Palm Oil: Will it ever be sustainable?

[@ShambaniFarm]

Sounds to me like the problem is not palm oil but rather farming. Because it Soy beans or sunflower would needs 4 times of land to produce same amount of oil. If palm oil was not farmed in those farms something else would be farmed and rain forests would be cut nonetheless. Which then means that what they are saying is that people should no longer farm so that they preserve rain forests.

[@ShambaniFarm]

Suggestion that Africa should take less profitable crops like cocoa is rubbish. Change the reputation of Palm Oil because it is such a great gift of nature and its no worse than the alternative but rather the most efficient edible oil ever. Its byproducts alone can drive other industries such as construction, livestock feed, paper production, etc.

[@ShambaniFarm]

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH guy (Rolf) suggests that theres is plenty of other oils that can be used (other than palm), but he can't tell us which other oil is most efficient and environmentally friendlier than palm oil. Telling me that my mother did not use Palm Oil to make Pizza what rubbish is that. Okay fine, my mother used grounut oil is that the most environmentally friendly oil? Is sunflower, rapeseed, or soybean the efficient alternative? Surely not. And this for me is the reason I am 100% convinced that this is a political move for Europe trying to control edible oil supply cross the world and they see palm oil as their biggest threat and unfortunately they can't farm it in their climate.

[@ShambaniFarm]

Land grabbing is not a result of Oil Palm farming. Don't mix things up. And don't attribute deforestation to Oil Palm because many countries in Europe don't have forests and they don't farm Oil Palm so what lead to their deforestation? And why force other countries to maintain forests while Europe itself does not create forests? Europe should start by eliminating all human activities that have negative impact on environment including industries and their sunflower, soybean, and rapeseed farms.

[@motherofpearlmusic2015]

The RSPO guy made a very good point: Huge areas of land are being used for cattle farming, and I have to add that much of the soy is produced as food for the cattle. The answer is blindingly obvious: Humans have to reduce their meat consumption drastically. I am not saying that everyone should go vegan, but how about only eating meat, say, every two weeks? This would make a huge difference. Much of the land that would become free could be used for growing crops.

[@jamesmitchell6925]

Why not go vegan?

[@ShambaniFarm]

When talking about to stop expansion is it about who started to clear land first? Europe had huge farms/plantations planting less productive edible oils and other crops. Why not start by reforestation them first? I think it's time those farms in Europe get rested and new farms developed elsewhere.

[@otivaeey]

Let's think from inside people's shoes: Do Europeans like a Roundtable Sustainable Rapeseed Oil instigated and originated from a bunch of people in a convention in Singapore? How about a Pine Forest Sustainability Standards to come to your land, no more Mercedes Benz to Asia because of the wood inside being used, no matter what wood is being used, no matter how hard you wish to explain. How about a Soybean Limit because Europeans have abused their lands 200 years ago, so China will immediately impose a stop to Europe's soybean expansion and must replant their cropland NOT with crops but with forest species, by end of 2024? How about a stop to Wheat and Rye because it harms your Brown Bear ecosystem by feeding animals and biofuel instead of feeding humans, says India. How about no more crop farming on land since 2005 because those lands must be coming out of forests, no excuse. What 2005? I was not even born. All of you wouldn't understand the tactics being used by Europeans to control foreign countries like a moving goal posts because you're not in the industries. Why Europeans using fossil fuel from the North is way more justifiable than oil palm farming in Malaysia, goods manufacturing for you in China? When you are a governance, try to be absolutely inclusive of every stakeholders. European consumers are not King. European climate efforts are not everybody's opinion, which make Europeans think they are superior and have a final say in people's life. That's why I call European governance egotistical and uncomfortably snobbish till today.

[@ShambaniFarm]

Helen Buckland (HUMANITARIAN ORANGUTAN SOCIETY) talks about reclaiming the palm oil plantations - why specifically oil palm plantations? Why don't we start by reclaiming land used to farm sunflower/soybean/rapeseed in Europe and turn all of them into forests to give orangutan a perfect habitat? I'm more concerned about how much land is conserved as forests in Europe than other part of the world. In Africa a large percentage of our land is still forests and you come telling us to conserve forests? Yet when you want gold, diamond, Tanzanite you forget that those mines will lead to deforestation? Why the double standards? It's deforestation when we farm Oil Palms but it's not when you come clear our land for mining or when we farm less productive crops? We have woken up! We can now smell what's cooking!

[@samorisystems6604]

I don't understand why you have to destroy forest to grow palm oil, You can grow it anywhere

[@toophatbaby3671]

palm oil can only grow in tropical weather country.. its not a lot of country have that kind of weather

[@mellochello77]

Africa grows palm oil but I'm sure people from other countries Destroyed Africa and still destroying for a while now. America is the ultimate destroyer

[@Mang_ulil]

we can easily reduce beef cosumption without any major consequences, replace beef with more eviroment frieandly meat like chicken can reduce deforestation

[@ShambaniFarm]

Was wondering why this was not an option considered in the first instance.

[@jamesmitchell6925]

Eat legumes. Go vegan.

[@gunung4672]

this is propaganda ,, whose forest is responsible? if Europeans really love forests, they help take care of them, not impose operations on the state of the forest owner,

[@folkeholmberg3519]

Don't talk about palmoil without talking about what the profits are for ordinary people, actual working with it. The short answer is that it's very low. But this industry gives enormous profits for foreign companies, first by the scavenging of the rainforests. Ending up as furniture in US and European homes. So, does this scavenging of the Indonesian rainforests return to the farmers at the plantations ? The answer is No, almost nothing, Indonesia doesn't have anything near that could be called a decent welfare system. People are getting bankrupt for simple health issues. An almost non existing infrastructure. So where does all the revenues from this extremely lucrative palmoil go ? Ask the billionaires inside and outside Indonesia. They have the answers. And besides all impact on climate catastrophe this has, it also causes floodings, droughts and landslides, at an accelerating pace.

[@Bahruddin_afif]

Jadi kita mau hidup pake minyak goreng dari non sawit ? Bisakah ?

[@jugulawang8696]

Minyak bunga ada, minyak kedelai ada, minyak sayur ada.

[@pagarbesi4451]

Jugul Awang semua minyak itu import. Tidak Ada minyak yg lebih efficient dari minyak sawit.. ianya murah sebab ia efficient..

[@sabilza]

@@jugulawang8696 minyak sawit 5-10x lebih efisien dari minyak nabati lain. Yakin bisa memenuhi kebutuhan nasional pake minyak2 itu?

[@yaybohangira]

@@jugulawang8696 buat menghasilkan jumlah minyak yg sama, minyak bunga, kedelai dll butuh area penanaman yg lebih luas dr sawit. Mau nambah penggundulan hutan lagi?

[@sultrys2291]

That is exactly what the europe/us wants : buy oils that THEY produce. Not denying the enviromental issues, but corporate/political hypocrisy is the main driver for this action in my opinion, hence why they are less offensive against the beef/dairy/ rapeseed/maize and soy industry (NZ, Australia, Americas, Europe). Good luck on CSPO and hopefully this will solve the problem.

[@MrRedguy09]

It is useful for cooking oil as similar as other vegetables' oil.

[@folkeholmberg3519]

And it's also unhealthy.

[@xcre8ionx]

Ban palm oil

[@devqubs]

Ban sunflower oil

[@devqubs]

Ban beef

[@sultrys2291]

ban rapeseed and corn oil.

[@ShambaniFarm]

It's deforestation when we farm Oil Palm but its not deforestation when Europeans come clear our land for mining gold and diamond?

[@ShambaniFarm]

Why barn Palm Oil? Are you also going to barn sunflower, soybean or rapeseed oil? Will you also barn diamond and gold mining? Will you barn manufacturing industries? Will you barn motor vehicles? Did you know that sunflower and soybean farms could potentially be worst for the environment than oil palm plantations? Let me explain this: 1. First sunflower or soybean output per hectare is too small compared to oil palm - thus you need 10 times the land. So if you stop Oil Palm farmers from farming the crop and they switch to sunflower or soybean expect them to clear 10 times the land. 2. Oil Palm produces two different types of oils offering different characteristics and taste - no sunflower or soybean can do that. 3. Orangutans or wild animals would find oil palm plantations much habitable than an open sunflower or soybean farms. 4. Sunflower or soybean will need crop rotation to continue to be productive yet palm tree can stay there for 30 years without needing rotation. At the time of rotation will it mean people stop using edible oils, No. What will happen is more land will be acquired for that. 5. For Oil Palm the farm is cleared once but for soybean the farm is cleared every season/year meaning you have cases of land being bare every season (leading to evaporation of surface water 💧 and killing surface organisms by the sun) yet palm will protect the land underneath continuously keeping it wet. Remember when the sunflower is bare, our air is no longer being refreshed yet oil Palms will continuously refresh our air by taking carbon dioxide and releasing to us oxygen. 6. Oil Palm plantation will power other industries e.g cosmetics, pharmaceutical, construction, livestock feeding, paper production, ink production for print industry, biodiesel, etc. Even though sunflower and soybean can also produce livestock feed, but oil palm produce 10 times the quantity because there are more than 3 byproducts that can be used to create animal feed i.e. the leaves/fronds, the press fibber, and the palm kernel cake. 7. Oil Palm tree protect land from soil erosion which sunflower or soybean cant. 8. Because palm is a tree and it conserve land underneath just like a forest would it contributes to formation of rain - oil palm plantation is a forest. 9. Oil Palm can be intercropped with other crops like coffee, bananas, pensions, pineapples, cacao, etc thus improving further productivity of the land. 10. Oil Palm trees can survive draught better than sunflower or soybean coz they can preserve water for long periods. 11. Oil Palm will need less fertiliser than soybean and sunflower - the empty fruit bunches can be used to nourish the soil. 12. Due to sheer size of the tree the amout of carbons they take in and oxygen released is bigger compared to sunflower or soybean which have smaller leaf surface area.