DOES your lipstick threaten the future of one of our closest living relatives, the orangutan? Is that slobbering slice of pizza you’re having in front of the World Cup on TV worth the life of a tiger?
Pizza, biscuits, and beauty treatments are some of the thousands of products that contain palm oil, which threaten iconic species through deforestation.
But this new study says that planting alternative oils could pose an even bigger danger to living things.
Why is this story important?
Palm oil has often been held up as a truly terrible blight on the environment, responsible for the clearing of tropical forests and posing huge threats to iconic species.
But this report says the reality is very complex.
While palm oil is only responsible for 0.4 percent of global deforestation it is having dramatic impacts in some locations in Indonesia and Malaysia, causing 50 percent in some locations.
Simply banning palm wouldn’t work say the authors because the world will still need vegetable oils.
What’s also worrying say the authors is that efforts to boost demand for responsibly sourced palm oil haven’t worked so far.
How does lipstick threaten species?
Palm oil is the most widely used vegetable oil on the planet and is believed to be in about 50 percent of products found in supermarkets and shops.
It comes from the reddish pulp of the fruit found on oil palms, particularly the African oil palm – known as Elaeis guineensis. The top two producers of palm oil are Indonesia and Malaysia, generating tens of millions of tons annually in an industry worth upwards of $40bn.
The oil is important for lipstick for example because it holds color well, has no taste and doesn’t melt at high temperatures.
It’s found in shampoos, soaps, ice cream and instant noodles amongst thousands of others.
Over the past 20 years, growing demand has seen thousands of hectares of old, tropical forests chopped down to make way for the oily palm tree plantations. (BBC)
