How palm oil has affected Malaysia Nathalie Sparks Lower Sixth
In December 2018, the supermarket Iceland released a Greenpeace film to run as its Christmas advert, when the campaign was shortly pulled from TV because it had been deemed to breach political advertising rules. The supermarket had struck a deal with Greenpeace, a nongovernmental environmental organisation, to create an animated short film based on the destruction of an orangutan’s rainforest habitat at the hands of palm oil development. Habitat loss in countries such as Malaysia – one of the major global producing countries of palm oil – has contributed to the orangutan being classed as critically endangered worldwide.
room temperature it is semi-solid so can keep spreads spreadable as well as being resistant to oxidation, giving products longer shelf-life. Palm oil is also colourless and odourless, so it does not alter the look or smell of products. This makes palm oil a very rsought after product, which evidently causes problems. It is one of the major drivers of deforestation in this area. For example, there is Borneo’s rainforest, one of the most biodiverse forests in the world. The rate at which the palm oil is being exploited is having a severe effect on the species within the diminishing habitat. Not only is the habitat loss an issue, but there also remains exploitation of workers and child labour which is a key socio-economic issue. In addition, given the millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases being thrown into the atmosphere due to the deforestation and conversion of carbon rich peat soils, this contributes to climate change.
According to the latest report from the UK’s government’s Department for Environment, consumption of sustainable palm oil in the UK has increased for the fifth year running, quadrupling since 2009. To meet the UK demands for the sustainable product that is an important ingredient in food such as biscuits and chocolate, as well as toothpaste and shampoo, a huge industry has been developed. Roughly half of the processed goods in the shops contain palm oil, but millions of tonnes of palm oil are going into people’s cars. More than 50% is also for biofuel. On the other hand, the 2016 edition of WWF’s Palm Oil Buyers looks at 137 major retailers and food service companies from around the world including key UK brands such as Tesco and Waitrose. British companies scored among the highest for more sustainable palm oil consumption in this edition. This is evidence that
[C]onsumption of sustainable palm oil in the UK has increased for the fifth year running, quadrupling since 2009.
Malaysia is in Southeast Asia. The country can be described as “a country of two halves”. One half is a very metropolitan beach gleam of the west, this is also the location of the capital Kuala Lumpur. The other half offers rainforests and Borneo – which is shared with Brunei and Indonesia. This shows a clear separation of pinnacle globalisation right next to the source – palm oil plantations. Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of oil palm trees. Indonesia and Malaysia account for 85% of global supply according to the National Geographical magazine. It is in nearly 50% of the packaged products we find in supermarkets as well as being used in animal feed and as a biofuel in many parts of the world, excluding the UK. The oil is extremely versatile which makes it useful and very widely used. At 12
