How does Indonesia’s palm oil industry fuel the climate crisis?

Published 2024년 9월 23일

Tridge summary

Indonesia is the world's largest supplier of palm oil, which is used in various products and fuels, but its production growth has led to deforestation and carbon emission. The country lost primary forest areas, driving the loss of carbon-storing forests and wildlife habitats. The government's palm oil cultivation, aimed at economic growth and job creation, has not improved the welfare of local communities and has contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, especially from draining peatlands. Despite a temporary decrease in deforestation due to regulations and fire mitigation efforts, deforestation for mining and plantations has slightly increased. Environmental groups have criticized the lack of enforcement of a moratorium on new palm oil plantations and urged for the replanting of unproductive oil palm trees on existing plantations instead of clearing forests.

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Original content

Indonesia accounts for more than half of the global palm oil supply, the world’s most widely used vegetable oil that is found in everything from food to cosmetics to fuel. But environmentalists fear surging demand for the versatile product may drive mass deforestation in Indonesia, home to the world’s third-largest tropical rainforest, and exacerbate the global climate crisis. Palm oil production reached 50 million tonnes in 2023 from 45 million tonnes the year before, according to the Indonesian Palm Oil Association. As companies and small landholders replace natural habitats with palm oil plantations, activists and researchers are warning that large amounts of planet-heating carbon is being released into the atmosphere. Palm oil plantations cover more than 42.7 million acres of Indonesia, compared with 41.5 million acres in 2019, the government’s Geospatial Information Agency said this month. Indonesia lost 721,000 acres of primary, or old growth, forest in the last two decades ...

Source: UkrAgroConsult