5gyDearest Nestlé Global Headquarters,
Palm oil production and our forests
Today, I want to talk to you about the current deforestation problems associated with oil palm plantations in certain parts of the world; a product mainly patronized by your outfit. It’s now statistically proven that the rate of expansion of oil palm production is directly associated with the rate of forest loss and deforestation. In most tropical areas such as Malaysia and Indonesia for example, palm plantations have replaced forests because of the increased profit in the oil palm business. For example, palm oil consumption amounted to 7.7 million tons in the EU in 2017 alone with 61% spent on energy (i.e., Biofuel, power, and heat) and the remaining 39% spent on food, animal feed, and chemical products. Undoubtedly, it remains a source of huge profits for multinational corporations; nevertheless, it is greatly and significantly affecting biodiversity, which is a big conservation concern. The thing is, we are losing our forests and everything in them; talk about orangutans, Sumatran tigers, and Borneo elephants as well as microscopic organisms, they are pushed closer to extinction by the day. But look at this, in as much as the continuous rate of forest loss to these palm plantations is disturbing, land conflicts are also on the increase. In Indonesia for example, more than 700 land conflicts are related to the palm oil industry. And that isn’t cool.
Statistical Trends
Statistically, in some 29 countries where oil palm is mainly grown, 78 million hectares of forests were lost just between 1990 and 2000, while oil palm plantations expanded by 3.9 million hectares (FAO,2011); 5% of this loss was attributed to palm oil expansion. (FAO 1993). However, just about ten years down the line, the rate of forest loss recorded between 2000 and 2010 diminished (FAO, 2011), while palm expansion increased; 58 million hectares of forest were lost in the same 29 countries while oil palm expansion still explains no more than 10% of recent forest loss. A small country such as Ghana, where I come from, with a population of about 31,072,940 million people, is recorded to have lost 1,154 hectares of our forests; most of which is attributed to oil palm production between 2001 and 2020. As unpleasant as this may sound, these figures are increasing by the day, especially in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nigeria, and Brazil, just to mention a few.
The Danger
Having said that, I would like to state the impact of continuing on this path and the repercussions as we incessantly cut down our trees to make more room to produce palm oil. The release of vast amounts of carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere which eventually changes our climate should be a concern to your organization and others like yours. Not just that, soil erosion and increased greenhouse gasses are in the mix too. Also, these trees that control the level of water in the atmosphere by helping to regulate the water cycle are destroyed in the process and therefore there is less water in the air to be returned to the soil, causing dryer soil resulting in drought conditions.
For me, the disheartening part of all these is the loss of animal and plant species due to habitat loss. This is where we turn to lose species known and unknown to man. Another grievous impact is that the trees that provide shelter for some of these species and also provide the canopy that regulate the temperature for us are also totally lost, causing the same old global warming and drought problems. No matter how we deny these terminologies, it is happening.
What I am driving at is that oil palm producers are “destroying our world” gradually. Manufacturers like yourselves whose raw material is oil palm are increasing their production because they have a ready market for their products. I, however, cannot attribute any reason for this except to say that the production of snacks like yours (kit kat, chocolate bars, and others like it), made from palm oil, increase the demand for palm oil. I have a theory on this; if there is no market for palm oil producers, there will not be a need to increase palm oil production by destroying the forests to make more room for these plantations. You may think of this as a chicken and egg situation. If only these palm oil producers use the system of shifting cultivation on Imperata grassland to plant and grow their palm trees, this problem of forest loss will be curbed significantly. Studies have shown that there is a little to negligible increase in biodiversity loss or biomass change when there is shifting cultivation on Imperata grassland and secondary forests.
There is also the issue of conservation and sustainability, in that when these forests are conserved today, it will advance to meeting the needs of future generations too. We do not have to destroy everything in the bid to satisfy our needs today. I believe therefore that, if your outfit and others like yours do not create a market for these palm oil-producing companies, there would be no market for them and certainly no need to increase their production by expanding and thereby engaging in deforestation activities to meet their high demand. Let us think about the Orangutans and all the other species that are near extinction, even the microorganisms in the soil that we do not see. Let us not destroy the food chain in the process of satisfying some needs today. Let us preserve and conserve our forests for future generations.
I recommend therefore that your company, and companies like yours should either reduce the production of such food or spend money on research and development to replace palm oil. I strongly believe that consumers will only buy what is produced for them as and when they acquire the taste for it. This means that you will not be out of business so to say if you use sustainable palm oil for your products.
You could also replace the palm oil ingredient in your products with a more suitable and environmentally friendly ingredient that does not cause any harm to our forests. Alternatively, assuming there is no substitute for palm oil, make a conscious effort to only purchase palm oil from producers who grow their palm plantations on Imperata grassland and secondary forests, just to force oil production companies to refrain from destroying our primary forests and preserve biodiversity.
I believe these recommendations will help curb our current deforestation problems and preserve biodiversity because all living things, humans and animals alike are important and must be saved from extinction as much as we try to save the world around us. Protect our forests today for future generations!
Sincerely,
E. Obiri
