It was these bits of the article that seemed to add more complexity to the palm oil discussion.
1. By any measure you choose to adopt, more deforestation today is caused today by beef, by soy, and by maize, than by palm oil. Especially beef, which is responsible for 80% of deforestation across the Amazon, and 65% of total deforestation
2. Boycotting palm oil is purposeless, as has been recently acknowledged by the International Union for Conservation of Nature–in that the world will still need cooking oils, and all the substitutes will cause more damage than palm oil does.
3. The reason for that is simple: palm oil provides 35% of global edible oils – and yet takes up only 10% of the total global acreage devoted to edible oils. It is so much more efficient than sunflower or rapeseed oil, let alone soybean oil, which is itself a massive driver of deforestation throughout South America.
4. The RSPO has just incorporated strict ‘no deforestation criteria’ into its basic Principles & Criteria – so there is nownoexcuse to go on arguing that RSPO certification does not help reduce deforestation.
Obviously Jonathon Porritt is involved in trying to make palm oil businesses more sustainable....so could be biased, but he is fairly open about this,
At which point, I have to make a declaration of personal and professional interest.In the first place, Forum for the Future does a lot of work with the oil palm industry, for which we are paid. Our most important project is based in Indonesia, where we’re working with five large palm oil companies, as well as a wide range of NGOs and international organisations, to address complex labour rights challenges within the sector.
But this is also personal. I act as the Independent Sustainability Advisor, on behalf of Forum for the Future, to Sime Darby Plantation, the largest producer of certified palm oil in the world. I’ve watched Sime Darby in particular, together with other big players in the industry, incrementally get its house in order, in order to be able to sell genuinely sustainable palm oil in Europe and elsewhere, as certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.
None of these companies is perfect. Indeed, I remain a fierce critic of just how long it has taken to sort out some of the legacy issues. There are still far too many laggards in the industry, and a lot of environmental damage is still being done. But to go on vilifying and demonising such a critically important industry, which continues to move forward on challenges like deforestation and better working conditions,makes no sense whatsoever