Stop Burning Rain Forests for Palm Oil

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by Dharmendra Kapri | 08-08-2015 20:12 recommendations 0

Deforestation (cutting or burning down forests) accounts for up to 25% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions worldwide each year - a staggering two billion tons per year! To give an idea of just how huge that is, all the planet?s transport and industry account for roughly 14% each.

Flying, which is often seen as one of the biggest evils in climate change only accounts for 3% of total greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, in the next four years, burning rainforests is likely to pump more CO2 into the atmosphere than every flight that has ever taken place from the Wright brothers? first ever powered flight until 2025! Make no mistake about it: ignoring the destruction of the rainforest is a recipe for future environmental disaster.

Palm oil plantations have expanded very rapidly in Indonesia - the area of land occupied by plantations has doubled in the last ten years, threatening endangered species like the orang-utan and Sumatran tiger with extinction. The burning of its rainforests to create palm oil plantations is the reason that Indonesia is now the world?s third largest emitter of carbon dioxide.

Palm oil plantations are the biggest cause of rainforest loss in Malaysia and Indonesia. The rainforest is cleared by burning, so that palm trees can be planted. This destroys all the rainforest plant species that lived there and forces any animals living there to either move deeper into the forest or die.

Palm Oil-

Palm oil is a vegetable oil and it?s a cheap and common ingredient found in a huge range of food products, from chocolate to crisps.! It?s found in about 1 in 10 food products in the supermarket and is also used in detergents and lipsticks.

In theory, palm oil is less environmentally damaging than non-renewable fossil fuels like oil, because crops absorb carbon dioxide (the most important greenhouse gas) as they grow.! However, to make way for the palm plantations, the rainforests are cleared - by burning them!! This releases a huge amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.! In fact, it has been estimated that it would take a palm oil plantation up to 840 years to soak up the carbon released by burning the forest to make way for the plantation!

DharmendraKapri

Former E-gen Ambassador Dharmendra Kapri

8 Comments

says :
I agree with Ni Putu Wulan, It doesn??t have to be this way. Palm oil can be grown sustainably without sacrificing any more tropical forests. I think Nigeria, being the 5th palm oil producer in the world is somehow affected by this. Thanks for sharing
Posted 11-08-2015 11:36

says :
Thanks for sharing. Palm oil companies have cut more than 40% of forest in Sumatra and Borneo to make a palm oil plantation. Some of them are even illegal companies. This is really bad. Palm oil is not only used for fried food but it is also the ingredients for cocholate, cream, shampoo, cosmetics and other pharmaceutical products. And for your information, India & Indonesia are the world biggest palm oil consumer. Knowing this fact, we have to start consuming with care and choosing products with RSPO label (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil)
Posted 10-08-2015 12:33

says :
Deforestation is a huge threat to our environment. Lands are cleared for selfish demands. We need to look into this issue seriously otherwise the consequences will be horrible.
Posted 09-08-2015 14:48

Rohan Kapur says :
Commercial & Environmental interests are conflicting. It is of course tempting to sacrifice the nature as there is no immediate action from the Mother Nature. She suffers silently but the consequent damages are severe are long lasting.
It is very easy to destroy a forest but to recreate the same it takes >100 years.
This issue must be addressed strongly & sustainably.
Thanks Dharmendra.
Posted 09-08-2015 12:57

says :
truly , it's seroius issue. and need to be solved soon. for solving we need to identify the substitute of palm oil.
thanks for the info friend..

Posted 09-08-2015 11:59

Arushi Madan says :
It is sad that deforestation, which is one of the main reasons behind increase in GHG emissions and hence the global warming , is increasing due to demands for things like palm oil. To make way for palm plantations , cutting of rainforests is certainly not a sustainable way.
Thanks for the report , Dharmendra.
Posted 09-08-2015 06:49

Luiz Bispo says :
That is sad. Our planet biodiversity going to the bin. people should create strategies to solve the problem and figure out a sustainable way of production. Thanks for the report mate.
Posted 09-08-2015 05:32

Anthony Emecheta says :
This is a serious issue that should be urgently looked into. There are other ways the forest can be cleared like cutting the forest and burying them in the ground which would also increase the fertility of the soil.
Posted 09-08-2015 05:20