Banning palm oils? Let's find a better solution

Banning palm oils? Let’s find a better solution

The problems with palm oils

1. Many of the items we use every day—from foods to makeup to fuel—contain palm oils. Palm oil is a fatty oil that comes from oil palm trees. It’s cheap and easy to grow, and foods containing palm oils tend to last a long time and have fewer

   trans fats

   than foods that use other vegetable oils. The ease of producing palm oils, combined with their popularity worldwide, means that palm oils can be an important source of

   income

   for farmers. So, what could possibly be the problem with palm oils?
2. Well, there are two main issues with oil palm farming. The first is that it contributes to the deforestation of tropical rainforests. Deforestation is when forests are cut down. Oil palm farmers cut down tropical rainforests to make space for oil palm fields. This process can harm animals by destroying their homes. For example, in Indonesia and Malaysia, oil palm farming has destroyed the habitats of many orangutans. Tropical rainforests are home to half of all the living plant and animal species in the world, so the loss of rainforests represents a serious problem for life on Earth.
3. Deforestation also increases air pollution. Trees clean air by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and creating more oxygen. Carbon dioxide is a gas, and when there’s too much carbon dioxide in the air, the Earth gets warmer, and people and animals have a harder time breathing.
4. The second issue with oil palm farming is that

   Indigenous

   people have been moved off their land to make space for large oil palm farms. This represents a serious human rights issue.

Should we

ban

palm oils?

5. Some people believe that we should ban palm oils altogether. However, it’s important to remember that palm oils create wealth for farmers, and especially for farmers in countries where most incomes tend to be low. These farmers would be hurt by a ban on palm oils.
6. Furthermore, if we didn’t use palm oils, we would need to grow something else to replace them. However, the problem is that substitute plants, like soybeans that produce soy oil, actually need even more space to produce the same amount of oil. For example, a

   hectare

   of oil palms can produce four tons of oil per year, while a hectare of soybean plants produces less than half a ton of oil per year. So, if we banned palm oils, we might end up cutting down even more rainforests to grow replacements.
7. So what should we do instead? I argue that we need to alter the way we grow oil palms.
8. First of all, it’s important that we respect the rights of indigenous communities. They should never be removed from their land to make space for oil palm farms.
9. Secondly, palm oil farming should be regulated to ensure it’s done in a way that’s healthy for the Earth. Governments can, for example, require oil palm farmers to grow their crops on unused farm lands, instead of cutting down rainforests. One

   study

   looked at growing oil palms on unused farm lands, rather than cutting down rainforests for new fields. The researchers found that this method of oil palm farming reduced the amount of carbon released into the air by 99.7%!
10. Thirdly, it’s important that any guidelines are clear and able to be enforced. Right now, farmers can have their palm oil marked as

    sustainable

    by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). However, there are problems with the RSPO. Their guidelines are

    vague

    . In addition, people who have gotten the RSPO mark can then mix sustainable oil with oil grown in non-sustainable ways.

Protecting farmers, protecting the planet

11. In sum, I argue that banning palm oils would only create new problems, by harming farmers and leading to the use of even less sustainable oils. Instead of banning palm oils, we need to make sure that oil palms are grown in a way that protects both indigenous communities and the Earth.