From action.RAN.org

The problem with palm oil

Palm oil is a globally traded commodity used in a wide range of consumer products, including packaged foods, cosmetics, and cleaning supplies, and as a feedstock for biofuels. Produced in the world’s topics on industrial monoculture plantations, oil palm has severe and widespread negative impacts on the environment and local people.

Palm oil threatens forests Oil palm plantations are driving the destruction of tropical rainforests around the globe. Indonesia has the world’s highest rate of deforestation, with, on average, 20 square miles of rainforest destroyed everyday [1], is ground zero for oil palm expansion, and produces more than 45 percent of the world’s palm oil.[2] This tropical nation’s rainforests and peat swamps provide critical global climate stability, livelihoods to millions of local inhabitants, and habitat to the highly endangered orangutan and Sumatran tiger. With 80 percent of Sumatra’s lowland forest already destroyed, [3] the oil palm industry must respect a moratorium of the expansion of oil palm plantations on natural forest in Indonesia.

Palm oil threatens global climate stability Tropical rainforests are the earth’s largest sinks of carbon, safely storing greenhouse gases that can potentially cause climate change while providing clean air and water to the world. When these rainforests are razed to make way for commercial oil palm monocultures they emit massive quantities of carbon - in the form of C02 - driving climate change.[4]

The peat swamps of Riau, an Indonesian province on the island of Sumatra, are undergoing large scale conversion to oil palm. In a striking example of palm oil’s threat to climate stability, from 1990 to 2007, Riau’s peat swamps have emitted 3.66 billion tons of C02, an amount greater than the emissions of the whole of the European Union in 2005. [5]

Deforestation in Indonesia causes eighty percent of Indonesia’s 2.3 billion tons of CO2 emissions a year, which makes this tropical nation the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases.[6] With the Indonesian government planning to expand palm oil production by 100% by 2020, [7] greenhouse gas emissions from the oil palm industry have become an issue of global concern.

Palm oil threatens forest peoples Tens of millions of Indonesians and Papuans rely directly on rainforests for their livelihoods.[8] A single oil palm plantation can destroy tens of thousands of hectares of forests and eliminate the incomes of thousands of forest peoples.

With no forests left, entire forest communities face poverty, many for the first time. The huge number of land conflicts in Indonesia reflect the growing threat palm oil poses to forest peoples; in 2008, there were 7,491 cases of outstanding land conflicts registered with the Indonesian Land Agency. [9]

A number of UN bodies have spoken out on the negative impacts Indonesian oil palm plantations have on forest peoples. In a letter addressed to the Indonesian Government, the UN High Commission on Human Rights addressed palm oil’s high social costs: “The high number of conflicts arising throughout Indonesia between local communities and palm oil companies remains an issue of concern for the Committee, in particular with regard to the protection of Indigenous people’s rights.” [10]

[1] Ball, L. et al. State of the world’s forests 2007. FAO. 2007.

[2] Jakarta Post. CPO price to rise, production to slow. May 24, 2008.

[3] WWF Indonesia. Peat Swamps and Lowland Forests of Sumatra: Forest area key facts and carbon emissions from deforestation. 2008.

[4] Sheil, D. et al. 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. CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia. 2009.

[5] Uryu, Y. et al. Deforestation, forest degradation, biodiversity loss and C02 emissions in Riau, Sumatra, Indonesia. WWF Indonesia Technical Report, Jakarta, Indonesia. 2008.

[6] Mongabay.com. Indonesia: emissions to rise 50% by 2030, 3rd largest GHG emitter. September 22, 2009 (Accessed on October 14, 2009: http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0922-indonesia.html)

[7] The Jakarta Globe. El Nino Threatens Nation’s CPO Output. July 21, 2009.

[8] Sunderlin et al. Economic crises, small farmer well-being, and forest cover change in Indonesia. World Development. April 2001.

[9] DetikNews. Permasalahan Tanah di Indonesia Mencapai 7491 Kasus. November 28, 2008.

[10] Letter addressed to Mr. Wesaka Puja,, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Indonesia to the UN, from Fatimata-Binta Dah, Chairperson for the committee for the elimination of racial discrimination. March 13, 2009.