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Palm Oil Production Consequences

Kyra Waller
June 8, 2015

Introduction
Oil palm is one of the worlds most popular crops currently being grown along the equatorial
zone. That is because there is a huge demand for the plant parts, especially the palm oil extracted
from the plants fruits, virtually everywhere in the world. It is used in oil form in Africa,
Southeast Asia, and South America as a cooking ingredient. In other areas of the world,
especially in North America and Europe, the palm oil is used in commercial food products.
Almost every snack food consumed contains some form of the palm oil in their ingredients list.
These producers are essentially cutting down vital forest growths in forest and rainforest
ecosystems to have clear areas on which they can grow only oil palms for their own profit. The
animals and other plant species in those areas are being removed because they cannot survive in
areas being used for the sole purpose of oil palm agriculture, also known as monoculture. Oil
palms are being grown in at least 43 countries in the world but this paper focuses on the crops
being grown in Southeast Asia because that is also where over one tenth of the worlds remaining
rainforests and rainforest dwelling species remain.
Not only have oil palms been cleared from land areas in order to make palm oil but whole forests
are being cleared, by logging or large and intentional fires in order to make way for palm oil
monoculture on crop plantations. According to Koh and Wilcove (2008), a study that was done
by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization found that during the time period of
1990-2005, 55%-59% of the oil palm expansion in Malaysia and at least 56% of the oil palm
expansion in Indonesia was happening by clearing other forests to make way for the oil palms.
That means that primary or secondary forest growth was being cut or burned away, intentionally
degraded, to make way for these plants to grow for profit.

The greenhouse gasses being emitted due to the machinery used to clear forests, plant new crop
plantations, extract the palm oil, and transport it to other parts of the world are increasing at an
alarming rate and add to the worldwide rise in greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere and
ozone layer. On top of deforestation, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emissions, oil palm
monoculture can also be blamed for other environmental issues such as soil erosion, hazardous
pesticide and fertilizer usage, and water quality problems.
Analysis
1. Palm Oil Production and Uses
A diagram used in the Sheil et al. journal shows the expansive list of products that can be made
from a single oil palm plant. The fruit, nut, and trunk of the plant can be used in both the food
and manufacturing industries. The crude palm oil extracted from the fruit goes into making the
oil used for cooking and food processing production in most processed snack foods found
around the world. The nut from the plant can be used to make fertilizers for crops and the trunk
can be used to make furniture and other manufacturing purposes. (Sheil et al., figure 5, page 12)
The growing and harvesting of these plants is a large part of the livelihood of the famers of the
areas in which these crops are grown and is a huge part of the profits for logging companies and
the large companies that produce the oil to be exported.
2. Deforestation
Forest loss is happening faster in Southeast Asian rainforests than in any other rainforest regions
of the world. Both Koh and Wilcove and Sheil et al. journals state that the producers of palm oil
in Malaysia and Indonesia claim that there is no longer secondary growth forests being cleared
but the facts are still being debated. In their journal, Sheil et al. points out that the area of forests

being cleared is greater than the area of the crop plantations that are replacing them. (2009, page
21) In many places, Indonesia in particular, fires are being used to clear lands for crop
plantations. In 1997 and 1998, there were so many fires being lit that were getting so out of
control that the burning of those areas had serious impacts on the health of the people in the area
and major habitat and biodiversity losses were seen as well. Since there is legislation in place in
some areas that states that only degraded land can be used, some oil palm producers have been
accused of purposefully setting fires to secondary growth areas in order to gain access to those
areas. Furthermore, it is a lot easier to obtain a land clearing permit for crop plantations than it is
to receive a logging permit in these areas so that is what a lot of farmers and companies that
produce the oil do to get around the limitations and restrictions put on them by governments or
environmental protection organizations.
Advocates of the palm oil industry, especially the companies who profit from its production,
argue a somewhat valid point for why it needs to and will continue to be produced in large
quantities for many years to come. They argue that while there are alternative oils being grown
that can be used in the place of palm oil, such as sunflower oil, soy, or canola oil, they require
much more acreage with more plants to produce the same amount of crude oil and products from
the plant that oil palm crop areas can. (Laurance et al., 2010) Thus, palm oil is the lesser of the
evils. Yes, it does lead to deforestation but without it, its counterparts would cause even more.
3. Biodiversity Loss
Indonesia and Malaysia produce the most oil palm in the world. The downside about cultivating
and producing so much oil in the forests in those areas is because those two countries in
Southeast Asia are known for being rich in animal species biodiversity. The same can be said for
just about anywhere in the world that oil palm is being produced because the forest and rainforest

areas that the palms are found in are home to a wide range of animal species. The Asian
elephants and Sumatran rhinoceroses, tigers, and orangutans are greatly affected by the clearing
of forests and the loss of their habitats, just to name a few species.
In their paper, Koh and Wilcove used data about bird and butterfly species in Malaysia to pose a
very interesting observation. If primary or secondary forests were cleared in order to order to
maintain palm oil monoculture, than those areas suffered a large loss of biodiversity of those
species. On the other hand, if the land being cleared was already being used for another
agricultural purpose, such as rubber, or if the land was already degraded by something else, than
the areas suffered a much smaller amount of biodiversity loss. I believe that fact is almost
insignificant because the land probably suffered biodiversity loss as large as the first option when
it was first cleared for agricultural purposes or ruined by something else such as a fire. Although
I do believe that they are on the right track with this idea because legislation could be introduced
to ensure that land being cleared for oil palm monoculture was only already in use for agriculture
and not primary or secondary forest growth. The land mammals are not the only species being
affected by this issue. A study done in Sumatra showed that any area where oil palms were the
primary crop being grown resulted in the biodiversity loss of all other plant species in the area.
(Gillison and Liswanti, 1999)
4. Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Tropical rainforest deforestation, such as what is happening in order to produce palm oil, is
responsible for about one fourth of the human produced greenhouse gasses emitted into the
atmosphere. (FAO 2005) The three main ways that I have observed or read about that carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gasses are being released into the atmosphere by the process of oil
palm farming is by land clearing, agricultural practices, and transport and exportation of

materials to and from the land areas. Plantations such as these need to reduce their emissions
and strive to have positive carbon benefits instead of negative carbon impacts. Some already try
for this by recycling their waste materials back into the crop lands or by planting on lands that
were already degraded. One article mentions that tropical peat lands are great for absorbing
carbon at a fast rate but if we continue to log and burn those areas than massive amount of
carbon dioxide will be let into the atmosphere. (Sheil et al., 2009) Methane, which is also
released by clearing forests and burning land areas, is also a very important greenhouse gas to
consider when talking about deforestation because even though it is not in the same large
amounts as carbon dioxide, it has a very high potency.
5. International Attention
The European Commission has a ban on crops that are being imported from lands that are a
threat to conservation efforts, such as plantations of crops being grown on tropical rainforests.
Attraction of environmental activist groups who are looking out for the forests that care being
cleared, the climate being affected by the carbon emissions from the agriculture industry, or the
animals losing their habitats and their lives in order for the crop to be grown.
Not surprisingly, one of the best strategies to stop the negative impacts of palm oil production
from getting out of control is to keep the public involved and conscious of where the oils in their
food is coming from and what that means for the environment. (Bateman et al., 2010) If
consumers are can blindly buy their products and food without knowing where it is coming from
then they will never wonder about it and it will never bother them. The strategy here is to keep
the consumers informed so that they know exactly what it means to the environment, plants, and
animals to have an abundance of palm oil being produced. Then some of those people may take
action against it and reduce of put a stop to the production and its many negative impacts. This is

the approach that many environmental activists groups take towards this issue- a real grassroots
approach to stop it at the source. Without a demand, there is no need for a supply. Studies show
that consumers would be willing to a higher price for palm oils that they know were farmed in a
sustainable way that looked out for the conservation of species, such as the Sumatran tiger.
(Bateman et al., 2010)
One of the larger nonprofits started to address the environmental situation of palm oil production
is the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, or RSPO. Instead of being a radical environmental
activist group that looks to eradicate that part of the consumer market as a whole, they
understand the importance of the oil in consumer culture and food production and cooking
methods around the world. They strive to create RSPO certified palm oil producers and products
so consumers will know which products come from crop plantations that are managed well and
sustainably. (Laurance et al., 2010)

Summary
The most important thing to understand about oil palm production for palm oil extraction is that
it affects so many aspects. The climate and the atmosphere is affected, animal and plant species
are affected, and forest growths are affected. The future of this crop and the lands used to
cultivate it are unknown and much more data about it and the species it affects needs to be
collected so the issue can be fully understood. Legislation is very slow to develop and be
implemented in countries that need it the most. The jobs produced by crop plantations may help
out the livelihood of the workers who clear land, plant, farm, produce, and transport and it
definitely makes big profits for the companies that do it for a living. It can also help boost the
economies of the countries it is produced in and they may be struggling financially and will have
to continue but, the bottom line is that the need for all the products and the rampant consumer
culture around the world is absolutely ruining rainforest ecosystems and decimating the habitats
and lives of the plants and animals that used to call those areas home. The palm oil industry
cannot thrive in the same place that those species of plants and animals without serious team
work from governments,

References
(Formatted for the Environmental Sciences Journal)
Bateman et al., 2010 Bateman, Ian J., Brendan Fisher, Emily Fitzherbert, David Glew, and Robin
Naidoo.
Tigers, Markets and Palm Oil: Market Potential for Conservation.
Oryx 44.2 (2010): 230. Print.
FAOSTAT http://faostat.fao.org (18 Sep. 2008).
Gillison and Liswanti, 1999 Gillison, A. and Liswanti, N.
Impact of oil palm plantations on biodiversity in Jambi, Central Sumatra,
Indonesia.

CIFOR. 3-9 (1999)

Koh and Wilcove, 2008 Koh, L., & Wilcove, D.


Is oil palm agriculture really destroying tropical biodiversity?
Conservation Letters, 1(2), 2008: 60-64.
Laurance et al., 2010 Laurance, William F., Lian P. Koh, Rhett Butler, Navjot S. Sodhi, Corey J.
A. Bradshaw, J. David Neidel, Hazel Consunji, and Javier Mateo Vega.
Improving the Performance of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil for Nature
Conservation.
Conservation Biology 24.2 (2010): 377-81. Print.
Sheil et al., 2009 Sheil D, Casson A, Meijaard E, van Nordwijk M, Gaskell J, SunderlandGrowes J, Wertz K, Kanninen M (2009)
The impacts and opportunities of oil palm in Southeast Asia: what do we know
and what
do we need to know?
Occasional paper no. 51, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor.

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