Understanding Palm Oil - Part 2: Impacts on Biodiversity

Palm oil is the most widely used vegetable oil. It can be found in 50% of consumer products across the food and beverage, cosmetics, and biofuel industries. The cheap cost, high crop yield, and versatility of the oil has driven its popularity in consumer products; however, the continued demand for palm oil has detrimental impacts on biodiversity and the environment.

Palm oil cultivation is a major driver of deforestation, degradation of natural rainforests, and loss of animal habitats. Approximately, 85% of palm oil is grown in Malaysia and Indonesia because the warm and wet tropical climate is ideal for palm oil growth. But the clearing of rainforests to make room for palm oil plantations results in the erasure of some of the most pristine, species-rich areas of our planet, and undercuts the natural processes that enable the remaining forest ecosystem to sustain itself.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), global palm oil production is affecting at least 193 threatened species.  Only specific species can benefit from the presence of palm oil plantations, including certain species of wild pigs, rodents and snakes, a huge change from the biodiversity-rich ecosystems naturally produced by tropical rainforests.

Deforestation for palm oil plantations is especially detrimental because it decimates biodiversity hotspots. Rainforests are vitally important global ecosystems that provide habitats for about half of all the planet’s animal and plant species, but only cover 6% of the earth. Vast areas of these virgin tropical rainforests are cleared to provide land for palm oil cultivation. 

Deforestation is also the main cultivation method used on palm oil plantations because, as palm oil trees grow taller, the additional effort required to collect their fruits reduces the efficiency and profitability of the plantation.  The fruits grow in bunches between the leaves at the top of the trunk and are cut when the fruit is ripe. Once the tree grows tall enough that the fruit cannot be reached, the tree is cut down. Like the deforestation of tropical rainforests, deforestation of older palm trees destroys the surrounding ecosystem habitats, displacing the wildlife that rely on it for food and shelter.

One species that is being driven to extinction by the presence of palm oil plantations is the orangutan. Orangutans are only found in the rainforests of the Southeast Asian islands Borneo and Sumatra. Approximately 10,000 of the estimated 100,000 endangered Bornean Orangutans are currently found in areas allocated to palm oil while fewer than 14,000 of the critically endangered Sumatran Orangutans remain. In 2017, a third species of orangutan – the Tapanuli Orangutan – was discovered and it jumped to the top of the list of most critically endangered orangutan species with a reported population of only about 800. The massive expansion of palm oil plantations in Borneo and Sumatra, and the resulting loss of animal habitat from this land use change, is the biggest threat to the global populations of orangutans in the wild.

Other species native to these islands are the Sumatran and Bornean Elephants. The Bornean Elephant has an estimated population of less than 1,500, while the Sumatran Elephant is estimated at a population of around 2,400. Their forest habitat is shrinking and causing more human-elephant interaction and conflict. Palm oil plantations, and the accompanying human settlements, create fragmented forest patches, and thereby decrease the elephants’ ability to forage for food.

Lastly, the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger, with an estimated population of less than 400, face risks from palm oil cultivation. Habitat destruction has forced these tigers out of the forests, increased their contact with humans, and exposed these tigers to the illegal wildlife trade. According to TRAFFIC, the global wildlife trade monitoring network, 80% of estimated tiger deaths in Sumatra are caused by poaching for trade, resulting in the death of at least 40 animals per year.

The global demand for palm oil, and the resulting expansion of palm oil plantations, is a key driver of habitat loss for endangered wildlife.  After factoring in the irreversible planetary and economic cost of biodiversity loss and the associated societal harm shouldered primarily by local and indigenous communities impacted by the land use change, it is patently clear that palm oil is not an economically viable product and must be phased out.

Abandoning the use of palm oil will not be achievable in the medium-term due to its widespread integration into so many products across the global economy. Our best hope, therefore, is for businesses to urgently commit to implementing the Palm Oil 3R’s – (i) REDUCE palm oil use in all products to the greatest extent possible, (ii) RESPONSIBLY SOURCE palm oil to avoid land use change, deforestation and loss of animal habitats, and (iii) REPLACE palm oil in products with alternative ingredients as quickly as possible. Companies that engage in the necessary research and development to expeditiously implement the Palm Oil 3R’s will be seen as leaders in their industries by acknowledging that the continuation of business-as-usual poses an existential threat to our planet.