At the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, next to the orangutan exhibit, there is a thought-provoking display. A wall of recognizable foods and products, all containing palm oil. With this display came a description of why palm oil is next to the orangutan enclosure: because as plantation sizes grow, orangutans have less space. Originally grown in Western Africa, palm oil is the oil from the kernel of the oil palm. Palm oil has been cultivated for at least 5000 years and was one of the reasons for the Belgian takeover of the Congo as well as an increase in trade with Africa before colonialism. Palm oil carries with it a history of oppression of the plantation workers and continues that trend into the 21st century. Palm oil is harmful to humanity because it harms the environment by destroying natural habitats and contributing to CO2 emissions, has no health benefits, and the current regulations are ineffective to protect the threatened orangutans.

                  Deforestation in order to make space for oil palm plantations is causing species to decline and greenhouse gas emissions to increase because of the loss of trees. Improper use of land is causing more orangutans to be killed and has caused them to be classified as critically endangered. The problem is not palm oil itself, it is in people’s use of the land and management. In Indonesia, the oil palm plantations contributed “2 to 9 percent of all tropical land use emissions” (Union of Concerned Scientists). While 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions are from deforestation, deforestation from the oil palm in Indonesia is a large contributing problem. Palm oil has caused more than a “fifth of the total deforestation on Borneo since 1973” as well as “for 47 percent since 2000” (Rosner). Oil palm plantation destruction of forests is becoming a larger problem, as demand is still increasing. Palm oil is being used in biofuel as well as processed foods.

                  Palm oil is not healthy for consumption, but people are unaware of its commonality in packaged foods. Palm oil contains a “high saturated fat content” which is “harmful to cardiovascular health” and can contribute to heart disease (Rosner). Palm oil is included in foods to keep them soft and spreadable, but has no health benefits. It is hidden in the ingredient list and can also be labeled as vegetable oil or Vitamin A Palmitate, which is extracted from the palm kernel. The oil is in “close to 50% of the packaged products” that people buy (World Wildlife Fund). Palm oil has become so pervasive that it is impossible to avoid.

                 The current regulations on palm oil are ineffective and must be improved. Indonesia and Malaysia are currently unable to “handle the growing call for environmental reforms” (Nesadurai 205). While there needs to be a strong government in place to combat deforestation through palm oil production, there is currently no way to go through the Malaysian and Indonesian governments and support the RSPO (the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) and other organizations. The number of orangutans on oil palm plantations “declined in both certified and non-certified concessions” (Morgans). The current certifications for sustainable palm oil are ineffective and only benefit the companies economically. When people see a sustainable label, they are more likely to purchase that item, believing that they are getting a higher standard product.

                 Palm oil is the cause of the orangutans’ impending extinction. Plantation owners are cruel and treat the orangutans brutally without a care for their well-being. “The killings [of orangutans ] are carried out by plantation workers” who are unable to consider them anything but pests (Brubaker). Hope, an orangutan, found on an oil palm plantation, had been “stabbed and shot 74 times by an air rifle” because she attempted to eat the palm fruit (Stack). The cultivation of oil palm is causing plantation workers to kill more orangutans. Around 3000 orangutans are being killed every year in order to keep them away from the palm (Brubaker). 

                 From an economic standpoint, palm oil seems to be a better choice, but upon further examination these small benefits do not change the destruction it has caused in Borneo and Sumatra. Palm oil is the “highest yielding and least expensive vegetable oil” (Vijay et al. 2). Companies only see profits and not the environmental detriments. The oil palm also uses “significantly less fertilizers (etc.)… per unit produced” (Shimizu and Desrochers 2). Palm oil is easier to grow and requires fewer expensive fertilizers, which means that there should be fewer nitrates released. The small economic positives do not outweigh the detriments that oil palm farming has caused because the killing of orangutans must never be condoned. 

              The increasing palm oil demand by companies will continue to take orangutans’ lives. The answer is for people to become more active in their convictions and help to make regulations with the RSPO more focused on the preservation of orangutan lives and the Bornean and Sumatran rainforests. When more zoos join the RSPO, there will be “better checks and balances as these eco-minded” associations make their views more clear (Commitante). Zoos help to support conservation organizations due to an ability to better increase public awareness. The solution to the palm oil problem is to have stricter regulations, which would be greatly helped by zoos. Consumers are more likely to support a call for stricter regulations because zoos have a tremendous influence on them. 

                Palm oil production and use is killing the orangutans as well as the environment by destroying natural habitats. It also contributes to CO2 emissions and has no health benefits while the current regulations are insufficient and ineffective. From 1,000 to 5,000 orangutans die every year because of palm oil plantation. They are shot on the plantations because they eat the palm fruit; having nothing else to eat but the fruit.  Palm oil’s use as it is today will either be the cause of extinction or the savior of the orangutans.

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Works Cited

Brubaker, Bill. “A Quest to Save the Orangutan.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Dec. 2010, www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-quest-to-save-the-orangutan-70378473/.

Commitante, Raffaella. “Conservation News: Three US Zoos Take Leadership Role in Supporting Sustainable Palm Oil Practices.” Orangutan Conservancy , Orangutan Conservancy , 9 Nov. 2013, www.orangutan.com/conservation-news-three-us-zoos-take-leadership-role-in-supporting-sustainable-palm-oil-practices/.

Concerned Scientists , Union of. “Palm Oil and Global Warming.” Union of Concerned Scientists, Union of Concerned Scientists, Dec. 2013, Palm Oil and Global Warming.

Morgans, Courtney L, et al. “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Palm Oil Certification in Delivering Multiple Sustainability Objectives.” IOP Science , IOP Publishing , 12 June 2018, iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aac6f4/meta.

Nesadurai, Helen E. S. “New Constellations of Social Power: States and Transnational Private Governance of Palm Oil Sustainability in Southeast Asia.” Journal of Contemporary Asia, vol. 48, no. 2, May 2018, pp. 204–229. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/00472336.2017.1390145

Rosner, Hillary, et al. “Palm Oil Is Unavoidable. Can It Be Sustainable?” National Geographic, National Geographic, 7 Dec. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/12/palm-oil-products-borneo-africa-environment-impact/.

Shimizu, Hiroko, and Pierre Desrochers. “The Health, Environmental and Economic Benefits of Palm Oil.” Institute Economique Molinari, Institute Economique Molinari, Sept. 2012, www.institutmolinari.org/IMG/pdf/note0912_en.pdf.

Vijay, Varsha et al. “The Impacts of Oil Palm on Recent Deforestation and Biodiversity Loss.” PloS one vol. 11,7 e0159668. 27 Jul. 2016, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159668