Where is palm oil produced?
Palm Oil comes from Oil Palm Tree which grows in the tropics. It needs a particular environment to grow and fruit. Every Oil Palm tree planted need over 3m diameter clear around eachtree. As a result of this, large areas of tropical forests and other ecosystems with high conservation values have been cleared to make room for oil palmplantations, essentially killing the biodiversity of the ecosystems that they replace. Unfortunately, many of palm oil plantations in Southeast Asia are on peat soils, which until recently were covered by peat swamp forests. The drainage of these carbon-rich organic soils for plantations is causing massive greenhouse gas emissions.
Malaysia and Indonesia are responsible for 90% of world’s palm oil production, in order to sustain the demand; virgin rainforests are being destroyed at an alarming rate. In most cases these rainforests are protected habitat, which is home to many orang-utans
and other endangered species. Over 300 football fields of rainforest are destroyed every hour in South East Asia to create more room for palm oil plantations. There are approximately 20 million hectares of un-used land in Indonesia that could potentially be used for palm Oil Plantations. However, many palm oil companies are also tied in with logging firms. Which means if these companies clear virgin forest they get paid twice – once for the timber and then later on for the produce from the palm oil trees.
Malaysia and Indonesia are responsible for 90% of world’s palm oil production, in order to sustain the demand; virgin rainforests are being destroyed at an alarming rate. In most cases these rainforests are protected habitat, which is home to many orang-utans
and other endangered species. Over 300 football fields of rainforest are destroyed every hour in South East Asia to create more room for palm oil plantations. There are approximately 20 million hectares of un-used land in Indonesia that could potentially be used for palm Oil Plantations. However, many palm oil companies are also tied in with logging firms. Which means if these companies clear virgin forest they get paid twice – once for the timber and then later on for the produce from the palm oil trees.