Palm Oil Deforestation: Seeing the Wood for the Trees

Rethinking the bigger picture of palm oil’s environmental impact beyond boycotts and controversy

Oil palm fruit (Source)

When Europeans first set foot on the Guinea coast in the 15th century, they were struck by a local obsession — palm oil. Merchants bought it as food for the slaves they transported, and when the slave trade was banned in 1807, palm oil found itself propelled into the limelight as traders pivoted to this alternative commerce. Palm oil was soon the lifeblood of many West African economies by the 1870s, even as the industry grappled with the challenges of unreliable supply and inconsistent quality.

Palm oil soon became a crucial ingredient for Europe’s Industrial Revolution, replacing animal-based fats and prompting European colonialists to industrialize production. In the face of failed attempts to establish plantations in West Africa, the epicenter of palm oil production shifted to Southeast Asia. Oil palms only reached there in 1848, when Dutch botanists planted four seedlings in Bogor’s botanic gardens on Java, an Indonesian island.

British soap makers, Lever Brothers, made the switch to palm oil early. In this 1897 photo taken at their portside facility in Liverpool, thousands of barrels of soap-making ingredients, including palm oil and nuts imported from West Africa, are being unloaded from boats and stacked in rows. (Source)

Foreign investors seized the “open-door” policy from post-Indonesia’s transition to Suharto’s New Order in the mid-1960s. Forests were razed for new oil palm concessions under the guise of socio-economic development. Today, Southeast Asia is the center of global palm oil production — with Indonesia and Malaysia producing around 85% of the world’s supply.

Palm oil is a force that divides opinion like no other. It has become perhaps the most controversial plant product that is not a drug.

But is it truly the villain it’s made out to be, or are we missing the wood for the trees?

The Real Backfire