"The Bitter Fruit of Oil Palm"

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Yet more problems

Despite the numerous social and environmental impacts of monoculture oil palm plantations, the industry is continuously trying to increase productivity and lower costs, which can only lead to even more serious impacts on people and nature. It is the system's perverse logic. Within that logic, the obvious step forward is genetic manipulation of oil palms. Not only to increase productivity, but to alter the end-product: palm oil. And they are already working in that direction.

Malaysian Palm Oil Association chief executive M.R. Chandran has publicly declared that "the priority should be to develop transgenic palms for better oil quality, yield and minimal height". To work in that direction, he added, "the industry must build alliances with established R&D institutions, universities and industry players, both locally and overseas, to make possible a quantum leap in applied and adaptive research work."

For him, clones are not enough. Chandran said that "the national CPO [Crude palm oil] yield has stagnated at 3.6 to 3.8 tonnes/ha in the past 13 years even though new clones developed can produce as much as 6.5 to 7.5 tonnes/ha.", adding that "the industry should take advantage of the Government's subsidy offer of RM 1,000 per hectare to carry out accelerated replanting with superior planting materials and with mechanisation in mind".

Research in this direction is already well advanced. In 1998, the press informed that indepth studies had already been undertaken by local plant biologists and geneticists to create genetically-engineered palm oil which would be able to produce "the kind of oil, flavour and scent the detergent and cooking oil manufacturers, the chocolate makers, the beauty industry, the perfume designers and salad makers desire." So the aim of this research is clearly to transform a natural product into an artificial one adapted to industry's needs.

This is the final threat to both natural environments and to people who consume palm oil and its different products. Smaller plants will allow further mechanization in harvesting. New qualities will be introduced to palm oil to adapt it to industry's -not consumers'- needs. The effects on human health of the resulting genetically-manipulated products could be serious. Impacts on the natural environments could be irreversible. And the whole process would have only one reason: profit making for industry and trade.

During the international negotiations on climate change, some governments committed themselves to reducing carbon dioxide emissions in their own countries. This very encouraging attitude from an environmental perspective -for the reduction of the greenhouse effect- can at the same time be the worst decision against the environment if it were to be implemented through the promotion of plantations to act as so-called "carbon sinks."

Negotiations will be restarting in July this year and the issue is very much on the agenda, given that more and more governments and corporations -mostly Northern- are stimulating monoculture tree plantations in the South -eucalyptus, pines or oil palm- as a means to "offset" (in reality to justify) their greenhouse gas emissions, instead of controlling and reducing them.

These decisions are being taken without taking into account the impacts of monocultures on the countries and peoples which inhabit the regions in which they are implemented. In the case of oil palm plantations, they are being promoted through the press or scientific studies which, to the usual false arguments (employment generation, contribution to the country's development) now add an equally false one: that "Oil palm is an excellent 'machine' [that] can fix carbon dioxide using solar energy".

We have already stated through the WRM bulletin all the reasons to oppose the carbon sink mechanism (see web page address below), so we won't repeat them now. What we do wish is to reproduce a few quotes to exemplify the propaganda with which the unknowing public is being increasingly bombarded with the aim of both imposing oil palm plantations and of imposing the "remedy" of carbon sink plantations as the solution to global climate change:

1- Forests are a natural store of carbon. Oil-palm plantations have similar net carbon fixation to lowland forests. ("More Land To Be Needed For Oil-Palm Areas" from the New Straits Times, February 13th, 2001 - Malaysia)

2- Like hevea, oil palm trees are environmental friendly. It removes carbon dioxide from the air and releases oxygen to the atmosphere. At the same time, stands of oil palm trees form renewal resources for the pulp and paper industry. These materials will be available from the 2.8 million hectares of oil palm trees in Malaysia and thereby reduces pressure on some forest species. ("Sustaining Agricultural Development in Malaysia: Experience in the Plantation Sector" by Dr. Abdul Aziz, Academy of Sciences Malaysia, Director-General of Malaysian Rubber Board and Dr. Yusof Basiron, Academy of Sciences Malaysia, Director-General of Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia)

3- Well managed oil palms sequester more carbon (C) per unit area than tropical rainforests, and oil palm estates are predicted to become an important part of C offset management in the next century. ("Oil Palm – The Great Crop of South East Asia: Potential, Nutrition and Management" by Ernst W. Mutert and Thomas H. Fairhurst, Potash & Phosphate Institute, Paper presented at the IFA Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 14-17 November 1999)

4- In the same way as rubber tree plantations, the cultivation of oil palms is also regarded as environmentally friendly, because it helps to fix carbon during the plant growth stage, cutting down on the greenhouse effect, besides providing other environmental advantages. Research shows that a forest, during its growth period, absorbs more carbon than it discharges into the atmosphere, thus working as a type of "filter". Oil palm and rubber plantations have this profile, according to scientists. (OMB Group, Oil Palm / Dendê Plantation, Brazil)

5- Oil palm is an excellent "machine" can fix carbon dioxide using solar energy ("Palm Oil Project - An International Collaboration in Gene Manipulation of Oil Palm for the New Century" by Dr. Hiroshi SANO, Chief Research Scientist, Agricultural Chemicals Laboratory Yokohama, Research Center Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation)

6- An oil palm plantation can "sequester" up to 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for each hectare planted, thus contributing to mitigate the greenhouse effect ... a planted forest is replacing another forest (Jorge Román, Project Manager of Palmeras de los Andes, Revista Gestión Economía y Sociedad, Octubre del 2000. No.76)

8- Malaysia emitted 144 million tonnes of greenhouse gases...almost half (68.7 million tonnes) of the emissions was absorbed by "carbon sink" – planted forests,...oil palm turned out to be the country's largest carbon sink, taking up 63 per cent of the 68.7 million tonnes of greenhouse gases absorbed due to their extensive areas. ("Malaysia's CO2 emissions among lowest", Malaysia Daily Express, November 27, 2000)

For more related information please visit our web site sections on Climate Change: http://www.wrm.org.uy/actors/CCC/index.html and Plantations Campaign: http://www.wrm.org.uy/plantations/index.html 

Oil palm plantations currently extend over millions of hectares of forest lands throughout the tropics. Further plantations are either being implemented or promoted in almost every Southern country where soil, water and solar energy fill the requirements of this palm. From Mexico to Brazil, from West to East Africa and from Asia and Southeast Asia to Oceania, governments are being urged to create conditions for the expansion of this crop.

This is completely at odds with governments' commitments regarding tropical forest conservation. It is a proven fact that most industrial oil palm plantations result in deforestation, having even worse impacts than the destructive industrial logging still in force in most of those countries. These plantations are usually preceded by logging, which "clears" the land to make them possible. The plantation then impedes the regrowth of the forest by the widespread use of herbicides. The forest thus disappears entirely from extensive areas, with serious impacts on local flora, fauna, soil and water resources. And that is usually the "best case" scenario. In other cases, the entire forest -and not only the plantation area- is set on fire, as was patent in Indonesia with the 1997/98 forest fires, which were the result of "clearing" activities carried out mostly by plantation companies.

The social impacts of these plantations are also evident, but are simply ignored. Plantations are not implemented in uninhabited areas and for the local people the most serious impact is the appropriation of their land by the plantation companies. In most tropical countries, local people do not have former ownership of the land they traditionally own. Plantation companies are awarded concessions or land titles to that land and receive government support to repress whatever opposition they may face from local communities. Additionally, the environmental impacts described in the previous paragraph are also social, given that local people obtain a large number of products and services from the forest environment which disappears as a result of the plantation.

From a macroeconomic viewpoint, Southern governments appear to have learned nothing from previous experiences with "miracle" crops. The falling prices of coffee, cacao, banana and many other crops have a simple explanation: the widespread promotion of a certain crop in as many countries as possible. The result is oversupply and competition between and within countries for market access. The burden is then carried by local producers and local workers -whose incomes get increasingly lower- or by local tax-payers when production is supported with government subsidies. But the end result is extremely favourable for the major processing and trading companies, which are able to access abundant and cheap raw material, thus ensuring high profits.

As with any other crop, the problem is not the palm itself but the industrial model in which it is being implemented. There are numerous examples -particularly in Africa- to show that this palm can be grown and harvested in an environmentally-friendly manner and that it can serve to fulfil the needs of the local populations in a sustainable and equitable manner. However, it is usually the industrial and not the small-scale diversified model which is being promoted. Even worse, the palm oil industry aims at developing genetically modified oil palms, which will increase the current problems and create new and yet unknown ones.

In spite of the threat posed to forests and forest peoples by oil palm monoculture expansion, they continue being promoted by an important number of bilateral and multilateral agencies, as well as by national governments. Within such context, civil society's role is crucial and we hope that this book will encourage more NGOs to get involved in much needed research and campaigning activities to support local people struggling at the ground level to defend their rights and forests against the plantation invasion.

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ARABIS (1996) (Agricultural Research & Advisory Bureau Information Services).- Oil palm - Market Information http://www.arabis.org/arab/arab_mkt_op.htm

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Fedepalma (Colombia) http://www.fedepalma.org/general.htm

Grupo Grasco / Indupalma (Colombia) http://grasco.com/html/p5fren.html

Grupo Numar / Palma Tica y Agricultural Services & Development (Costa Rica)

http://www.numar.net/

Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) (1999).- "Take up oil palm farming", April.

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Kachechele, Yasin (1997).- Turning Tanzania's palms into a cash crop. Electronic Mail & Guardian, April 15

La Prensa On the Web (Honduras) (1997) 12 de setiembre

http://www.laprensahn.com/econoarc/9709/e12004.htm

Lohmann, Larry (1999).- The Carbon Shop: Planting New Problems. Uruguay, World Rainforest Movement

Purdue University Center for New Crops and Plant Products (1999)

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Crops/Palm_oil.html

El Universal.com (Venezuela) (1997).- 17 de setiembre

http://www.el-universal.com/1997/09/17/17215AA.shtml

Università degli Studi di Catania / Dipartimento di Botanica (Italia)

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Wakker, Eric et alli (2000).- Funding Forest Destruction. The Involvement of Dutch Banks in the Financing of Oil Palm Plantations in Indonesia. The Netherlands, AID Environment/Telapak/Contrast Advies (Report commissioned by Greenpeace Netherlands), March.

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El Comercio, 30/03/99.- La palma se alista para ir a San Lorenzo.

El Comercio, 11/03/2000.- La palma africana se está secando.

El Universo, 11/03/2000.- San Lorenzo: La palma africana le cambió la vida.

Fierro, Luis (1992).- Los grupos financieros en el Ecuador. Quito, Cedep.

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Aditjondro, G. (1997).- Palm Oil Nepotism adds to Disaster. Australian Financial Review, October 13.

Casson, Anne (1999).- The Hesitant Boom: Indonesia’s oil palm sub-sector in an era of economic crisis and political change. Program on the Underlying Causes of Deforestation. CIFOR, Bogor.

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Chapter 3

- Cameroon: Oil palm, people and the environment

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Hervé Sokoudjou, "Oil Palm Plantations: Yet Another Threat to Cameroons’ Native Forests?.

Tieguhong Julius Chupezi, 6/7/01 (Comment on Oil Palm Monocultures in Cameroon; personal communication), e-mail: cifor.cameroon@iccnet.cm

Pari Baumann, "Equity and Efficiency in Contract Farming Schemes: The Experience of Agricultural tree Crops". London, ODI, October 2000, http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/wp139.pdf

http://www.afribourse.com/fiches/PALMCI.html

Panafrican News Agency: Ivorian Oil Palm Workers Go On Strike, 7 March 2001, http://allafrica.com/stories/200103070459.html

Emmanuelle Cheyns et al, "La filière palmier à huile en Côte d'Ivoire 3 ans après la privatisation", http://www.john-libbey-eurotext.fr/articles/ocl/7/2/166-71/

Africa News Online, 19/11/99, http://www.africanews.org

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Edwin A. Gyasi, "The environmental impact and sustainability of plantations in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ghana's experiences with oil-palm plantations"

Oil Palm Research Institute, http://www.csir.org.gh/opri.html

- Nigeria: Palm oil deficit in a traditional palm oil producing country

Nick J Ashton-Jones (personal communication, 28/12/2000)

Rainforest Foundation. "Out Of Commission - The Environmental and Social Impacts of European Union Development Funding in Tropical Forest Areas", http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/outof5.html

Kei Kajisa et al.,"Transformation Versus Stagnation in the Oil Palm Industry: A Comparison Between Malaysia and Nigeria", Michigan State University, February 1997, http://agecon.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/pdf_view.pl?paperid=99

Jude Okwe, 'CRS To Benefit From Promoting Enabling Environment For Investment Soon', Post Express (Lagos), December 13, 2000

Sime Darby web page: http://www.simenet.com/home.html

Amnesty International. "Myanmar. Ethnic minorities: targets of repression", http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/ASA160142001?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES%5CMYANMAR

Free Burma Coalition. "Forced Labor", http://www.freeburmacoalition.org/2000/10/01/newsdigest100100.html

Karen National Union, 17 March, 2001, "SPDC's Oil Palm Plantation",

http://www.karen.org/news/wwwboard/messages/1026.html

Myanmar Information Committee, Information Sheet A-0793(1), 8/2/99, "National Entrepreneurs Urged to Cultivate Edible Oil Palm, Rubber on Commercial Scale in Taninthayi Division" ,

http://www.myanmar information.net/infosheet/1999/990208.htm

By Chris Lang. E-mail: chrislang@t-online.de

By Chris Lang. E-mail: chrislang@t-online.de

" A million hectares for Jambi", Down to Earth No. 49, May 2001, http://www.gn.apc.org/dte/49OP.htm

Borneo Resources Institute (BRIMAS), 17/4/2000, 11/5/2000, e-mail: brimas@tm.net.my

Rengah Sarawak, http://www.rengah.c2o.org

Sahabat Alam Malaysia, http://www.surforever.com/sam

http://www.laprensahn.com/econoarc/9709/e12004.htm

Forest.org achieves, http://forests.org/archive/indomalay/oilpalm.htm 

Papua New Guinea Rainforest Tribe Takes Timber Developers to Court, http://www.vje.org/volume2/Inews104.html

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Govt plans tax breaks for oil palm industry, http://forests.org/archive/png/gopltaxb.htm

Glenn R. Barry, 26/11/99, e-mail: gbarry@students.wisc.students.edu

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Fedepalma, http://www.fedepalma.org/general.htm

Servicio Informativo Red Resistencia, e-mail: redresistencia@dataway.ch

http://free.freespeech.org/agp/colombia/neolib.htm

Asociación Campesina del Valle del rio Cimitarra – ACVC, e-mail: acvc@col1.telecom.com.co, cimitarra@mixmail.com, ACVC paper at the International Conference "El Otro Davos":El neoliberalismo, la cuestión agraria y el conflicto social y armado en Colombia

Daily Express, http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=3232

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The Borneo Project, http://www.earthisland.org/borneo/index.html

By Ricardo Buitrón, Acción Ecológica, e-mail: cbosques@accionecologica.org

"El Plan Puebla Panamá: análisis crítico". Coordinadora Regional de los Altos de la Sociedad Civil en Resistencia, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. e-mail: coordinadoraaltos@eudoramail.com

CIEPAC, Chiapas al Día, No. 125, 29/8/98. "Las Inversiones Extranjera Directa, Nacional y Estatal en Chiapas: Otro Mito (Segunda Parte y última)". e-mail: ciepac@laneta.apc.org

El Orbe, 24/6/2000: "Productores de Palma Africana se Quejan de Desamparo Gubernamental", http://www.elorbe.com.mx/pretor/24062000/nota3.html

Yamila Zepeda, Centro Humboldt, Amigos de la Tierra-Nicaragua, e-mail: humboldt@ibw.com.ni

D. L. Richardson, ASD Oil Palm Papers, N° 11, 1-22, 1995

http://www.asd-cr.com/ASD-Pub/Bol11/B11c1Esp.html

The Río Dulce, Guatemala Information Web Site, http://www.mayaparadise.com/ufc1s.htm

El Nuevo Diario, http://www2.elnuevodiario.com.ni/archivo/1999/septiembre/24-septiembre-1999

Fergus MacKay, Guyanas Office, Forest Peoples Programme, 15/5/2000, e-mail: fergus@euronet.nl

By Juan Figuerola, Coordinator of COVIRENA of La Palma de Corredores. Apdo. 1604-2050, San Jose, Costa Rica. Telefax (506) 283-7193; e-mail: juaneco@sol.racsa.co.cr

Article based on information from: Barbara Dinham. "Planting Poverty. New Internationalist 172, June 1987, http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue172/planting.htm

"Palm Oil Most Studied Commodity Today" By Cheah Chor Sooi, The New Straits Times Sunday, September 6, 1998, http://members.spree.com/abman/art16.htm

"Surviving the low prices of palm oil" By Yong Tiam Kui, New Straits Times, April 8 2001, http://members.tripod.com/skypin/ekon/ekon47.html