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And your local supermarket is, however unintentionally, linked to it all. What is more, when we do our weekly shopping, we are almost certainly contributing to the problem.
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The trail starts on the island of Borneo. An area of rainforest the size of three football pitches is cut down every minute of every day. This tropical island – the third largest in the world - is under siege as never before from loggers and plantation owners.
Along with the nearby island of Sumatra, Borneo’s rainforests, home to countless species of wildlife (many not yet scientifically identified), are being laid bare by loggers at a rate which exceeds the now legendary logging of the Amazon. One animal, which is critically suffering as a result also happens to be one of our closest relatives, the orangutan.
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Millions of acres of rainforests have been destroyed and more will follow – unless you do something about it.
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“The rate of loss of orangutans has never been greater than in the last three years, and oil-palm plantations are mostly to blame. We are facing a silent massacre, taking place far from where people can see what is going on. We need international co-operation now to address this crisis.”
Dr Willie Smits, Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation’s Founder/Chairman
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"Over 28 million tons of palm oil are produced annually for food source. How much more forest will disappear, since this is a lucrative business? The expansion of plantations causes a significant loss of biodiversity, as well as posing a health hazard to people due to the haze from land being set on fire. Therefore, a control mechanism for better management practices in this sector should be strictly imposed" Syamsidar, WWF Indonesia
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“It is the total clearance of forests, ultimately for the planting of oil palm, that has wreaked by far the most havoc.”
Dr Ian Singleton, Scientific Director, Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme.
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“We cut down the tree where the female was sitting and she fell to the ground. We thought she might already have died but when we got close she stood up and tried to ‘attack’ us. We cut off her hands with our knives. She died.”
Edi, Plantation worker in Pundu.
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“Thousands of orangutans, gibbons and other animals are now exterminated by bulldozers to create enormous oil palm concessions. Every day, our radio station (Kalaweit) broadcasts messages to sensitise people about the oil palm issue in Indonesia.”
A.B.Chanee, Director, Kalaweit Association, Central Borneo
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"The palm oil industry has caused an extreme loss of habitat for wildlife such as orangutans, gibbons, tigers and elephants. This habitat destruction has also resulted in such wildlife becoming easy prey by hunters. In 2003, ProFauna reported that there were about 1000 orangutans caught annually for the pet trade"
Rosek Nursahid, ProFauna Indonesia
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“When the team arrived they saw an adult female lying on the ground not far from a newly cut down tree. As they approached they noticed that she was not tied and concluded she must have been beaten unconscious by the workers. Nothing ever really prepares you for blood or for death. This hardened rescue team who have seen newly burned corpses, 5-day-old decomposed bodies, orangutans having been beaten to death or buried alive, had to step back from what lay in front of them. The female was still alive but only barely. She was covered in blood from several deep slashes from sharp machetes. One of her hands had almost been cut off, and was only held on by a little muscle and skin on the side. The other was likewise almost cut off but at the wrist. The machete had cut through skin, tendons and bone in one swift cut. Now the female was lying there in front of their eyes slowly bleeding to death.”
Lone Droscher-Neilsen
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“Palm oil is now the single greatest threat to the survival of orangutans in the wild. By not being given the opportunity to choose alternatives, consumers are unwitting participants in the genocide of a great ape,” says Lone Droscher-Nielsen, the Danish conservationist who has dedicated her life to saving the orangutans
Given palm oil is here to stay, what can be done to help save rainforests and all who depend on them?
There is an alternative: it is called “non-destructive” palm oil.
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The key requirements for sourcing non-destructive palm oil are really quite straightforward.
It should be sourced from plantations that:
- Use already-degraded land for palm oil production
- Ensure that absolutely no high conservation value forests are cleared for oil-palm cultivation
- Respect the traditional land rights of local communities
- Do not use fire to clear areas
- Ensure that corridors remain to connect existing forests allowing free movement of populations of animal species.
- Do not offer bonuses to kill orangutans
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Further information on criteria can be found at www.sustainable-palmoil.org
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How can we make a difference?
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The simplest thing is for us is to demand that any of our favourite products which currently contain palm oil, only contain palm oil from non-destructive sources. A survey completed in 2005 by Friends of the Earth revealed that UK companies don't even know where their palm oil originates and as consumers we are also hampered by the fact that palm oil is often labeled as simply vegetable oil. The government must be persuaded to make it compulsory for UK companies to label the exact type of vegetable oil in products that they sell (for example, as ‘palm oil’) and to disclose the original plantation source.
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If companies cannot, or will not, prove that their palm oil is from non-destructive sources, they must be considered to be contributing to the extinction of the orangutan. Consumers are entitled to know if their weekly shop is adding to the extermination of orangutans and other wildlife in Indonesia and Malaysia. By demanding a commitment from manufacturers to purchase their palm oil only from non-destructive sources, we can all contribute to the survival of this great ape – as well as many other species.
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Never forget. One person can make a difference when others join in to create a force of unstoppable change.
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“Let us remember, always, that we are the consumers. By exercising free choice, by choosing what to buy, what not to buy, we have the power, collectively to change the ethics of the business of industry. We have the potential to exert immense power for good—we each carry it with us, in our purses, cheque books, and credit cards."
Jane Goodall, “A Reason for Hope”
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If you would like to become part of the solution to this problem, and help save both orangutans and rainforests, please join us in writing to the following companies asking for their assurance and evidence that palm oil used in the products they sell comes from a non-destructive source.
Not all companies provide an e-mail address.
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Iceland Food Stores
Malcolm Walker
Chief Executive
Iceland Foods Ltd.
Second Avenue
Deeside Industrial Park
Deeside, Flintshire
CH5 2NW
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Photos on this page courtesy: Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF).
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The answer to the question at the top of this page is – they all contain palm oil in one form or another.
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