Thank you Rikke! This could have been a very very long post... there was so much information!
Zan said…
Hi Lise!
Thanks for this very informative post. I'm from Malaysia which is one of the major palm oil producer and I have been trying so hard to explain to people about the benefits of palm oil compared to other types of plant oil. Not only oil palm being the highest yielding oil crop but the waste from palm oil milling can be used to generate clean renewable energy, which will reduce the usage of fossil fuel.
HI Zan . thanks so much for this input! It's great to hear from someone so close to the source... can you tell me if there is a lot of debate about this in Malaysia? I'd love to hear more- :)
Zan said…
Hi Lise,
Sorry for the late reply. Been busy with my studies lately. There's not much debate on palm oil in my country as everyone is happy with the palm oil industry in Malaysia. Palm oil industry is the major economic precursor for my country and it provides many job opportunities for local people. My country has imposed zero-burning oil palm plantation technique to reduce and eliminate air pollution issue.
As for the issue on wildlife being endangered as the forest are being cleared, actually for new oil palm plantation, they are using the land that was previously used to plant other crops such as cocoa and rubber tree. Thus, there not much deforestation happening. Malaysia still retain more than 50% of its total land area in forest form. Apart from that, we have a large orang utan sanctuary that helps to rehabilitate orphanage orang utan.
From my reading and understanding, if we substitute palm oil completely for other plant oil such as soybean oil, the land use to yield the oil would be massive and more forest will be harmed and thus lead to more environmental impacts.
Again, sorry for the long comment. I hope people will open up their mind and read more on the palm oil issue so that no misunderstanding will happen :)
Hi Zan - thank you so much for this input. I find it interesting that this kind of information doesn't seem to be making the press on this side of the world. It sounds to me like there is a lot of awareness in Malaysia and that positive steps are being taken to maximize the planet-friendliness of palm oil production. Thanks again for your comment!
Zan said…
Hi Lise!
No worries at all. Not all information available worldwide I guess, as I'm currently doing my postgraduate studies in Australia in Environmental Management and I'm surprised that they didn't get this bit of information on palm oil. I'm happy that I can give some insight to you.
Cheers! Zan.
Anna said…
Hi Lise, this post is a little old but just found it. I live in Ecuador and we have the palm oil industry a very important one, I get so disappointed every time people start to discuss about this matter, because for us is almost the same as Zan explained, and we don´t have orang-utans in this country, so this upsets me to read how all palm oil is put in the same basket. I love palm oil for soaps, cosmetics and for cooking, far much better and healthier than lots of seed oils. I´m glad to have the opportunity to speak up for this. Thank you for giving your point of view, which I find very well informed.
HI Anna - thank you for your input. I know what you mean.. some times the marketing of an idea buries too many of the facts to where the message can be considered information. I shop for and use palm oil made by sustainable production in many of my products. The fact that efforts are being made to create a worldwide sustainable palm oil production is encouraging.
Comments
Kh Rikke
Thanks for this very informative post. I'm from Malaysia which is one of the major palm oil producer and I have been trying so hard to explain to people about the benefits of palm oil compared to other types of plant oil. Not only oil palm being the highest yielding oil crop but the waste from palm oil milling can be used to generate clean renewable energy, which will reduce the usage of fossil fuel.
Sorry for my long ramblings. Have a great day! :)
Regards,
Zan.
Sorry for the late reply. Been busy with my studies lately.
There's not much debate on palm oil in my country as everyone is happy with the palm oil industry in Malaysia. Palm oil industry is the major economic precursor for my country and it provides many job opportunities for local people. My country has imposed zero-burning oil palm plantation technique to reduce and eliminate air pollution issue.
As for the issue on wildlife being endangered as the forest are being cleared, actually for new oil palm plantation, they are using the land that was previously used to plant other crops such as cocoa and rubber tree. Thus, there not much deforestation happening. Malaysia still retain more than 50% of its total land area in forest form. Apart from that, we have a large orang utan sanctuary that helps to rehabilitate orphanage orang utan.
From my reading and understanding, if we substitute palm oil completely for other plant oil such as soybean oil, the land use to yield the oil would be massive and more forest will be harmed and thus lead to more environmental impacts.
Again, sorry for the long comment. I hope people will open up their mind and read more on the palm oil issue so that no misunderstanding will happen :)
Regards,
Zan.
No worries at all. Not all information available worldwide I guess, as I'm currently doing my postgraduate studies in Australia in Environmental Management and I'm surprised that they didn't get this bit of information on palm oil. I'm happy that I can give some insight to you.
Cheers!
Zan.