Malaysia’s government has unveiled a scheme to use “orangutan diplomacy”.
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Orangutans are an endangered species, with numbers falling dramatically in the past 100 years.
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Several batches of palm kernel product imported for dairy farms contained certain chemicals above a safe limit – and there’s an ethical quandary in supporting an industry linked with deforestation.
Oil palm fruit in North Aceh, Indonesia.
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Palm oil is responsible for widespread deforestation and labor abuses, but it’s also cheap and incredibly useful. That’s why many advocates call for reforming the industry, not replacing it.
Penambahan caampuran solar dengan nabati ol.
ANTARA FOTO/Oky Lukmansyah/foc/16.
Green diesel may be intended to reduce emissions but it is not necessarily environmentally and socially sound.
A palm oil plantation in Malaysia.
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Forests provide an essential buffer between people and wildlife — and the viruses they carry. Global agriculture is destroying forests, harming biodiversity and may be putting human life at risk.
There are more than 3,600 territories in Brazil that are home to Quilombola, descendants of escaped slaves, but few hold titles to the land.
(Elielson Pereira da Silva)
Jair Bolsonaro’s government has put forward laws that could put Indigenous land into the hands of mining, agricultural and timber businesses.
Freshly planted palm oil plantation in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.
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Oil palm plantation on remote locations is not mutually exclusive with increase wealth and improve living standards at remote locations.
Land conflicts in Indonesia are commonly the result of a lack of prior consent from people who have lived in the area for generations.
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The right strategies, using agrarian or adat justice, can settle conflicts in favour of local people and indigenous peoples.
Tropical peat swamps like this are being cleared at record rates.
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Researchers found that palm oil plantations up to five years old were more harmful to the climate than already established ones.
Palm oil development is not just about the economy but also needs to consider social and environmental costs.
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There are studies showing that farmers can have economic benefits from palm oil. However, they can also be impoverished by the commodity.
Rufous-backed dwarf kingfisher habitat is lost when forests are cleared for oil palm plantations.
© Muhammad Syafiq Yahya
The impact of deforestation for oil palm plantations is well known – and now research has found the replanting process could be additional harm to biodiversity.
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Calls to ban palm oil could get a very different response among people who live in the same forests as orangutans.
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Boycotting palm oil would increase production of other crops, such as soy, which actually require more land.
SS Torrey Canyon lies stranded on Seven Stones Reef off the coast of Cornwall.
PA Archive
Oil spills, nuclear meltdowns and chemical poisonings should be taught in schools.
Palm oil being made by local workers in Liberia.
Wikimedia/Panoramio
Liberia’s rural communities have long been suffering land grabs by international palm oil producers.
The bearded boar, one of the most emblematic animals of the Malay archipelago.
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The bearded boar is rarely honoured, yet its role in the forest of this island in the Malay archipelago is as crucial as it is emblematic.
These peatlands burned in Kampar, Riau, Indonesia, on July 24, 2017.
Rony Muharrman/Antara Foto via Reuters
A balanced research program should focus on good and rational peat management efforts that minimise environmental impacts, and on water regulation that reduces the risk of fire.