The large scale production of Palm Oil causes many inter-related environmental, social and economic problems.  The main issues are summarised below:

• Land ownership conflicts
• Forced evictions of indigenous people from their customary land. 
• Fuelling climate change and deforestation. 
• Habitat destruction and pushing species towards extinction.
• Social conflicts over jobs, land and livelihoods.
• Water Pollution from chemical inputs, mill effluent and erosion runoff
• Smallholder grower debt
• Health concerns from palm oil’s high saturated fat content which is linked to heart disease.
• Labelling regulations that sees palm oil labeled as vegetable oil on ingredients lists
• Growth in biofuel production where palm oil is a major biofuel feedstock (input).
• Round Table On Sustainable Palm Oil.  RSPO certified palm oil, may be a step forward in improving the palm oil industry, but the weaknesses in the standard may result in more deforestation, habitat destruction, social conflict whilst providing palm oil companies the ability to promote themselves as green and acting sustainably.

Read on for more details about the issues or take action now to help prevent some of these problems.

Issues in detail

Issues and problems caused by palm oil production are numerous, interrelated, and span the of environmental, social and economic themes.  Please consider visiting our related sites and links to gain a full understanding of the issues which are summarised below.

Land ownership conflicts.

Governments where oil palm is cultivated often side with palm oil companies and dilute indigenous customary land rights, making it possible for peoples land to be leased, sold against the will of the traditional land owners.  In Indonesia about 13% of the land occupied by palm oil plantations has been (or still is) involved in land conflicts.  The palm oil industry has little respect for indigenous peoples with documented cases of palm oil plantations being grown on sacred sites and cemeteries.

Forced evictions.

There are documented cases of indigenous people being forcibly removed from their land to make way for oil palm plantations.  Evictions may be carried out by palm oil company staff with assistance from local officials, police or paramilitares.  The displaced are given little or no compensation for their loss of homes, habitat and livelihood.

Fuelling climate change and deforestation.

Often wet, swampy rainforests are drained to be cleared for palm oil plantations. As they dry, their peat filled soils release large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas that has a global warming impact 23 times that of CO2.  After the peatlands have dried up, they are burned to clear the land ready for oil palm cultivation.  With the need to cut and stabilise greenhouse gas emissions, we can’t afford to promote further emissions from deforestation.

Pushing species towards extinction.

The clearing of forest removes the habitat of nearly all native species.  With their homes gone and food source removed, species like the orangutan, Sumatran rhinos, clouded leopards, Sumatran tigers that are already endangered endure greater pressure to survive.  It is predicted that current rates of deforestation will see the extinction of the orangutan in under 20 year. Up to 50 Orangutans are killed every week as a result of the palm oil industry.

Image: Orangutan in forest.  Source: Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation UK

Social conflicts.

The start-up phase of the oil palm plantation creates some new jobs.  This creates tension and fighting between those who benefit from the plantation employment and those who are left with nothing.  After the plantation is established, few workers are needed to maintain the plantation and everyone loses.

Water Pollution.

Water quality around oil palm plantations and processing mills is severely impacted.  Herbicides and pesticides often banned in other countries are used to control weeds and pests.  An oily sludge of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) from oil palm processing mills is often pumped untreated into water systems where it makes the water supply undrinkable or harms fish stocks relied upon to provide protein and economic livelihoods.  With no ground cover other than the oil palms, soil erosion and nitrogen runoff commonly common when it rains, adding to the water pollution problem.

Image: POME from a plant in Papua New Guinea. source: Australian Conservation Foundation)

Smallholder Debt

Not all oil plantations are run by big companies.  There are cases where government facilitate smallholder palm oil production through the use of concessionary loans and technology transfer.  Unfortunately, as is so often the case with well meaning development projects, the people who are meant to be helped, are often left in a debt spiral, struggling to earn enough to feed a family and pay back the debt.

Health

Palm oil is high in saturated fat and low in polyunsaturated fat. Biomedical research indicates that the consumption of palm oil increases the risk of heart disease, therefore we should try to cut back our palm oil consumption from food products.

Image: KFC use palm oil to fry their chicken

Labelling

Current FSANZ labelling standards do not require palm oil to be listed in food product ingredients list.  Most of the time it is referred to as ‘vegetable oil’.  Consumers have a right to know what is in the food they are eating and the presence of palm oil should be made clear.

Biofuels

With awareness of the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the looming peak oil crisis, biofuels have been widely promoted as a green renewable alternative to non-renewable polluting petro-diesel fuels.  The high oil yield of oil palm has made seen the demand for palm oil used as a biofuel feedstock increase dramatically.  However recent research has found that where biofuels are made from palm oil, gases equivalent to15 times the greenhouse warming potential of burning petro-diesel are created.  This increase is a result of the deforestation, forest fires and the release of methane from drying peat forests that occurs when land is cleared for oil palm cultivation.

Round Table On Sustainable Palm Oil

The Round Table On Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is a multi-stakeholder group with many members including social and government organizations, companies, businesses and government institutions. Through a consensus-based approach, they are working to develop and implement criteria for sustainable production of palm oil.  The RSPO goals are worthy, however we have concerns that they fall short of the mark for ensuring that palm oil certified through the scheme is produced sustainably.  Specifically we are concerned that palm oil can be certified as sustainable when it has come from cleared secondary or rehabilitated forest (only primary forests are protected).  Secondly, companies can appoint their own auditors to assess their ability to meet the sustainability criteria.  Thirdly it fails to seek to address past wrongs committed by palm oil companies who can now simply turn over a new leaf, leaving their dirty pasts behind.  One must also question if large scale monoculture oil palm production can be called sustainable when it relies upon chemical fertiliser, herbicides, pesticides and is associated with all of the above environmental, social and economic impacts.