High risk of global warming and deforestation rates rise as farmers and logging companies tear down millions of trees in Asia, Africa and South America. These trees are being cleared to make way for the mass production of palm oil trees. Oil palm trees produce a type of edible vegetable oil that is obtained from palm fruit, Oil palms are being annually provided by 50 million tons, and supply over 30% of the world’s vegetable oil production. Oil palm harvesting impacts the environment, numerous species of animals, and (quite ironically) it affects people Oil palm is one of the most expanding crops due to its highest-yielding oilseed. It can can produce higher financial returns and larger quantities of vegetable oil per unit area than does soy, which is the dominant oil crop in Amazonia.
Because of theses high yields, this individual vegetable oil alone can be found in about 40-50% of household products in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and England The oil is often found in products like shampoo, baked goods, confectionery cosmetics, cleaning agents, washing detergents, and toothpaste. These products are used every day by a wide spread of individuals globally. Due to logging companies chopping down and destroying trees to form these high yields from mass production of palm oil, the environment is at risk. With deforestation as a result, ecosystem services are being seriously affected. On average, oil palm trees store less than 40% of the carbon found in tropical rainforests. Currently, forests still intact in the Amazon are a massive carbon stock, with forested lands suitable for oil palm storing around 42 billions tons of carbon, an amount equivalent to all global carbon emissions for six years.
This being so, a widespread expansion of palm oil production into forested areas could have serious long-term effects on carbon storage, As deforestation develops, habitats are destroyed leaving many species extremely disturbed and some even endangered. One animal particularly being threatened, is the orangutan. Over 90% of orangutan habitat has been destroyed in the last 20 years. On average, about 1000-5000 orangutans are killed yearly by oil palm development. These primates have been buried alive, killed from machete attacks, guns and other weaponry. Data has shown that over 50,000 orangutans have already died as a result of deforestation due to palm oil in only the past two decades. This often occurs when the orangutan is starving from lack of food produced by trees no longer flourishing in their habitat.
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When hungry, the orangutans search for food in villages or in palm oil plantations and end up getting slaughtered by villagers or farmers that occupy them. Other animals affected by the development are species that include: the Sumatran tiger, Sumatran rhinoceros, sun bear, pygmy elephant, clouded leopard, and the Proboscis monkey. These valuable animals are at high risk of being poached, as roads are constructed to allow palm oil plantation farmers equipment access to the forest, clearing numerous amounts of trees. With palm oil plantations destroying the rainforests that Native people depend on, many are finding that they have no choice but but to become part of of the process as farmers.
They face poor working conditions and hardly earn enough income to support their families just struggling to get by, being. Being so reliant on the oil palm industry as their income, these people are vulnerable to the world market price of palm oil, in which they have no control over, Oil palm agriculture is a major global threat to the environment where we all reside. It not only affects us, but many other organisms and habitats. Causing deforestation, habitat degradation, climate change, and animal abuse, oil palm harvesting is becoming a well known global issue, but awareness is encouraged as plantations have yet been stopped.
