Should Palm Oil Stop?

Improved Essays
The first reason why palm oil production should stop is because of its harmful effects on the environment. The first of these environmental effects is deforestation or, in other words, forest loss. Deforestation the the act of removing trees, destroying forests and causing many violent acts in order to turn the wild life into another place. Between the years 2000 and 2012, Malaysia had the world’s highest forest loss rate only because they wanted palm oil as an ingredient in their products (“Mongabay”, 2016). During that period, Malaysia lost 14.4% of its forest and Indonesia lost about 840,000 of its land area due to deforestation. Today, deforestation does not only happen in Indonesia and Malaysia, but also in Brazil and Africa. In Brazil, …show more content…
These animals are being threatened by nature and humans in many different ways. Moreover, factors like habitat loss, illegal trade, being hunted and sometimes killed affects the living conditions of these animals. Let’s start with orangutan which are the world’s famous tree climbing mammals that are losing their habitat on the two remaining islands; Borneo and Sumatra. Orangutan is a Malayan word meaning person or man of the forest. Their population has decreased from 66,000 to 45,000 over ten years (“Orangutan Coservancy”, n.d)). They are also traded illegally when they are up to seven years old as pets which shows that it’s a real life threat to the wild. However, these types of wild animals look cute and cuddly when they are young, but then they turn out to be uncontrollable once they grow. In addition, sometimes people in Kalimantan hunt Orangutan for food due to poverty and sell their skulls in some forms of souvenirs to make profit. Along with being hunted, 8000 orangutans died because of an uncontrolled forest fire in 1997 that lasted for six months (“Orangutan Conservancy”, n.d). Apart from orangutans, tigers are used to roam around most of Sumatra, but because of deforestation and plantation growth there are only 400 tigers left in the wild (“Tigers in Crisis, 2016). Also, 80% of tigers were lost and 15% of those loss was a direct result of palm oil. This is why they are the world’s most threatened species. Moreover, tigers need a wide space in the jungle, forest or mountains in order to remain alive. They also need plenty of water to drink and hydrate, prey to hunt, and many more things. However, these poor animals are moved into a relatively small place because of palm oil plantation, deforestation, and other expansions. (“Tigers in Crisis, 2016).

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Bornean orangutan is listed as just endangered while the Sumatran orangutan is listed as critically endangered, which the species I observed in the zoo. They are seriously threatened by logging, conversion of forest to agricultural land, oil palm plantations, and fragmentation by roads. These animals are also being illegally hunted and captured for pet trade. Sadly, orangutans are killed as pests when they raid fruit crops at the edge of forests. I hope the condition for this species does not get any worse because I would hate to see them go extinct.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Palm oil is in charge of expansive scale forest transformation in the tropics and broad carbon outflows, adding to global warming. As global demand for palm oil keeps on expanding, tropical forests crosswise over Southeast Asia, and progressively Africa and Latin America, are at danger for transformation into vast scale palm oil plantations. In traditional plantation agriculture, a single crop is grown over a large area planted in neat rows with well-developed network of transportation and communication, connecting plantation areas, processing industries and markets together, which exists in palm oil agriculture. Heavy dependence on labor is there in plantation agriculture, which is true in case of palm oil production, though currently, efforts have been taken to revolutionize it with machinery and reduce dependence on labor.…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The book, The Serengeti Rules by Sean Carroll is a wonderful depiction of how living organisms and humans have interacted since humans were around. More importantly humans have watched animals and have discovered some actions that animals do to better themselves. Most of the findings written about in Mr. Carroll’s book have been either in a laboratory or in Africa on one of the many national parks. The main national park being in Tanzania on the Great Serengeti. The findings by Tony Sinclair were named the Serengeti Rules after extensive research in the Serengeti National Park.…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rain forests populated with many gibbons are generally found in Southeast, South, and East Asia (Gibbon Center, 2012). Yet, their habitat, along with many other things, plays a role in their endangerment. According to the website Humania (2010), “In 50 years, 50% of Indonesia’s forested land has disappeared; every minute, the equivalent of two football fields of forest is destroyed. If this trend were to continue, Indonesia’s rain forests will disappear entirely in just over twenty years. Because of this, the future of gibbons is threatened’’…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    President Franklin Roosevelt once thought, “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” This arises into a resilient indication throughout the article, “The Sumatran Rainforest Will Mostly Disappear Within 20 Years” by John Vidal. Our valued author portrays the damage that will come out of abolishing the land around us and distressing millions of citizens if not to revive forests and determine enhanced resolutions for everyday economy. “The end is in sight for the great forests of Sumatra and Borneo, and the animals and people who depend on them.”…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    what’s causing it to become endangered is habitat loss , deforestation , and hunting . There are only 2,500 bengal tigers left in the wild .…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    100 years ago the number of orangutans were estimated to be around the 230,000, but now that number has dropped drastically. There are only thought to be 54,000 Bornean orangutans left, and 6,600 Sumatran orangutans remaining. Which makes a total of 60,600 orangutans left in existence. With the population suffering from a 75% drop in just 100 years, the rate of decline is unsustainable and the orangutans are in grave danger of ceasing to exist. This is all due to illegal poaching, trading, and land clearing in places where the orangutans use to run wild and free.…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lions, tigers, and bears, all being murdered for the proper price. Innocent lives are being taken away and instead, they are shot and made into carpets and trophies. The trophy hunting hobby has ruined the lives of species, despite the claims of the pro-hunting groups. These animals are being massacred for fun, yet they are rapidly becoming endangered species. Beautiful creatures, such as lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, and so many more are being put to death by rich men and women.…

    • 1320 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Academic Peer Review Paper

    • 1214 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Obidzinski et al. reading is an academic peer reviewed paper and the general purpose behind this sort of paper is to inform the scientific community who are also experts in this field about the information and findings of this topic, in a process that allows for analysis of the subject matter’s legitimacy. The topic presented in the Obidzinski et al. article discusses the effects of growing only palm oil in Indonesia in terms of environment and socioeconomic impacts.…

    • 1214 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Tigers Alive “Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.” ―…

    • 2364 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Besides, preserving tigers can also prevent climate change of the mother Earth. The growth of civilization…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Palm Oil Arguments

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Fight Against Palm Oil " Today, palm oil is grown throughout Africa, Asia, North America, and South America, with 85% of all palm oil globally produced and exported from Indonesia and Malaysia; but most of the time not using sustainable measures" (King 1). Palm oil is a very popular oil that comes from the Palm Tree in many rainforests. The production of palm oil affects many parts in the world from Global Warming to the murder of the Orangutans in the rain forest. "Demand is still growing, as are oil palm plantations but at what price to tropical forests and the biodiversity found there?"…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Orangutan Research Paper

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Orangutans and thousands of other species are effected greatly by the deforestation of their homes within South-East Asia, especially for Orangutans within Borneo and Sumatra. Because of the rapidly growing palm oil industry, 90% of Orangutans wild habitat within Indonesia has been destroyed within the last 20 years. It is estimated that 1000-5000 Orangutans are killed each year from loss of habitat for the palm oil crop development. Countries make money from this industry but they cannot bring back their animals from extinction! The oil palm farming industry is growing extremely fast, therefore increasing the rate of natural habitats that are being destroyed.…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Palm Oil Research Paper

    • 1674 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Palm oil can be found in a variety of everyday products, ranging from biofuels to instant noodles and cookies, to lipstick. Since it is found in so many products, palm oil is constantly in high…

    • 1674 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Endangered Tiger Essay

    • 1751 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The tiger is the largest of the 37 species of cats in the world and unfortunately has recently become the most endangered of all the large wild cats. All tigers face two major threats. One is habitat destruction. This not only results in less territory for the cats to live in but also leaves the tigers' territory fragmented into separate islands making is hard for tigers to mate, which make it difficult for the species to survive. Conservation efforts are often aimed at creating sanctuaries, which are connected by safe corridors, which will allow tigers to reach each other.…

    • 1751 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays