An inquiry into palm oil and the impact this has on our community.
Our Inquiry Questions:
FORM: What is palm oil? (Everybody) FUNCTION: How is palm oil made? (Santino) CAUSATION: Why is palm oil a problem? (Everybody) CHANGE: What changes need to take place to stop this issue? (Jun) CONNECTION: How is palm oil connected to our life? (Santino) PERSPECTIVE: What are the different perspectives about palm oil? Personal/Local/Global (Dzhamilya) REFLECTION: How do we know palm oil is a problem? (Aika) RESPONSIBILITY: What is our responsibility to stop this? (Everybody)
FORM: What is palm oil? (Everybody)
Palm oil is a staple ingredient in many of our everyday products. It is in 50 percent of the packaged products in the supermarkets. It is used in:
It is used as a cooking oil
It is the main ingredient in most margarine
It used in ice-cream and ready to eat meals
In soaps, shampoo, and some drinks
It is used so much today because of its great cooking qualities – it maintains its properties even under high temperatures, its smooth and creamy texture and smell and makes it a perfect ingredient in many recipes and, it has a natural preservative effect which warenty of products.
Worldwide demand for palm oil is expected to double again by 2020. New plants are being developed and existing ones are being expanded in Indonesia, Malaysia and other Asian countries, as well as in Africa and Latin America.
FUNCTION: How is palm oil made? (Santino)
Oil palm is an agricultural crop that grows in plants. A good oil palm tree produces palm fruit and it is from this fruit that the palm oil and palm kernel oil is squeezed.
CAUSATION: Why is palm oil a problem? (Everybody)
To plant palm trees many acres of rainforests are continued to be cleared, and also to replant them. When this is burnt it produces a lot of carbon dioxide which connects to air pollution and global warming. Producing palm oil has linked to deforestation and the burning of peat lands in Indonesia and Malaysia, and the smoke haze that recently is a problem in Singapore.
When produced unsustainably, palm oil will cause the deforestation and destruction of primary forests, or high conservation value areas that are home to protected species and biodiversity. In other cases, some oil palm plantations were developed without consulting local communities over the use of their land. Some have even been responsible for forcibly displacing people from their land. Violations of workers’ rights to fair payment and safe working conditions and other malpractices have also occurred.
CHANGE: What changes need to take place to stop this issue? (Jun)
Palm oil doesn't have to be unsustainable because if we do stop palm oil, small holders who need the business to lift them selves out of poverty will not be able to survive because of poverty.
Something for us people to do is to make sure we don't use too much because if we do we will need more palm oil. You can also change what you buy in the supermarket. You should flip over the product and look at what is used for the product. If it uses palm oil (most of the time it says vegetable oil on products). If there is palm oil or vegetable, go and ask someone in the shop if it is sustainable palm oil. If it is yes, then you could buy that product but if it was no than put it back and go buy another product. If you don`t want to do this job, just buy products without palm oil in it, which is not easy to find. So just going to check if it is using sustainable palm oil or not should be more easier. Well, if the product that you normally buy doesn`t use palm oil at all then you are lucky because you don`t need to go and check if it is using sustainable palm oil or not.
Sustainable palm oil is palm oil that is produced unilleagally (the rule was made by the palm oil producers and the people who uses it and other people). Here is 8 principles for growers to be RSPO certified. (RSPO is an organisation who works for sustainable palm oil)
1. Commitment to transparency 2. Compliance with applicable laws and regulations 3. Commitment to long term growers and mills economic and financial viability 4. Use of appropriate best practices by growers and millers 5. Environmental responsibility and conversion of natural resources and biodiversity 6. Responsible consideration of employees, and of individuals and communities affected by 7. Responsible development of new plantings 8. Commitment to continuous improvement in key areas of activity
It depends on which trading company it is but if it is sustainable palm oil than there is a trade mark on the product. The RSPO trade mark has a palm top in the middle and on the side it says "Certified Sustainable Palm Oil RSPO". If you can't find the mark you better just check the back of it.
CONNECTION: How is palm oil connected to our life?
50% of products found in the supermarket use palm oil.
It is good for health but destruction to the environment is not good - causing deforestation.
Creates haze and air pollution, can cause diseases like lung cancer.
Connection to other environmental and social problems:
The planting and burning of palm trees is a disaster for our tropical forest, it is destroying the habitat for a large number of endangered species. Large areas of forests and degraded land are also being burnt, causing air pollution and haze problems for neighbouring countries.
Palm trees produce 4 – 10 times more oil than other crops. This would result in serious environmental damage, with the risk that more forests would need to be converted into agricultural land.
In producing countries, millions of farmers and their families work in the palm oil sector. Palm oil plays an important role to reduce of poverty in these areas. In Indonesia and Malaysia, a total of 4.5 million people earn their living from palm oil production. Stopping the production of palm oil altogether would create big problems for these people who support their families by working in this industry.
Replacing palm oil with other types of oil is not always easy due to palm oil’s unique properties as a food ingredient. Using other oils would not give the products the same texture and taste that palm oil gives.
Palm oil remains the most popular choice to meet growing global demand and the impact of oil palm cultivation can therefore not be underestimated.
PERSPECTIVE: What are the different perspectives about palm oil? People have different perspectives of whether palm oil is good or bad? Should we burn it?
Here are some examples of perspectives from different people: AGAINST:An Environmentalist's Perspective:In Malaysia, the Penan people depend on the forest. The forest gives them shelter, food, water and all the other things you need for life. Unfortunately, the logging companies started cutting down trees. For the Penan people it was very hard. They started putting up blockades to stop the companies from trying to chop down any more trees to make space for palm oil. Ajang Kiew planted lots of fruit trees and they had been cut down by companies too.The companies and the government promise to help Penans if they let them cut down trees but they never keep to their promises.Ajang Kiew ,a Penan Leader, for over 20 years has been setting up blockades to protect his Native Customary Rights land from the intrusion of logging companies.“The palm oil industry is at a crossroads,” said Rob Berridge, Director of Shareholder Engagement at Ceres, a nonprofit organization mobilizing business leadership on climate change. “The investors we work with are asking the industry to eschew forced labor, habitat destruction and accelerating greenhouse gas emissions in favor of developing and operating palm plantations responsibly. The more damaging path is not sustainable and puts shareholder value at risk. In the internet age, there is no place to hide these practices; and experts agree that sustainable palm oil production is highly feasible. In fact, supply of certified sustainable palm oil currently exceeds demand by about 50 percent.”"Finding the source of the fires, the fact is that it's quite nebulous in a sense. It's all just smoke, isn't it? At the end of the day, that's all you see in the sky," Ng says. "For every fire that you find, the source of it is quite difficult to trace. Sometimes you can trace it back to [an] estate. Sometimes you trace it from outside of the estate coming from the adjacent communities of land where they prepare the annual crops. So trying to find many small little sources, the hot spots here and there that create the big fires, is hard." FOR:Healths Experts Perspective:The health benefits of olive oil have been touted for many hundreds of years. More recently, coconut oil has become all the rage and hailed by many as the king of oils. But, whatever oil you choose – whether it’s olive, coconut, almond, canola, peanut, safflower, walnut, or even avocado oil – none compare to the powerful nutritional virtues of virgin organic red palm fruit oil.Bonus: The health benefits of red palm fruit oil can be achieved by incorporating only 1-2 tablespoons into your daily diet.Red palm oil has been a super food for a long time but, because saturated fats have had a bad press for such a long time, it is only now that people are starting to take notice of red palm oil. Palm oil is very healthy, full of antioxidants, carotenes and vitamin E with the important tocotrienols. The healthy recommended daily intake: 2 spoons red palm oil, incorporated in meals. As an antioxidant red palm oil combats ageing. Red palm oil has a rejuvenating effect on the brain and provides protection against Alzheimer’s. Singaporeans perspective:Survey
Most people who live in Singapore know what is palm oil.
Most do know the problem with palm oil.
Unfortunately because some don't know what is the problem with palm oil so they will buy palm oil products.
We are trying to get the info to others to show an awareness.
They have info about palm oil.
So they do know what is palm oil but they don't really read the ingredients.
Good:
Provides jobs for people
Good for health
Makes a lot of good and useful products
Bad:
Haze
Deforestation
Animals die
People who rely on the forest have a hard time
(Dzhamilya you need to use your survey results here as well to give people in Singapore's perspective)
REFLECTION: How do we know palm oil is a problem?
Rainforest had been burned for a palm tree to produce a palm oil.
Palm oil plantations make endangered species like orangutans, rhinos, elephants and Sumatran tigers
The main palm oil lands are Indonesia,Malasia,Iran,Ghana, Columbia and Papua new guinia
deforestation in national parks
Good thing about palm oil
good for health
Make smoke
a lot of product
Bad thing about palm oil
make smoke
Burn forest
Haze problem
palm oil product
cookies
snacks
many baked goods
Margarines
peanut butters
RESPONSIBILITY: What is our responsibility to stop this? (Everybody) ACTION1. try to stop Buying Palm oil products.2. Donate to the organisation that helps the orangutans from palmoil organisations3. Become familiar with the companies that are a part of the RSPO 4. Buy a product that lists VEGETABLE OIL instead of palm oil5. Tell others about the palm oil problem.We should take a actions to help WWF,RSPO and etc...Because if all people take action it will make a lot of diffrence and if we didn't help the organisation or campain the palm oil producers will not understand it and the palm oil plantation and deforestation will not stop. Ultimately, without demand there cannot be supply. The power lies in the hands of the consumer and your purchasing decisions. Exercise your right today, and call for your favourite retailers and brands to
start sourcing for certified sustainable palm oil
clearly label palm oil in the list of ingredients used on the product packaging
TitanPad - Research
Mentor Meetings
Useful websites:
WWF Singapore Palm Oil
Greenpeace Palm Oil
WWF The Truth About Palm Oil
Say No To Palm Oil I
Doctor Oz Palm Oil
Singapore Government Haze
Wall Street Palm Oil
Channel News Palm Oil
Impact And List Of Products
Say No To Palm Oil II
Green Century
World Watch
Palm Oil Blog
An inquiry into palm oil and the impact this has on our community.
Our Inquiry Questions:
FORM: What is palm oil? (Everybody)
FUNCTION: How is palm oil made? (Santino)
CAUSATION: Why is palm oil a problem? (Everybody)
CHANGE: What changes need to take place to stop this issue? (Jun)
CONNECTION: How is palm oil connected to our life? (Santino)
PERSPECTIVE: What are the different perspectives about palm oil? Personal/Local/Global (Dzhamilya)
REFLECTION: How do we know palm oil is a problem? (Aika)
RESPONSIBILITY: What is our responsibility to stop this? (Everybody)
FORM: What is palm oil? (Everybody)
Palm oil is a staple ingredient in many of our everyday products. It is in 50 percent of the packaged products in the supermarkets. It is used in:
It is used so much today because of its great cooking qualities – it maintains its properties even under high temperatures, its smooth and creamy texture and smell and makes it a perfect ingredient in many recipes and, it has a natural preservative effect which warenty of products.
Worldwide demand for palm oil is expected to double again by 2020. New plants are being developed and existing ones are being expanded in Indonesia, Malaysia and other Asian countries, as well as in Africa and Latin America.
FUNCTION: How is palm oil made? (Santino)
Oil palm is an agricultural crop that grows in plants. A good oil palm tree produces palm fruit and it is from this fruit that the palm oil and palm kernel oil is squeezed.
CAUSATION: Why is palm oil a problem? (Everybody)
To plant palm trees many acres of rainforests are continued to be cleared, and also to replant them. When this is burnt it produces a lot of carbon dioxide which connects to air pollution and global warming. Producing palm oil has linked to deforestation and the burning of peat lands in Indonesia and Malaysia, and the smoke haze that recently is a problem in Singapore.
When produced unsustainably, palm oil will cause the deforestation and destruction of primary forests, or high conservation value areas that are home to protected species and biodiversity. In other cases, some oil palm plantations were developed without consulting local communities over the use of their land. Some have even been responsible for forcibly displacing people from their land. Violations of workers’ rights to fair payment and safe working conditions and other malpractices have also occurred.
CHANGE: What changes need to take place to stop this issue? (Jun)
Palm oil doesn't have to be unsustainable because if we do stop palm oil, small holders who need the business to lift them selves out of poverty will not be able to survive because of poverty.
Something for us people to do is to make sure we don't use too much because if we do we will need more palm oil. You can also change what you buy in the supermarket. You should flip over the product and look at what is used for the product. If it uses palm oil (most of the time it says vegetable oil on products). If there is palm oil or vegetable, go and ask someone in the shop if it is sustainable palm oil. If it is yes, then you could buy that product but if it was no than put it back and go buy another product. If you don`t want to do this job, just buy products without palm oil in it, which is not easy to find. So just going to check if it is using sustainable palm oil or not should be more easier. Well, if the product that you normally buy doesn`t use palm oil at all then you are lucky because you don`t need to go and check if it is using sustainable palm oil or not.
Sustainable palm oil is palm oil that is produced unilleagally (the rule was made by the palm oil producers and the people who uses it and other people). Here is 8 principles for growers to be RSPO certified. (RSPO is an organisation who works for sustainable palm oil)
1. Commitment to transparency
2. Compliance with applicable laws and regulations
3. Commitment to long term growers and mills economic and financial viability
4. Use of appropriate best practices by growers and millers
5. Environmental responsibility and conversion of natural resources and biodiversity
6. Responsible consideration of employees, and of individuals and communities affected by
7. Responsible development of new plantings
8. Commitment to continuous improvement in key areas of activity
It depends on which trading company it is but if it is sustainable palm oil than there is a trade mark on the product. The RSPO trade mark has a palm top in the middle and on the side it says "Certified Sustainable Palm Oil RSPO". If you can't find the mark you better just check the back of it.
CONNECTION: How is palm oil connected to our life?
Connection to other environmental and social problems:
The planting and burning of palm trees is a disaster for our tropical forest, it is destroying the habitat for a large number of endangered species. Large areas of forests and degraded land are also being burnt, causing air pollution and haze problems for neighbouring countries.
Palm oil remains the most popular choice to meet growing global demand and the impact of oil palm cultivation can therefore not be underestimated.
PERSPECTIVE: What are the different perspectives about palm oil?
People have different perspectives of whether palm oil is good or bad? Should we burn it?
Here are some examples of perspectives from different people:
AGAINST: An Environmentalist's Perspective: In Malaysia, the Penan people depend on the forest. The forest gives them shelter, food, water and all the other things you need for life. Unfortunately, the logging companies started cutting down trees. For the Penan people it was very hard. They started putting up blockades to stop the companies from trying to chop down any more trees to make space for palm oil. Ajang Kiew planted lots of fruit trees and they had been cut down by companies too.The companies and the government promise to help Penans if they let them cut down trees but they never keep to their promises.Ajang Kiew ,a Penan Leader, for over 20 years has been setting up blockades to protect his Native Customary Rights land from the intrusion of logging companies.“The palm oil industry is at a crossroads,” said Rob Berridge, Director of Shareholder Engagement at Ceres, a nonprofit organization mobilizing business leadership on climate change. “The investors we work with are asking the industry to eschew forced labor, habitat destruction and accelerating greenhouse gas emissions in favor of developing and operating palm plantations responsibly. The more damaging path is not sustainable and puts shareholder value at risk. In the internet age, there is no place to hide these practices; and experts agree that sustainable palm oil production is highly feasible. In fact, supply of certified sustainable palm oil currently exceeds demand by about 50 percent.”"Finding the source of the fires, the fact is that it's quite nebulous in a sense. It's all just smoke, isn't it? At the end of the day, that's all you see in the sky," Ng says. "For every fire that you find, the source of it is quite difficult to trace. Sometimes you can trace it back to [an] estate. Sometimes you trace it from outside of the estate coming from the adjacent communities of land where they prepare the annual crops. So trying to find many small little sources, the hot spots here and there that create the big fires, is hard."
FOR:Healths Experts Perspective:The health benefits of olive oil have been touted for many hundreds of years. More recently, coconut oil has become all the rage and hailed by many as the king of oils. But, whatever oil you choose – whether it’s olive, coconut, almond, canola, peanut, safflower, walnut, or even avocado oil – none compare to the powerful nutritional virtues of virgin organic red palm fruit oil.Bonus: The health benefits of red palm fruit oil can be achieved by incorporating only 1-2 tablespoons into your daily diet.Red palm oil has been a super food for a long time but, because saturated fats have had a bad press for such a long time, it is only now that people are starting to take notice of red palm oil. Palm oil is very healthy, full of antioxidants, carotenes and vitamin E with the important tocotrienols. The healthy recommended daily intake: 2 spoons red palm oil, incorporated in meals. As an antioxidant red palm oil combats ageing. Red palm oil has a rejuvenating effect on the brain and provides protection against Alzheimer’s.
Singaporeans perspective:Survey
Good:
- Makes a lot of good and useful products
Bad:(Dzhamilya you need to use your survey results here as well to give people in Singapore's perspective)
REFLECTION: How do we know palm oil is a problem?
Good thing about palm oil
Bad thing about palm oil
palm oil product
RESPONSIBILITY: What is our responsibility to stop this? (Everybody)
ACTION1. try to stop Buying Palm oil products.2. Donate to the organisation that helps the orangutans from palmoil organisations3. Become familiar with the companies that are a part of the RSPO 4. Buy a product that lists VEGETABLE OIL instead of palm oil5. Tell others about the palm oil problem.We should take a actions to help WWF,RSPO and etc...Because if all people take action it will make a lot of diffrence and if we didn't help the organisation or campain the palm oil producers will not understand it and the palm oil plantation and deforestation will not stop.
Ultimately, without demand there cannot be supply. The power lies in the hands of the consumer and your purchasing decisions.
Exercise your right today, and call for your favourite retailers and brands to