STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014
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Indonesia and Malaysia are the leading suppliers of palm oil,
accounting for approximately 85% of the global production of the
world’s cheapest edible oil.
9
In addition to being a component in
food, palm oil is used in a range of products, including cosmetics,
industrial products, animal feed and increasingly in biofuels.
10
The
area occupied by oil palm cultivation has expanded by around
43% worldwide over the past 20 years.
11
Today, palm oil represents
around one third of global vegetable oil use.
12
High demand in the
global market, with India and China as major importers, and high
levels of domestic consumption are reasons behind this growth. In
2009, the government of Indonesia announced plans to double its
production of palm oil to 40 million tons by 2020.
13
The productionof palmoil comeswithhigh costs. The rapid expansion
has destroyed enormous areas of primary and secondary forests, as
well as carbon-rich peatlands, and is the key driver of deforestation
in Southeast Asia. A surface area of more than 7 million hectares
has already been turned into monoculture oil palm plantations in
Indonesia.
14
It is estimated that the planned expansion will require
an additional area larger than Switzerland.
15
Conversion of forests
to monoculture plantations leads to significant loss of biodiversity,
extinction of endangered species and release of greenhouse gases. It
also causes numerous conflicts between – companies, governments
and local communities, and sometimes even between and within
communities. Indonesia’s extensive palm oil production has made it
one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters.
As a response to the past 5–10 years’ massive public criticism of the
palm oil industry, several large producers and traders of palm oil
(e.g. Wilmar, Golden Agri Resources, Cargill) have recently adopted
policies and committed to standards that limit their palm oil use to
oil that has been produced without contributing to deforestation,
destruction of peat land and human rights’ abuses. The Roundtable
on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was created with 10 members in
2004, and has grown to more than 1500 members in 2014. Still,
palm oil certified by the RSPO standards only account for 16% of
the global production of palm oil (as of March 2014).
16
It will be
important to monitor closely whether the various policy initiatives
and the RSPO certification scheme will contribute to reducing the
negative impacts of palm oil production, including deforestation.
Palm oil
