Can consumers understand that there is more to palm oil than deforestation?
Nutella. Rainforest deforestation. Unhealthy. These are the words most often associated by German consumers with the term ‘palm oil’. Amidst the predominantly negative discourse, terms like ‘highest yielding’ or ‘most efficient vegetable oil’ rarely enter the conversation. While mismanaged oil palm cultivation can indeed have detrimental socio-ecological impacts, the benefits of palm oil, and more importantly, its comparative performance to other vegetable oils, should not be outright dismissed. However, consumers in western palm oil importing countries do not seem convinced. Overwhelmingly negative sentiments persist even when informed that replacing all palm oil with soybean oil, the second-highest yielding vegetable oil, would require six to eight times the amount of land to meet the increasing demand.
Consumer perceptions are binary
Despite the provision of information treatments, consumers tend to remain skeptical when it comes to understanding how sustainably produced palm oil does not always fare worse than other vegetable oils including soybean, sunflower or rapeseed oil. This alludes to the fact that current consumer perceptions about the sustainability of palm oil are rooted in binary notions (unsustainable vs. sustainable) rather than being able to take on an evaluative role in navigating the varying sustainability trade-offs from different vegetable oils, while also considering the global reality of supply and demand. The prevalence of negative sentiments towards palm oil may still be a relic of past campaigns. Especially in western palm oil importing countries, these were visually striking and emotionally engaging, often involving orangutans as iconic species symbolizing the palm oil industry impact on habitat destruction, biodiversity loss and deforestation.
‘Free from palm oil’ claims
Nonetheless, these past perceptions may not be fully reflective of the progress and development that has happened in the certified palm oil sector. This is exacerbated by the more widespread use ‘free from palm oil’ claims compared to labels indicating the use of certified sustainable palm oil, such as from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). This in turn fosters a climate in which consumers show more trust towards products with unregulated free from claims than towards third-party sustainability organisations.
From skepticism towards solutions
While skepticism towards third-party certification organisations can, to an extent, be justified, it risks leading to misleading conclusions about a product’s sustainability and fuels uncertainty in decision-making. This calls for solutions that are transparent and interoperable across private and public sectors. For consumers, a composite and holistic eco-label would not only be more sensitive to differences in production systems but could also alleviate bewilderment among consumers who are trying to navigate and make sense of all the available product labels and claims they are confronted with on a daily basis. Nonetheless, given the plethora of labels, varying in scope and complexity, consumer interventions need to be supplemented with initiatives throughout different levels of the science-policy interface. With the adoption and implementation of the EU’s corporate sustainability due diligence laws, supply chains, including those of palm oil’s, will be put under increased scrutiny. Such top-down policies, coupled with consumer-focused mechanisms, invite more transparency in aligning the perceived with the actual environmental performance of production systems, supply chains and products, so that alternative vegetable oils are not falsely glorified.
The European Union (EU) and Indonesia have a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in force since 2014 providing a basis for regular political dialogue and sectoral cooperation. The agreement gives a legal framework for collaboration in a variety of policy fields, including trade, political dialogue and human rights. The two parties have also launched free trade negotiations in 2016 with the aim to deepen trade and investment relations through a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The CEPA would facilitate trade by removing and reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and would cover a broad range of issues such as trade in services, intellectual property rights and provisions for sustainable development.
CEPA negotiations
However, questions surrounding palm oil have challenged the CEPA negotiations. Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, a commodity widely used in the production of food ingredients, non-food consumer products, and biofuels. Whereas palm oil provides a livelihood for 16 million Indonesian smallholder farmers, workers, and their families, it also accelerates deforestation and biodiversity loss, threatens endangered species, and violates indigenous land rights and human rights.
Public debate in Europe
Therefore, public debate in Europe has raised concerns about the adverse effects of oil palm monoculture farming. Discussion has centered on limiting palm oil use and has been held up by consumers, governments, and non-government organizations (NGO) alike. The critique has been evident also in Finland where newspapers have frequently listed consumer products containing palm oil. The World Wildlife Fund has held up the quest for joint responsibility concerning Europe’s contribution to tropical deforestation and the attaining of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
This resulted in the European parliament decision in 2018 to ban the use of palm oil in biofuels in the EU. As a response, Indonesia filed a lawsuit against the EU at the World Trade Organization, with final report from the dispute settlement body expected in late 2023. Yet it was noted that the European parliament decision had been affected not only by NGO critique but also by European vegetable oil producers that had been lobbying the EU institutions. The issue of palm oil is thus highly contested.
It must be noted that together with China and India, the EU is one of the biggest importers of palm oil from Indonesia. Contemporary geopolitical developments are challenging agricultural trade not only in palm oil but in staple crops, thus severely affecting food security in the Global South. The Russian attack war in Ukraine has complicated global food provision by disrupting supply chains with damaging consequences to global food systems.
In the project we are interested in the viewpoints on palm oil of different stakeholders ranging from smallholder farmers to NGOs and regional, national and global policymakers. We aim to understand how the views are shaped by institutions and values, how the policies are affected by power relations, and how the changes in the debates are driven by new information on environmental and social challenges and Agenda 2030 SDGs.
For example, recent research concludes that dismantling oil palm farming could lead to even quicker deforestation by switching the farms to other vegetable oils, such as rapeseed or sunflower that require more land, water and fertilizers. Further, as noted by researchers, boycotting palm oil may indicate hypocritical double standards: why not boycott coffee, cocoa and chocolate too, as their farming has comparable effects.
Therefore, we need to understand the broad context as well as the parallels and contradictions in the viewpoints, and how contradictions could be mitigated. It will be important to identify the positions taken by different stakeholders from the grassroots level to the global trade regime level on the “good and bad” of palm oil in order to find solutions that increase global food security and at the same time, help reach Agenda 2030 goals.
Since 2019, China Dialogue has examined whether the major palm oil markets can grow without increasing emissions and harming biodiversity. We have strived, through our reporting, to encourage open dialogue, amplify marginalised voices and produce unbiased, in-depth coverage of the challenges and opportunities of the global palm oil industry. This includes building support for the global shift towards sustainable palm oil.
As an organisation China Dialogue is dedicated to advancing climate action through promoting understanding of climate change and our planet across barriers of language and culture. We broadly cover topics of climate, nature, food, energy, and sustainable development, and believe that our multilingual, multicultural platform has a unique role to play in raising awareness of these issues.
Pros and cons of palm oil
Used in everything from food, cosmetics and paints to fuels, palm oil is a versatile and lucrative raw material. But the consequences of its rapid growth in production have been devastating for tropical forests, biodiversity, and local communities in palm oil-producing regions, especially in Southeast Asia. The irresponsible expansion of this crop causes deforestation and degradation, habitat loss for rare and unique species, greenhouse gas emissions, and human rights abuses, including land grabbing from indigenous peoples and labour exploitation.
China and India are major palm oil markets
Over the years, China Dialogue has consistently shed light on the ongoing environmental and social challenges of palm oil production, while also highlighting the importance of sustainable practices. We have focused particularly on the important roles that China and India can play, as major palm oil markets, in global sustainability efforts.
After Indonesia, India is the largest consumer of palm oil but very little of what that India imports is sustainable. Even though conscious consumers are willing to support sustainable products, the lack of awareness of palm oil remains a major challenge. It’s a similar story in China. The world’s second largest importer could play a key role in the transition, but raising awareness among Chinese consumers will be essential. As my colleague Yuhan Niu recently reported, there could be great potential to raise awareness through campaigns around cosmetics and instant noodles, which represent a significant share of China’s palm oil imports.
Urgent need for sustainable palm oil practices
Our coverage has stressed the urgent need for sustainable palm oil practices and support for those producers who are acting. Through meeting strict environmental and social criteria, including zero deforestation, respecting human rights, supporting local communities especially indigenous peoples, and protecting habitats, only then can palm oil be considered sustainable. Those companies that produce sustainable palm oil must be responsible, transparent, and accountable.
Palm Oil Awareness Week
This year, China Dialogue will launch a dedicated Palm Oil Awareness Week aiming to educate, foster conversation, and raise awareness about palm oil. From 17th to 21st July, we will be publishing a range of palm oil-themed content across our social media platforms, including brand new animated explainer videos, educational Twitter threads, highlighting key palm oil articles, and more!
Raising awareness of sustainable palm oil is critical to realising the change needed. We hope that our coverage can continue to provide a platform for dialogue and cooperation among stakeholders, including civil society, NGOs, governments, companies, and dedicated individuals, as well as work towards the broader climate and sustainability agenda, promote the conservation of natural resources, protection of livelihoods, and responsible consumption patterns. We hope that you will join us in raising your voices around palm oil!
How can you look for products with certified sustainable palm oil? WWF has the answer!
Are you aware of how ubiquitous palm oil is in the products we use every day? From food to cosmetics, palm oil is found in an estimated 50% of consumer goods. But did you know that palm oil can be sourced and produced sustainably and responsibly?
WWF believes that we can make a difference by choosing products that use sustainable palm oil. Certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) is produced in a way that doesn’t harm the environment or wildlife, and supports local communities:
WWF: “So next time you’re shopping, look for the RSPO CSPO label on products, check out the Palm Oil Buyers Scorecard (POBS) to know how your favourite brands are faring and choose to support companies that are committed to sourcing sustainable palm oil. By choosing products made with certified sustainable palm oil, you can support the palm oil industry’s transition to more responsible and sustainable practices. Join us in our efforts to protect our planet and its biodiversity.
Stay tuned for more educational videos on palm oil. Together, we can create a more sustainable future.”
Know more about your favourite brands on the POBS website.
Chester Zoo: Everything You Need To Know About Sustainable Palm Oil
Another great source for information in your search for sustainable palm oil, is the Chester Zoo website.
In a May 2023 TedX Talk, Chester Zoo’s Science Director Simon Dowell discusses “the role of modern zoos in reversing the current biodiversity crisis and how they can use their voice to influence political solutions”. He promotes the use of the PalmOil Scan App to find sustainable palm oil products.
The issue of palm oil sustainability raises the hackles of those who say there is no such thing, and demand a boycott of palm oil, but most of those working on the ground in producer countries say a boycott would be pointless and commitments to sustainability are the way forward.
The executive director of the UK-based Orangutan Land Trust, Michelle Desilets, said: “More and more we are seeing conservation organisations, and, in particular, orangutan NGOs, working with the growers and the wider supply chain to drive change on the ground.
“This doesn’t necessarily involve an exchange of money but rather a change in practices to not only protect orangutans in the landscape but to carry out concrete conservation actions that improve the situation for wildlife.”
Orangutan NGO BOSF and palm oil company SSMS collaborate
The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) and the palm oil company PT. Sawit Sumbermas Sarana (SSMS) have been collaborating on a landmark project in Indonesia that started in 2015: the Salat Islands Cluster.
Henky Satrio Wibowo (SSMS)
Henky Satrio Wibowo, who is head of the corporate sustainability division at SSMS, says the Salat Islands programme is part of the company’s commitment to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and SSMS is also trying to remove the stigma relating to palm oil, the belief that is it is always negative for orangutans.
“We want to show to the world that palm oil and orangutan NGOs can collaborate in order to preserve the orangutan,” Wibowo said. “We hope that other palm oil companies will follow our example.”
For Wibowo, sustainability is about collaboration – collaboration between the palm companies, NGOs involved in orangutan rescue and protection, local communities, local governments, and the national government.
The CEO of the BOSF, Jamartin Sihite, says the Salat Islands are not a solution to deforestation in Indonesia, but, for the many orangutans in cages at BOSF’s Nyaru Menteng centre, they are a huge step that is allowing the primates to return to the forest as soon as possible.
Avoiding conflict
Chairman of the BOSF board of trustees, Bungaran Saragih, says that if we wish to achieve sustainability we need to learn to avoid conflict.
Panut Hadisiswoyo of the Medan-based Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) in Indonesia.
“Conflict is very costly,” he said. “That’s why we have to learn to cooperate; to learn to follow the paradigm of inclusivity: ‘You are not my enemy. You are my friend.’”
Landscape-based approach
Chairman and founder of the Orangutan Information Centre, Panut Hadisiswoyo, says sustainable planning needs to be landscape based.
“We need to be looking at the landscape as a whole, not just the administration boundaries,” Hadisiswoyo said. He added:
“Pressuring the industry to produce palm oil responsibly will regulate the way palm oil is produced. Boycotting will not do this. The industry will still sell to other consumers who do not care about sustainability.”
WWF supports sustainable palm oil. On World Wildlife Day, we reflect on our responsibility to protect the magnificent diversity of life on our planet. As SPOC we would like to use this day to highlight the palm oil position of our Advisory Team member WWF.
In a SPOC webinar, Kamal Seth, WWF’s Global Palm Oil Lead, shared the WWF’s global palm oil vision: “Halt the conversion of natural ecosystems, ensuring that palm oil production, trade and consumption is responsible; protects, restores and connects landscapes; and benefits people and nature”.
In this video WWF explains that boycotting palm oil is not a solution:
The World Wildlife Fund says that “Palm oil production doesn’t have to be destructive and it can be produced responsibly as a part of sustainable development that accrues positive socio-economic impacts.”
WWF holds companies accountable for their sustainable palm oil sourcing policies and practices. Check the WWF Palm Oil Buyers Scorecard to see how your favorite brands are performing.
Chart the future of the palm oil revolution.
With such a promising tag line, SPOC couldn’t resist to find out more on Pokok-Ed, “an educational game that simulates the palm oil supply chain in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Cameroon.” We asked founder and developer Maanit Goel to explain why he developed this online game.
Maanit Goel, why did you develop this game?
I’ve been passionate about addressing the palm oil deforestation issue since I first learned of it in my 7th grade classroom, but up until recently, I didn’t know what more to do besides boycott palm oil wherever I could. However, upon further research, I found that the issue is incredibly complex- for instance, boycotting all palm oil isn’t even an appropriate solution, since we should be encouraging sustainable palm oil producers to produce more while cornering unsustainable producers out of the market. And addressing a complex issue from the consumer side of the market requires rapid, effective, and engaging education that can be scaled across markets in a timely manner.
As a student myself, I’ve found that students are the best audience to rapidly spread lessons learned via community and family, and what better way to educate students about a complex topic than through a video game, which can be rapidly scaled, continuously updated, and provided free of cost?
How do real smallholders respond to the game?
Thus far, I have not been able to consult real smallholders on the game, but my outreach efforts continue! As the game is hosted online, I’m able to quickly update game mechanics to better reflect the realities smallholders face day-to-day as I receive more information. In working to make this game truly reflective of real-world scenarios, I first consulted the ETH Zurich board games developed under the OPAL project for inspiration on the overall season-by-season structure and some of the tradeoffs included in production, as the researchers who developed those resources were able to directly communicate with smallholders. In that way, I hope to indirectly carry on that smallholder input into this game.
I decided to split each round (a season, in-game) into a preparation phase, a harvest phase, and a sale phase, and within each phase, I wanted to provide the players with actions that would be available to real palm oil smallholders. In the prep phase, I was specifically focusing on those actions that would require the player to make tradeoffs between sustainability, ethics, and revenue- for example, deforestation, hiring workers, and leveraging child labor. In the harvest phase and sale phase, I added player agency in determining the number of trucks hired and setting a sale price, to introduce more randomness into the system while reflecting the impacts of business decisions on player success. These allow the player to embrace the feeling of running a business, while maintaining gamification and requiring players to develop not only sustainability strategies but also business strategies to succeed in the game.
Dr. Frierson from the University of Washington was very helpful in providing advice from his experience in environmental video game development with a group he leads at UW, called EarthGames. I was able to use his input to keep the game engaging and entertaining while simultaneously educational.
Do you think that the game is useful for children from consuming countries?
Yes! The game was actually developed for consumer markets. While players are put in the shoes of smallholders, the purpose of this was to teach consumers about the people impacted on the other end of the supply chain. In playing the game, students will learn how deforestation and child labor can arise out of necessity, and why even practices such as ending deforestation in the player’s plantation is not enough (because neighboring plantations will continue to expand, and gain a competitive advantage). By highlighting these issues, the game will help players understand the importance for consumer demand for sustainable practices and certification, as it will become evident that for as long as there is no sustainability distinction in consumer demand, there is no way for smallholders to solve the issue of deforestation as there will always be a plantation looking to gain a competitive edge by producing unsustainable palm oil at lower costs.
While the game is accessible to all ages, distribution (free of cost) is currently targeting students ages 12-18, who are old enough to fully grasp supply chain complexities and deal with difficult topics such as child labor and wildlife extinction.
What are the expected learning outcomes for players of the game?
Educate students about:
a) The palm oil cultivation process for smallholder farmers in developing regions.
b) How issues such as child labor and rainforest deforestation can arise out of necessity.
c) Options for sustainable practices in palm oil cultivation.
d) The consequences of different approaches to sustainability in the palm oil supply chain and other global supply chains.
Mobilize students in consumer markets to take informed approaches towards palm oil sustainability.
Inspire students to consider the global natures of consumer product supply chains, and how consumer choices abroad can influence sustainable and ethical practices in producer regions .
Rewriting Extinction-Stories to Save Our World, a campaign using comics to raise money and awareness for projects to tackle BOTH the biodiversity and the climate crisis, has launched two comics drawing attention the the plight of orangutans due to deforestation. Working with Orangutan Land Trust, they are calling for consumers to demand sustainable palm oil in order to save orangutans.
This message goes to the heart of why conservationists see sustainable palm oil as critical for the survival of the orangutan as well as for the planet in general.
Orangutan Land Trust:
“The single-most important thing we can all do to save orangutans is demand sustainable palm oil.”
The organisations and experts that lead the way in protecting orangutans share this belief. Orangutan Land Trust have been at the forefront of driving sustainability in the industry for over a decade. Their President and Co-Founder is Lone Droscher-Nielsen, famously featured in many documentaries and series over the years including Orangutan Island and Orangutan Jungle School. Lone, knighted in her native Denmark for her services to wildlife, created the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Project in Indonesian Borneo. It is now the world’s largest primate rescue project, and has set the standard for orangutan rescue, rehabilitation and reintroduction. Lone herself has saved hundreds of orangutans.
“Many of the orangutans we have saved have come as victims from the unsustainable expansion of oil palm across Central Kalimantan over the past few decades,” she explains. “We’ve rescued orangutans starving and ill because their forest habitat has been cut or burnt down, as well as those suffering from horrifying injuries as the result of conflicts with humans when they go in search of food in villages and farms. Most of the orphaned infants at the project represent the “lucky” few who survived, but whose mothers did not in such conflicts.”
“We designed the centre in 1998 to accommodate up to 100 orangutans. When in the early 2000s, we were bursting at the seams with many hundreds of animals, we realised we really needed to do something to stem the tide of incoming victims; we needed to stop the orangutans getting displaced or harmed in the first place. So we decided to look deeper at what could be done with the palm oil industry itself. From engaging with plantation managers to use Better Management Practice, to working with multiple stakeholders in platforms like RSPO, we were determined we would see the way palm oil was being produced changed to one that doesn’t harm orangutans and their rainforest habitat. These efforts actually protect orangutan lives. It’s because conventional palm oil is catastrophic to orangutans & forests, that choosing sustainable palm oil is critical for their survival. The single-most important thing we can all do to save orangutans is demand sustainable palm oil.”
Orangutan Veterinary Aid: Treating orangutan victims of unsustainable oil palm
Another organisation that has witnessed the impact of unsustainable production of palm oil on orangutans is Orangutan Veterinary Aid. This UK-based organisation supports the veterinary teams at orangutan rescue centres across Borneo and Sumatra, providing equipment, training and hands-on assistance. Its Director, Dr Nigel Hicks shares his viewpoint: “Working with the vet teams at the front line of orangutan rescue we regularly have to deal with orangutans severely traumatised both physically and mentally. The rescue centres are constantly working with local communities and neighbouring plantation owners in an attempt to educate and to protect orangutans and those plantations signed up to regulation and sustainable production have a commitment to protect orangutans found on their land.
“The multi-billion dollar palm oil industry is not going to disappear so it is essential that we engage in dialogue with the industry in an attempt to reduce deforestation and preserve the orangutans. Engaging with companies to engender respect for orangutan and to develop corridors to facilitate the movement of individuals is needed together with exploring options for commercial interests to continue to support their country’s economy whilst avoiding the destruction of virgin forest and adopting a more sustainable ethic. All of these will benefit wildlife, indigenous forest-dwelling communities and our climate whilst saving orangutans by preserving their forest habitat. This means we are automatically making the necessary changes to protect our world. Everyone though, must play a part. Making concerted efforts as individuals to reduce our overall palm oil consumption and seeking products sourced sustainably is an essential task which we must all address with great urgency if we are to bring about change.”
Hutan:
“Embracing sustainable practices will go a long way to sustain orangutans who are living outside of protected forests.”
In Sabah on the Malaysian part of Borneo, conservationists at the NGO Hutan have been studying orangutans, elephants and other wildlife in the Kinabatangan floodplain for decades. As populations of these species became more and more fragmented due to oil palm cultivation and other activities, strategies to protect the increasingly vulnerable animals have been implemented. Dr Marc Ancrenaz, Scientific Director of Hutan explains:
“Our observations in Sabah show that orangutans are using the oil palm dominated landscapes where the animals live. As such, it is crucial to support the best exploitation practices and keep trees within the plantations. Orangutans are more adaptive than we thought: today they are found in agricultural landscapes and everything must be done to sustain the individuals who survive there. Embracing sustainable practices will go a long way to sustain orangutans who are living outside of protected forests. As such we need to design new ways for people and orangutans to coexist in the Anthropocene.”
Borneo Futures: Science-based interventions for conservation
Dr Ancrenaz is also a Co-Director of Borneo Futures, along with Dr Erik Meijaard. Borneo Futures engages with projects focused on innovative science that informs the practices and policies of environmental management in tropical forest areas. Dr Meijaard also leads the IUCN Oil Palm Sustainability Taskforce. In an interview with the BBC News Dr Meijaard said, “Orangutans are a lowland species on Borneo and Sumatra and that’s where palm oil is grown. The two often clash, palm oil displaces orangutans, they are pushed into gardens where they generate conflicts with locals and that’s where you get these killings. Orangutans are incredibly versatile, but what an orangutan can’t deal with is killing. Because they are such slow breeding species, the killing has a really big impact.”
But he warns against a blanket boycott of palm oil. “If palm oil didn’t exist you would still have the same global demand for vegetable oil. If you stop producing palm, other oils will have to be produced somewhere else. So instead of harming orangutans you’ll be harming bears or jaguars, it just pushes the problem somewhere else because the demand for those oils will still be there.”
Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program: Community-based conservation
The Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program is a research centre in West Kalimantan which engages in community-based conservation. As signatories to the Statement in Support of Sustainable Palm Oil signed by close to 100 conservation organisations around the world, GPOCP hold out hope for the orangutan: “There is hope for the remaining orangutan populations in Borneo and Sumatra, but we will only be successful with contributions from every stakeholder: NGOs, local communities, scientific researchers, local, national and international governments, and conservation-minded individuals.”
Orangutan Conservancy:
“Palm oil does not need to destroy more forests in conversions and in concessions.”
The Orangutan Conservancy is dedicated to the protection of orangutans in their natural habitat through wild research, capacity building, education and public awareness programs, and by supporting numerous on-the-ground efforts to save South East Asia’s only great ape. They, too, support sustainable palm oil.
“Here at the Orangutan Conservancy we are well aware of the damage that is done because of greed and the desire for more and more palm oil – we also recognize that it is not entirely the country of production’s fault as the highest demands for oil palm products come from outside and from highly developed nations and the fight needs to begin there not in the developing nations where oil palm production begins. As palm oil is a product that is very ingrained in many products, we understand that it can not be eliminated entirely, but it certainly does not need to destroy more forests in conversions and in concessions.”
Sumatran Orangutan Society:
“We need to demand an end to deforestation to ensure safe habitat for orangutans and all the other species that also rely on the rainforest.”
The Sumatran Orangutan Society has long advocated for sustainable palm oil. When asked, “Should we boycott palm oil?” SOS replies, “This is a question that each individual consumer, and each company with palm oil in their supply chains, must answer for themselves. A business might eliminate palm oil from their products until they feel confident that their supply chain is deforestation-free. A shopper browsing the supermarket aisles might wish to send a message that they are aware of, and outraged by, the negative impacts of the palm oil industry by choosing palm-oil-free options. The question we encourage individuals and companies to consider is:
Will this action help orangutans, forests, and communities? The answer is an unequivocal no. What we need to do is ensure that it is cultivated in the least damaging way possible. Oil palm does not need to be grown at the expense of forests. Instead, we need to demand an end to deforestation to ensure safe habitat for orangutans and all the other species that also rely on the rainforest. The issues around palm oil (like most crops) are complicated and can’t be reduced to ‘it’s good’ or ‘it’s bad’. We are happy to see so many experts sharing their knowledge about sustainable palm oil and helping consumers make informed, wildlife-friendly choices.”
Paul Goodenough, the mastermind behind Rewriting Extinction, says,
“We hope the comics we share will result in people all around the world taking one simple action to make a change. By choosing sustainable palm oil, we can all make a difference for orangutans.”
Leading Orangutan Conservationists Speak Out In Support of Sustainable Palm Oil During Orangutan Caring Week
Orangutan Caring Week is being celebrated this week throughout the world. This year’s theme is “Respecting nature to save orangutans, biodiversity & our collective future.” As the organisers point out, “by saving orangutans, we save ourselves and our life-sustaining environment. If we can protect and save this closest of evolutionary cousins and their rainforest homes, it would mean we are making the necessary changes to possibly protect all life on earth.”
This message goes to the heart of why conservationists see sustainable palm oil as critical for the survival of the orangutan as well as for the planet in general.
Orangutan Land Trust: “The single-most important thing we can all do to save orangutans is demand sustainable palm oil.”
The organisations and experts that lead the way in protecting orangutans share this belief. Orangutan Land Trust have been at the forefront of driving sustainability in the industry for over a decade. Their President and Co-Founder is Lone Droscher-Nielsen, famously featured in many documentaries and series over the years including Orangutan Island and Orangutan Jungle School. Lone, knighted in her native Denmark for her services to wildlife, created the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Project in Indonesian Borneo. It is now the world’s largest primate rescue project, and has set the standard for orangutan rescue, rehabilitation and reintroduction. Lone herself has saved hundreds of orangutans.
“Many of the orangutans we have saved have come as victims from the unsustainable expansion of oil palm across Central Kalimantan over the past few decades,” she explains. “We’ve rescued orangutans starving and ill because their forest habitat has been cut or burnt down, as well as those suffering from horrifying injuries as the result of conflicts with humans when they go in search of food in villages and farms. Most of the orphaned infants at the project represent the “lucky” few who survived, but whose mothers did not in such conflicts.”
“We designed the centre in 1998 to accommodate up to 100 orangutans. When in the early 2000s, we were bursting at the seams with many hundreds of animals, we realised we really needed to do something to stem the tide of incoming victims; we needed to stop the orangutans getting displaced or harmed in the first place. So we decided to look deeper at what could be done with the palm oil industry itself. From engaging with plantation managers to use Better Management Practice, to working with multiple stakeholders in platforms like RSPO, we were determined we would see the way palm oil was being produced changed to one that doesn’t harm orangutans and their rainforest habitat. These efforts actually protect orangutan lives. It’s because conventional palm oil is catastrophic to orangutans & forests, that choosing sustainable palm oil is critical for their survival.
The single-most important thing we can all do to save orangutans is demand sustainable palm oil.”
Orangutan Veterinary Aid: Treating orangutan victims of unsustainable oil palm
Another organisation that has witnessed the impact of unsustainable production of palm oil on orangutans is Orangutan Veterinary Aid. This UK-based organisation supports the veterinary teams at orangutan rescue centres across Borneo and Sumatra, providing equipment, training and hands-on assistance. Its Director, Dr Nigel Hicks shares his viewpoint: “Working with the vet teams at the front line of orangutan rescue we regularly have to deal with orangutans severely traumatised both physically and mentally. The rescue centres are constantly working with local communities and neighbouring plantation owners in an attempt to educate and to protect orangutans and those plantations signed up to regulation and sustainable (palm oil) production have a commitment to protect orangutans found on their land.
“The multi-billion dollar palm oil industry is not going to disappear so it is essential that we engage in dialogue with the industry in an attempt to reduce deforestation and preserve the orangutans. Engaging with companies to engender respect for orangutan and to develop corridors to facilitate the movement of individuals is needed together with exploring options for commercial interests to continue to support their country’s economy whilst avoiding the destruction of virgin forest and adopting a more sustainable ethic. All of these will benefit wildlife, indigenous forest-dwelling communities and our climate whilst saving orangutans by preserving their forest habitat. This means we are automatically making the necessary changes to protect our world. Everyone though, must play a part. Making concerted efforts as individuals to reduce our overall palm oil consumption and seeking products sourced sustainably is an essential task which we must all address with great urgency if we are to bring about change.”
Hutan: “Embracing sustainable practices will go a long way to sustain orangutans who are living outside of protected forests.”
In Sabah on the Malaysian part of Borneo, conservationists at the NGO Hutan have been studying orangutans, elephants and other wildlife in the Kinabatangan floodplain for decades. As populations of these species became more and more fragmented due to oil palm cultivation and other activities, strategies to protect the increasingly vulnerable animals have been implemented. Dr Marc Ancrenaz, Scientific Director of Hutan explains:
“Our observations in Sabah show that orangutans are using the oil palm dominated landscapes where the animals live. As such, it is crucial to support the best exploitation practices and keep trees within the plantations. Orangutans are more adaptive than we thought: today they are found in agricultural landscapes and everything must be done to sustain the individuals who survive there. Embracing sustainable practices will go a long way to sustain orangutans who are living outside of protected forests. As such we need to design new ways for people and orangutans to coexist in the Anthropocene.”
Borneo Futures: Science-based interventions for conservation
Dr Ancrenaz is also a Co-Director of Borneo Futures, along with Dr Erik Meijaard. Borneo Futures engages with projects focused on innovative science that informs the practices and policies of environmental management in tropical forest areas. Dr Meijaard also leads the IUCN Oil Palm Sustainability Taskforce. In an interview with the BBC News Dr Meijaard said, “Orangutans are a lowland species on Borneo and Sumatra and that’s where palm oil is grown. The two often clash, palm oil displaces orangutans, they are pushed into gardens where they generate conflicts with locals and that’s where you get these killings. Orangutans are incredibly versatile, but what an orangutan can’t deal with is killing. Because they are such slow breeding species, the killing has a really big impact.”
But he warns against a blanket boycott of palm oil. “If palm oil didn’t exist you would still have the same global demand for vegetable oil. If you stop producing palm, other oils will have to be produced somewhere else. So instead of harming orangutans because of unsustainable produced palm oil you’ll be harming bears or jaguars, it just pushes the problem somewhere else because the demand for those oils will still be there.”
Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program: Community-based conservation
The Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program is a research centre in West Kalimantan which engages in community-based conservation. As signatories to the Statement in Support of Sustainable Palm Oil signed by close to 100 conservation organisations around the world, GPOCP hold out hope for the orangutan: “There is hope for the remaining orangutan populations in Borneo and Sumatra, but we will only be successful with contributions from every stakeholder: NGOs, local communities, scientific researchers, local, national and international governments, and conservation-minded individuals.”
Orangutan Conservancy: “Palm oil does not need to destroy more forests in conversions and in concessions.”
The Orangutan Conservancy is dedicated to the protection of orangutans in their natural habitat through wild research, capacity building, education and public awareness programs, and by supporting numerous on-the-ground efforts to save South East Asia’s only great ape. They, too, support sustainable palm oil.
“Here at the Orangutan Conservancy we are well aware of the damage that is done because of greed and the desire for more and more palm oil – we also recognize that it is not entirely the country of production’s fault as the highest demands for oil palm products come from outside and from highly developed nations and the fight needs to begin there not in the developing nations where oil palm production begins. As palm oil is a product that is very ingrained in many products, we understand that it can not be eliminated entirely, but it certainly does not need to destroy more forests in conversions and in concessions.”
Sumatran Orangutan Society: “We need to demand an end to deforestation to ensure safe habitat for orangutans and all the other species that also rely on the rainforest.”
The Sumatran Orangutan Society has long advocated for sustainable palm oil. When asked, “Should we boycott palm oil?” SOS replies, “This is a question that each individual consumer, and each company with palm oil in their supply chains, must answer for themselves. A business might eliminate palm oil from their products until they feel confident that their supply chain is deforestation-free. A shopper browsing the supermarket aisles might wish to send a message that they are aware of, and outraged by, the negative impacts of the palm oil industry by choosing palm-oil-free options. The question we encourage individuals and companies to consider is:
Will this action help orangutans, forests, and communities? The answer is an unequivocal no. What we need to do is ensure that it is cultivated in the least damaging way possible. Oil palm does not need to be grown at the expense of forests. Instead, we need to demand an end to deforestation to ensure safe habitat for orangutans and all the other species that also rely on the rainforest. The issues around palm oil (like most crops) are complicated and can’t be reduced to ‘it’s good’ or ‘it’s bad’. We are happy to see so many experts sharing their knowledge about sustainable palm oil and helping consumers make informed, wildlife-friendly choices.”
As the organisers of Orangutan Caring Week tell us, “We need to express our concern and create positive change through activities and initiatives that go beyond mere talk. For some people, learning about the issues for the first time may require discussion and discourse. However, for many people who have been hearing about this species’ plight for survival, talk may not be enough…Action is needed to save the orangutan and their rainforest home. If ever there was a time to care, that time is now!”
The Earthshot Prize: Repairing Our Planet series focuses on solutions facing the planet
On Sunday, the premiere of The Earthshot Prize: Repairing Our Planet, a 5-part series, aired globally on BBC and Discovery channels. Looking at the gravest problems threatening the health of our planet, the series highlights the people and organisations working to deliver real and lasting solutions.
DEFORESTATION
Glorious images of orangutans, sunbears and proboscis monkeys from the Kinabatangan rainforest in Borneo filled viewers’ screens and we met Hamisah “Mislin” Elahan. Mislin is an orangutan researcher AND a oil palm farmer. “I think people outside Borneo find that a strange combination,” she says.
“In recent years, the increase of oil palm plantations has been one of the leading causes of deforestation in SE Asia,” explains Attenborough. The programme illustrated how first timber and then oil palm came to replace vast rainforest ecosystems. Over the last 50 years, Borneo has lost 30% of its forest and half of its orangutans.
SOLUTIONS ON THE GROUND
Mislin presents a different approach. By cultivating oil palm only on existing farmland that lost its native trees decades ago, the palm oil she produces can be labelled “deforestation-free”. But she goes beyond this.
She is proud to explain, “My neighbours and I just have small farms. We’ve been working with palm oil growers to help restore some of the forest. Part of this is our effort to prepare corridors for wildlife in the Kinabatangan.” Forest corridors help to provide safe passages for between larger patches of forest as well as food and home for orangutans and other wildlife.
GLOBAL INFLUENCE
Attenborough continues, “To stop the complete removal of Borneo’s tropical rainforest, conservationists like Mislin are trying to change the palm oil trade. And that means changing the entire chain from where the oil is produced to where it is consumed.”
Next, viewers met Cat Barton, a wildlife conservationist from Chester Zoo in the UK. “My journey into palm oil started in Borneo but I quickly realised it was a battle we could also fight right here in England. The biggest challenge is educating people that deforestation-free palm oil exists.”
Like Cat, Attenborough urges consumers to play their part. “Only a small portion of palm oil can be classified as deforestation-free, but that can change if more consumers demand it.”
Cat’s work has helped Chester to claim the title of the world’s first Sustainable Palm Oil City. Since then, 7 more communities have launched campaigns to become Sustainable Palm Oil Communities.
Despite the challenges of trying to change an entire supply chain, Cat remains driven. “There is so much more to do, but we can only do that if we work collectively with plantations on the ground all the way through to consumers that buy the products in the supermarket.”
Attenborough goes on to remind us, “Although habitat loss today is most obvious in the tropical rainforests, we need to remember that natural habitats were lost across much of the rest of the world centuries ago.”
“Today we have a manicured landscape…we tamed our wild a very long time ago. We don’t want the same to happen elsewhere,“ Cat says, as the segment closes.
Last week, close to 100 conservation and social organisations around the world published a Statement in Support of Sustainable Palm Oil (among others the International Elephant Foundation). The signatories declared their commitment to drive the palm oil industry in the right direction, and to support a move to sustainable palm oil and not a blanket boycott.
With leading conservation experts like Sir David Attenborough and Cat Barton, as well as concerned conservation organisations around the world, supporting solutions such as choosing sustainable palm oil, we believe more and more companies and consumers will come on board and help heal our planet.
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