Success of Palm Oil Brings Plantations Under Pressure to Preserve Habitats

Idyllic scenes of palm trees swaying over sandy beaches have long decorated brochures meant to lure tourists to Indonesia and Malaysia. But few visitors see the giant palm plantations away from the shore.

Each year, the plantations produce millions of tons of palm oil, which has soared in popularity since the 1970s and is now found in foods like margarine, potato chips and chocolate, as well as in soap, cosmetics and biofuel.
With these two Southeast Asian nations leading the way, the industry churned out about 43 million tons last year, making palm oil the world’s most produced vegetable oil, according to estimates by Oil World, an independent industry analyst group.

But the palm plantations are in the cross hairs of consumer groups and corporations in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the United States. Echoing the longstanding concerns of environmental groups, they say palm oil producers continue to fell large tracts of forest to make way for plantations, destroying habitat for endangered species like the orangutan.

In Malaysia, the land devoted to palm oil plantations increased to 4.48 million hectares in 2008, or 11.1 million acres, from about 641,700 hectares in 1975, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board. Reports suggest that Indonesia has about 6 million hectares (14.8 million acres) under cultivation.

New York Times