Oil Palm Deforestation

Improved Essays
Oil palm is a fast and easy way to diminish poverty in areas with severe poverty, however can lead to severe deforestation as well as desertification as a result. Developing countries could use oil palm as great starting point to help grow their country as long as they do not get too enticed that they rely solely on oil palm production.

Oil palm is an important crop for the first world that has had a big impact on the global market, the environment, as well as social implications on developing countries. Oil palm demand by the global market stems from the first world’s requirements for a clean bio-fuel, a replacement for trans fat, and to help supply the world’s vegetable oil demand5 and is hard for developing countries to ignore their
…show more content…
Obidzinski et al.3 used satellite images to map the areas where oil palm was grown as a comparison to previous years before palm oil development, which can cause environment orthodoxy. They found that the rate of deforestation was rapidly expanding, and by 2006 almost sixty per cent on the entire forest has been transformed into oil palm, in addition to a minimum of eighty three per cent occurs at the direct expense of the forest3, and has been mentioned by an Indonesian rights and resource group,4 that in 2014 Indonesia had the highest rate of deforestation on Earth. Moreover, World Watch6 has estimated that in the expansion of oil palm production more than 340,000 hectares of Indonesian land has been traded from dense lowland forest to oil palm plantations, and plans to increase this amount to 1.4 million hectares of land in 2010. As discussed by World Watch,6 the rate of expansion is too fast, and if continued, will wipe out plant and animal species along with some endangered animals, such as the great ape, which live primarily in these forests, and as mentioned by Obidzinski et al,3 soil erosion, decline in water quality via runoff, flash floods, increase human disease, air pollution from burning the forest and oil palm waste, moisture loss, and loss of biodiversity are all end …show more content…
However, the decrease in poverty caused by oil palm revenue leads to some positive indirect outcomes to be reported such as schools being built, health clinics/hospitals, or religious centres.3 The paper by World Growth5 supports oil palm because of the requirements of oil palm for the global market, and that it is generating money for the people of Indonesia, West Kalimantan, and Bunyamin, which is beneficial to the people in poverty as stated in Cramb and Curry.1 However, the scale they used was too broad, and missed the true financial impacts as reported by Obidzinski et al.3 that it further widened the gap between the upper class and the poor. However, Cramb and Curry1 measured the macro and micro economic issues and concluded that the popular ideology of oil palm’s capitalist expansion is destructive to rural livelihoods is more complex than expected, and that in some regions, the people of Asia and the pacific region provided a potential to escape poverty by adding money and jobs to their economy and adding new livelihood

Related Documents

  • Brilliant Essays

    Ethics and sustainable development Nestle VS Greenpeace The palm oil controversy Augustin DURAND Mohamed HAILI Outline 1. Introduction 2.…

    • 2304 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Brilliant Essays
  • Great Essays

    Tropical deforestation is an issue that has plagued mankind since the beginning of time. It is an important component of global change and has a large influence on many different environmental issues we have today such as climate change and carbon emissions. Over a twelve year period that ended in 2012, 1.1 million km2 of tropical forest was lost, with the rate of forest loss increasing during this span. One of the largest and most biodiverse tropical forests’ in the world is the Amazon, covering an area of 5.5 million square kilometers and shared by nine countries. Brazil holds the majority of it, over 60%.…

    • 2010 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to a study published by “World Growth” (2008) palm oil has been Indonesia’s most significant agricultural export the last decade. In 2008 alone Indonesia exported over 14,5 billion in palm oil related products. This creates jobs for Indonesia’s rural population, of which over 20% live below the poverty line. On that account the Indonesian economy is depending on exporting palm oil as poverty relief. This makes their vulnerability for hazardous wildfires a structural weakness in their economy, which is fueled by…

    • 2010 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Palm Oil Arguments

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Most of the time producers are not using sustainable measures" (King 1). Palm oil is something that no one really knows about and by writing this essay I am informing you and hopefully all the young adults in this class that it is not a subject to take lightly. Palm Oil should not be used ever again because it makes animals go extinct, harvesting Palm Oil involves deforestation and it is a big addition to Global Warming. Palm oil trees are also known as Elaeis Guineensis or African palm oil. It is native to West and South West Africa and it should stay as abundant and majestic as it sounds because it is home and food to people and animals in the…

    • 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
  • Improved Essays

    The island of Borneo was once covered in a lush dense rainforest however in a twenty-year span between 1985 and 2005 nearly one third of that rainforest was gone. In recent years the deforestation of the Borneo has gained international attention as we see species such as orangutans, pigmy elephants, and rhinoceros are facing extinction due to the deforestation of the islands. The main cause that White cites for the deforestation of the island is the establishment of palm oil plantations. At the time this article was written the island of Borneo produced 86 percent of the…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The devastation of deforestation for Palm oil creation could be diminished as the "consumers" have a lot of pressure and power on the stockholders and governments if they demand them to clean up throughout the supply chain of the production to have a sustainable system. It's a Sustainable solution because it's taking the thoughts of individuals, profit, and the planet. According to Greenpeace, the fire that was brought on because of deforestation in 2015 added to the seriousness of spending more than 30 billion in repairs. Over 500,000 individuals got respiratory infections and as well as 100,000 deaths. If this implies profit is worth more than people's life, it indicates we are in a crisis.…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Palm oil is an essential ingredient for the production of foods and products which human utilise daily. Orangutan Project states ‘palm oil is derived from the fruit of the oil palm tree’, while stating how palm oil plantations is the main cause for deforestation in Indonesia. The harvest of the palm trees for the production of palm oil affects the ecosystem as it affects the environment. This investigation will highlight the advantages of the palm fruit providing nutrients, it being essential for the producing products, and this production being able to reduce poverty. The negatives of how the production of palm oil negatively affects the environment, the habitat of the animals, and social consequences such as the loss of income.…

    • 1245 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Palm Oil

    • 1186 Words
    • 5 Pages

    According to Jane Goodall, “ Chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans have been [lasting] for hundreds of thousands of years in their forest, living [wild] lives, never overpopulating, never destroying the forest. I would [state] that they have been in a way more successful than us as far as being in [concord] with the environment” (Environment Quotes). Palm oil nourishes one’s appearance and rejuvenate the life of food products. The demand for this product has greatly increased in the past years, but this has created problems. The primary harvest area is deep in the rainforests.…

    • 1186 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Palm Oil Interview Essay

    • 1320 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Florentini Florentini Task 2 Interview INBA 3810 In this second assignment, I will discuss further and provide more details about the “international aspect of my uncle’s work. For example, what different approached did they use?. What risks did they face?. I would like to discuss more about the competition in the international palm oil market as well, and how to price right for different customers in different countries.…

    • 1320 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Palm Oil Case Study

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Objective (v) Seeks to estimates a supply response model for palm oil in Nigeria inclusive of price and non-price factors. In other to estimate the supply response for Nigeria palm oil production, the model of Ayanwale et al, (2011) was used, with slight modification. The supply equation is specified as a function of the production of palm oil, price of palm oil, price of competitive crop (soyabean), harvested area, rainfall in year t (mm) as climate element, interest rate, exchange rate, palm Oil import in year t (tons) as a proxy for importation policy and Time trend as proxy for technological change or producers’ preference OUTPUT=f(LPPO,LPSO,PHA,INTRA,EXR,IMPO,RANFAL,POLY, ECT, St).................(3.13) Where; OUTPUT = Nigerian palm oil Supply in year t, Proxied by palm oil Output (tons) LPPO =…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While developing countries experience malnutrition due to reliance on single crops, they can be altered in order to produce different vitamins, minerals, or proteins. Herbs for medicinal purposes such as vaccines may be introduced into normal foods in order to produce a cost effective method of administration with ease. Modified oil content in seeds promotes nutrition. Along both intensive and extensive margins within economic production rates in countries, conventional seeds replaced by modified ones aggregate acreage over time². Since improved oil content serves as a substitute for chemical treatments, it is likely expected to reduce agrochemical applications, which in turn aids eliminating environmental damage sustained.…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Oil Seed Crops Case Study

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages

    4. Discussion 4.1. Comparative analysis of oil seed crop The comparative analysis from the LCA of sunflower, soybean, and canola per impact category are shown in Table 2. According to the results reported in the table 2, soybean was the oil seed with the the best environmental profile regardless the impact category.…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Oil Palm Essay

    • 1898 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Preface Bangladesh is a country of endless possibility. Especially in agriculture possibilities are so much luminous. The feasibility of success in oil palm cultivation can unveil a new era for the life style of the people of the country. Cultivation of oil palm will play a significant role to confirm food security, particularly to recover the crisis of edible oil in Bangladesh. By cultivating Oil palm we can easily save importing cost for edible oil as well as we can export a noteworthy figure.…

    • 1898 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Section 2: Executive summary 2.1 Background Entity Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad ("KLK"), an organization joined in Malaysia and which is recorded on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad with a market capitalization of around RM23.1 billion toward the end of September 2015. KLK is a well-known plantation company, which is started more than 100 years ago. KLK’s core business activity is plantations (oil palm and rubber). KLK follows its history back to 1906 when The Kuala Lumpur Rubber Company, Limited ("KLRC") was joined in London.…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays