Producing palm oil and protecting forests in Latin America

With its increasing presence in our foods, cosmetics and fuels, palm oil has come under scrutiny for its record in driving deforestation in the tropical regions where it is produced. These concerns have given rise to international initiatives like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which oversees one of the industry’s most widely used sustainability certification schemes. Though they are smaller players in the global palm oil landscape, producer countries in Latin America have managed to maintain relatively decent records on sustainability, experts tell China Dialogue. “This region has the highest percentage of certified palm oil in the world, which is around 35%,” explains Yasmina Neustadtl, the RSPO’s market transformation manager for Latin America. “The big drivers of deforestation in countries like Ecuador are palm, coffee, cocoa, and cattle ranching,” says Carolina Rosero, director of Conservation International’s Amazon programme in Ecuador. “The only ones that ...