An edible vegetable oil From the fruit of oil palm trees The most widely used vegetable oil

Oil palm trees produce a lot of palm oil. If you planted the same area of land with oil palm trees, coconut trees and maize, you would get twice as much palm oil as coconut oil and 30 times as much palm oil as maize oil!

In the rush to produce more and more palm oil, rainforests have been destroyed to plant oil palm trees. This is a particular problem in Sumatra and Borneo, the orangutans’ home, where around 85% of the world’s palm oil is now produced

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Scientists believe a third of all animal and plant species on Earth face a high risk of extinction within this century. We have to fight back. We need to conserve biodiversity worldwide. Destroying the rainforest in Borneo and Sumatra to make space for oil palm plantations is one of the biggest threats facing wildlife, including orangutans. In the last 30 years more than 80% of their forest home has been destroyed. But palm oil is really useful and has the highest yield per hectare of any edible oil. This means it has the potential to be environmentally friendly. We need to start growing palm oil sustainably, selling it in supermarkets and raising awareness among consumers so they can make informed choices about what they buy.

Deforestation is having a terrible impact on orangutans. Without their natural treetop habitat, orangutans cannot survive. Adult orangutans are often killed during forest clearance and their babies are captured and sold on as pets. One of the main reasons for clearing forest is to create space for oil palm plantations and meet the demand for cheap palm oil. It is wrong for this to be done at the expense of precious species like the orangutan! Deforestation to clear space for oil palm plantations must stop. People in other countries need to start to understand the impact of their actions when they choose to buy products containing palm oil produced in Borneo and Sumatra.

People need palm oil! Palm oil production is key for our local economy and taking it away would be disastrous for local families – how would we earn money to put food on the table? Oil palm trees are an efficient use of land – they produce more oil per hectare than other sources, e.g. sunflowers or coconut trees. Palm oil is useful – it’s used in everything from cake, chocolate, margarine and frying fats to cosmetics, soap and cleaning products. Up to 50% of products in UK supermarkets now contain palm oil! If this all has to be produced sustainably, prices are going to rocket and consumers won’t be able to afford basic goods. Producing palm oil cheaply is more important than protecting orangutans.

Palm oil is an incredibly useful product! It’s in 50% of products we stock – everything from cake, chocolate, margarine and frying fats to cosmetics, soap and cleaning products. If supermarkets are only allowed to sell products containing palm oil produced sustainably, there’s going to be a negative impact on consumers as costs are bound to increase. Consumers could be given the choice. They could be made aware of the issue and offered the alternative of sustainable palm oil products – many of own brand goods contain sustainable palm oil which work out cheaper than branded goods with unsustainable palm oil. It’s not our problem! We just stock the products that manufacturers produce and try to keep our customers happy.