palm oil plantations have been identified as a leading cause of deforestation in Malaysia and Indonesia.1 A recent study has shown that oil palm plantations were responsible for 44% of rainforest loss in Indonesia. Replacing the natural variety of plant species within a rainforest with a monoculture of palm trees creates a ‘biological dessert’, unable to sustain varied animal wildlife. It has been shown that plantations provide habitat to only 20% of the pool of animal species previously inhabiting the rainforest in the given area.2 Animals that has been identified as being particularly under threat as a result of fragmentation of their natural habitats by palm oil plantations include rhinoceros, tigers, orang-utans and elephants.
Palm oil plantations play a role in global warming in a number of ways. Destruction of rainforests reduces their capacity to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Furthermore
References: 1. World Wide Fund for Nature (2009) WWF Palm Oil Buyers ' Scorecard 2009. Retrieved 30.10.09 from: http://assets.panda.org/downloads/wwfpalmoilbuyerscorecard2009.pdf 2. Ellie Brown and Michael F. Jacobson (2005) Cruel Oil: How Palm Oil harms health rainforest and wildlife. Center for Science in the Public Interest. Retrieved 08.12.2009 from: http://www.cspinet.org/palm/PalmOilReport.pdf 3. Robin Webster, Lisa Rimmer, Craig Bennett (2004) Greasy palms-palm oil, the environment and big business. Friends of the Earth. Retrieved 08.12.2009 from: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/greasy_palms_summary.pdf 4. Clarke R, Frost C, Collins R, et al. (1997) Dietary lipids and blood cholesterol: quantitative metaanalysis of metabolic ward studies. British Medical Journal. 1997;314:112–7. 5. Mensink RP, Zock PL, Kester ADM, et al. Effects of dietary fatty acids and carbohydrates on the ratio of serum total to HDL cholesterol and on serum lipids and apolipoproteins: a meta-analysis of 60 controlled studies. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2003;77:1146–55. 6. King, Justin, (2009) Sustainable palm oil is expensive - but worth it. The Independent, 28.10.09. Retrieved 30.10.09 from: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/justin-king-sustainable-palm-oilis-expensive-ndash-but-worth-it-1810502.html 7. Waitrose plc, (2009) Palm Oil policy. Retrieved 30.10.09 from: http://www.waitrose.com/food/foodissuesandpolicies/palmoil.aspx 8. Lush (2009) Ground breaking palm oil base. Retrieved 08.12.2009 from: http://info.lush.co.uk/palmoil