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Palm oil continues to heavily damage the environment, even if it is the better option

The Lesser Evil in Oil Production: Research Showcases the Deadly Effects of Vegetable Oil

By Emily Mistishen on Jul 23, 2018
Despite its pervasiveness in today’s market, palm oil is a product that comes with heavy baggage. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Oil Palm Task Force (OPTF) defines palm oil as oil that comes from the oil palm tree, a species of tree that can be found in areas such as Colombia and Madagascar. Today it is used in a variety of ways, from cooking to cleaning to biofuels. However, the vegetable oil not only presents a serious threat to the environment with deforestation and loss of wildlife, but also pollution. With sustainable industry and natural resource practices as an ever-evolving field of research, IGI Global publications, such as Promoting Global Environmental Sustainability and Cooperation by Prof. Sofia Idris, an independent researcher in Pakistan, and Cases on the Diffusion and Adoption of Sustainable Development Practices by Dr. Helen E. Muga from University of Mount Union and Dr. Ken D. Thomas from Auburn University, examine sustainable development practices and strategies that can be utilized not only by industries, but by organizations and nations around the world.

According to IUCN, “the world produced four-and-a-half million tonnes of palm oil [in 1980]. In 2014, the world produced nearly 70 million tonnes, 15 times as much." To help fight palm oil production’s effects on the environment, the EU recently refused palm oil as a biofuel option beginning in 2030. Despite the EU’s move and other boycotts against it, palm oil production continues to rise. Although the oil crop stirs controversy among environmental agencies and product industries, it is considered to be the “lesser evil” among vegetable oil crops. The IUCN explains that oil palm is the most productive vegetable oil crop, having higher yields and requiring less land when compared with rapeseed oil and soybean oil. While it still poses a threat to the environment, palm oil is the more sustainable option for industries to use.


Prof. Diana Chalil from the University of Sumatra Utara identifies Indonesia as the world’s largest palm oil producer in her chapter, “Assessment of Smallholders' Barriers to Adopt Sustainable Practices: Case Study on Oil Palm (Elaeis Guineensis) Smallholders’ Certification in North Sumatra, Indonesia,” from the publication, Cases on the Diffusion and Adoption of Sustainable Development Practices. The country produces nearly 50 percent of the total world production. This tremendous amount of palm oil production has caused concern among environmental groups, including the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and led to proposals of alternative and sustainable criteria. However, Prof. Chalil states that “many of them are not easy to be adopted by palm oil producers, especially for the smallholders.” With a lack of information, high costs of adoption, incompatibility with stages in farm development and farming conditions, and inadequate managerial skills, palm oil producers face several barriers that that prevent sustainable production techniques.

“Environmental consumption appears to be one of the most pressing sustainability challenges of our times particularly in the era of globalization,” Drs. Luke A. Amadi and Prince Ikechukwu Igwe from the University of Port Harcourt explain in their chapter, “Globalization and Rethinking of Environmental Consumption From a Sustainability Perspective,” from the publication, Promoting Global Environmental Sustainability and Cooperation. The chapter examines how “sustainable environmental consumption has been a marginalized concept in international development studies and cooperation.” With a growing interest in globalization and its effect on the environment, Dr. Amadi and Dr. Igwe explore sustainable consumption theories rooted in ecological justice and natural resource equality. Fostering an equitable relationship between globalization and sustainable consumption can help industries and environmental organizations break down the barriers that prevent environmentally friendly approaches to palm oil production.

Sustainable production strategies, particularly in the palm oil industry, continue to be a major part of business research, posing problems that require effort from industries, environmental agencies, businesses, consumers, governments, and other organizations around the world. While promoting sustainable natural resource consumption remains a complicated issue, researchers; including Prof. Idris, Dr. Muga, and Dr. Thomas; provide possible solutions towards a better ecological footprint in the production industry.
For more information around sustainability in production and business, click here. To ensure this research is made available to the academic community, all of these publications are featured as a part of IGI Global's InfoSci®-Books database which offers institutions access to 4,500+ books containing over 89,000 chapters of peer-reviewed research in core subjects such as Business & Management, Computer Science & Information Technology, Education, Engineering, and Social Sciences & Humanities. InfoSci-Books offers institutions full-text PDF and HTML format with no DRM and an unlimited number of users. Purchase or recommend a free trial for your institution today.

Additionally, view the recommended readings below and recommend them to your library:

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of IGI Global.
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