The Problem with Palm Oil
Created February 9, 2010; last updated August 2, 2010
Palm Oil: A Global Threat to Rainforests
Palm oil is a globally traded agricultural commodity that is used in 50 percent of all consumer goods, from lipstick and packaged food to body lotion and biofuels. Demand for palm oil in the U.S. has tripled in the last five years, pushing palm oil cultivation into the rainforests and making this crop one of the key causes of global rainforest destruction.
Approximately 85 percent of palm oil is grown in the tropical countries of Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) on industrial plantations that have severe impacts on the environment, forest peoples and the climate.
North American food and agribusiness companies like Cargill and General Mills purchase from, operate, and own many palm oil plantations in Southeast Asia, making our corporations a powerful force in the palm oil market and rainforest destruction.
RAN is actively working to stop the destruction of rainforests by using grassroots pressure, corporate engagement, and non-violent direct action to encourage companies and their customers to stop producing, trading and purchasing palm oil that destroys rainforests.
The Human Cost of Palm Oil
Meet Matilda Pilacapio
Matilda is an environmental rights advocate from Papua New Guinea, who is fighting Cargill’s massive palm oil operations in her home province of Milne Bay. Matilda traveled on a delegation organized by RAN to meet with Cargill management in Minneapolis in late September 2009.
Watch the short interview below with Matilda Pilacapio. Matilda weighs in on palm oil, Cargill, and the rise of the 'carbon cowboy' climate traders in her home of Papua New Guinea.
Read a story from Mongabay.com on Matilda and her work
Watch Green
GREEN is a visually stunning documentary (48 minutes) which tells the moving story about the corporate conversion of rainforests in Indonesia for palm oil, tropical wood and paper through the eyes of one of the palm oil industry’s victims – a dying orangutan. The film tells a complex narrative without words: the Indonesian rainforest is being decimated at an alarming rate, fueled by consumer demand for cheap vegetable oil and biofuel.
Palm Oil on KTVU
Help Convince General Mills to Stop Rainforest Destruction
Resources
- The Pledge
RAN is calling on companies using palm oil to sign the following pledge. - RAN’s Statement on the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has concerns about the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)’s efforts to produce, trade, and market environmentally and socially “sustainable” oil. - RAN’s 'Pathway to Change' for Market Leaders
How companies can be market leaders in their use of palm oil
Publications
- Problem with Palm Oil Factsheet
Palm oil is in products Americans use everyday, from breakfast cereal to cleaning supplies. It’s also destroying rainforests, communities and the global climate.
