Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil

high in saturated fats and free of

trans fats.
The oil palm tree (Elaeis
guineensis) is a native to West
Africa and was imported into SE
Asia in the mid 19th century. Oil
palm flourishes in the humid
tropics and produces high yield
when grown 10 degrees north and
south of the equator.
Palm fruit develops in dense
bunches weighing 10 kilograms
(kg) or more and containing more
than a thousand individual fruits
similar in size to a small plum
which tree produces 2 types of
oil. Palm oil (PO) is obtained
from the flesh of the fruit and
Palm Kernel Oil (PKO) is
produced by extracting the oil
from the internal seed (Kernel).
Every oil palm tree requires
approximately 3m diameter clear
around the base of each tree to
allow full growth. Oil palm is
highly productive crop which is
capable of yielding more oil from
less land than any other vegetable
oil in existence. One oil palm
tree will produce ongoing fruit
for up to 30 years deeming the
crop as high yielding and
sustainable..
Palm Oil is used in around 50%
of products consumers purchase
and use on a daily basis. Palm
Oil and derivatives otherwise
known as fractions of the oil are
used in the manufacture of
prepackaged food, cosmetics,
cleaning products, hair care,
soaps and personal care items.
Palm Wax is used in the
manufacture of candles.
Palm Oil is also used to

manufacture bio fuel and has

become what is called the green
fuel option for Motor Vehicles,
shipping and Aircraft fuel. Palm
is also used as feed for livestock
named as palm kernel cake
(PKC) which is a by-product of
palm kernel oil. PKC is
considered a medium grade
protein feed used to fatten cattle
and other livestock.

What's wrong with palm oil?

Indonesia is being deforested faster than any other country in the
world, and it has everything to do with one product: palm oil.
Large areas of tropical forests and other ecosystems with high
conservation values have been cleared to make room for oil palm
plantations, essentially killing the biodiversity of the ecosystems that
they replace. Many 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.
The cheapest and fastest way to clear land for plantations is slash
and burn. Fires in Indonesia produce some of the worlds worst
pollution, sending suffocating smog to cities hundreds of miles away
in Malaysia and Singapore.
Clearing rainforest to make way for plantations has taken a heavy toll
on local communities, destroyed natural habitats for endangered
species, and become a critical factor in climate change. Replacing
natural forests with palm oil plantations vastly diminishes the ability of
vegetation to capture and store carbon dioxide. Its estimated that
deforestation contributes up to 20 percent of global warming.
Indonesia and Malaysia account for around 87% of global palm oil
production and the demand for the cheap oil continues to grow.
According to WWF (World Wildlife Fund) there are approximately 20
million hectares of abandoned land in Indonesia that could be used
for palm oil plantations, however, many palm oil companies are tied in
with logging firms. Timber is extremely valuable, therefore clearing
virgin forest they get money twice, once for the timber and again for
the produce from the oil palm trees.

Other issues surrounding unregulated palm production are human

rights issues, slash and burn practices to clear land, illegal land
grabs, child labour and leakage of chemicals into water supply.
Indonesia averaged 917,000 ha of natural forest loss per year
between 2009 and 2013, more than half of which was outside
concessions
= ILLEGAL land clearing.