Palm Oil
SAVE THE ORANGUTANS
What is Palm oil?
Palm oil is a vegetable oil, high in saturated fats, derived from the fruit of the oil palm tree. It is grown commercially in several tropical countries but mainly in Indonesia and Malaysia, which account for 85% of global palm oil production. While palm oil is now beginning to be recognised as a harmful product to orangutans and forests because of deforestation, plantations are expected to double by 2020.
The impacts of palm oil
palm oil has many imparcts on the environment ecpecially the orangutans. Orangutans are forced to move loctations due to deforestion. In some cases indigenous poeple have been forced to move. Many orangutans don't live throught the deforestation of their habitat causing them to be endangered. There are now less than 6,600 left in Sumatra, and less than 54,000 in Borneo. It is thought that Sumatran orangutans may be the first Great Apes to become extinct unless people help to protect them.
PALM OIL QUICK FACTS
Australia
• Palm oil is found in about half of the packaged products on supermarket shelves;
• Australia imports approximately 110,000 tonnes of palm oil annually, which is about 0.2% of global production.
Global
• Total consumption of palm oil has increased tenfold since 1980 and now stands at around 50 million tonnes per year
• Together, Malaysia and Indonesia produce over three quarters of the palm oil consumed globally.
