Quote:
Originally Posted by posie  You say we do need palm oil, are you saying that there is not an alternative oil to use, I know it has special properties, but maybe research for an alternative would be sensible. |
Well, I have to admit that I'm not an expert on palm oils and their uses but if the world uses large volumes of palm oil in so many different applications then there is definitely a need for oils like that.
If they stopped producing palm oil (highly unlikely considering the many vested interests in maintaining the crop - I am betting that if we stopped buying it then most of Asia wouldn't) then the demand for vegetable oils would still exist. So we'd have to find another way of producing them, which would take up yet more land.
So, we have a few problems ... we can argue against the massive destruction of rainforest by palm oil farmers - that sounds justified. But we have to offer them an alternative otherwise they won't listen to us and they will keep cutting the forest anyway. A high-yield palm-oil might help this but then again greedy farmers might continue to cut the forest to make yet more palm oil.
One of the big problems is that in developing countries the level of corruption is massive and concepts of 'nature reserves' are very flexible. Pay-off the right people and the rich will always find a way to cut down more forest, until they are given a profitable reason why they shouldn't.
