Article by Palm Oil Truth Foundation
The United Nations Climate Change talks which kicked off in Bangkok on 28th September 2009 is a timely reminder that time is quickly running out for finalizing a new climate deal in Copenhagen in December.
With more than 4,000 delegates convening in Bangkok to discuss climate change over the next days, World Growth, a nongovernmental organization and palm oil advocate, decided it was the time to launch its campaign.
World Growth's "Palm Oil Green Development Campaign" will focus on "setting the record straight and correcting the falsehoods and misconceptions" propagated by others like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
Indonesia would be exactly the kind of country that World Growth represents: a poor, developing nation that is also one of the world's leading palm oil producers.
"Environmental groups have made palm oil a poster child in a wider campaign to pressure developing countries to stop converting forest land to productive agro-industries," World Growth said. "Developing nations must be allowed the chance to grow and develop without political intervention by environmental groups or developed nations."
In a speech, a senior delegate for Indonesia told the U.N. that his country was a victim of climate change and "would like to do something to prevent it from worsening," Agency France Presse reported recently.
"While there have been some very general statements made here, I find it hard to imagine Indonesia agreeing to anything that inhibit their ability to support economic growth," said Alan Oxley, CEO of World Growth International.
Says Oxley: "The anti-palm oil campaign by environmental groups is unlikely to have an immediate effect on leading Malaysian and Indonesian exporters".
Oxley said despite the smear campaign in Europe and restrictions on renewal energy there, palm oil's major markets are China and India.
Despite the vigorous campaign to link palm oil to deforestation and increasing greenhouse gas emissions, it may not be sufficient to be included in the new climate change treaty being negotiated here and likely to be finalised in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.
"I don't think it will be part of the forest component when negotiators finalise the deal. All of these claims are questionable or at best severely exaggerated," he told reporters on the sidelines of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change talk here leading up to the Copenhagen meeting.
Oxley said major palm oil producers should be wary as some groups like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace were campaigning to pressure processors and consumers to boycott the commodity and the European Union to block import.
In fact, the EU Renewable Energy Directive restricts the availability of palm oil, he said, adding that the World Growth had launched "Palm Oil Green Development" campaign to correct the myths, misconceptions and falsehoods perpetuated by these groups.
"Even if they cannot succeed in stopping palm oil expansion through the treaty, they can restrict trade and aid to countries that converts forest land to oil palm estates," he said, adding that such a move was contrary to the Bali Agreement which states that climatic change strategies should support and not undermine economic development.
Oxley said one reason for the smear campaign is because palm oil has become a strong competitor to other edible oil such as soyabean and rapeseed, accounting for 32 per cent of global production and 59 per cent annual export.
"Demand for palm oil has increased dramatically over the years. It has a number of advantages over competitor products. When new products have an impact on markets, there is a natural process of adjustment," he said.
He said palm oil cultivation has proven to be an effective tool in combating poverty, citing Malaysia and Indonesia where 40 per cent are owned by smallholders, and similar efforts are being taken to introduce the crop in Africa, Papua New Guinea, Brazil and Laos.
"It has become a substantial export and a key contributor to poverty alleviation and higher living standards. In the 80s when palm oil was grown in Malaysia, the World Bank rated palm oil cultivation as one of the most effective ways to resolve poverty," he said.
He also said oil palm uses less land than crop-based oilseeds, using only 0.26 hectares of land to produce one tonne of oil palm, while soyabean, sunflower and rapeseed need 2.2, 2 and 1.5 hectares, respectively.
On claims that the oil palm industry was destroying forest biodiversity in developing countries, Oxley said in Malaysia, world's second largest producer, the crop was restricted to 20 per cent of the state land allocated for agricultural purposes.
"Both Malaysia and Indonesia have set aside 55 per cent and 25 per cent respectively for forest conservation while the European average is 25 per cent.
"Both countries are also important contributors to programmes to protect endangered species such as the Orang Utan," he said.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation had stated that deforestation was largely due to human settlement and not commercial crop, he added.
"Palm oil is a highly efficient, high-yielding source of food and fuel, providing an efficient way of providing fossil fuel alternatives and capturing carbon from the atmosphere," World Growth said.
World Growth said that biodiesel demand will not drive palm oil production in the future, but continued demand for the material as a food ingredient will be ravenous. "The projections are staggering," Oxley said. "Compared to the size of the fossil fuel market, palm oil biodiesel will make a relatively modest contribution to energy demand."
The meetings in Bangkok are the last big push before the U.N. summit in Copenhagen this December, and several interest groups have made palm oil a considerable target, hoping to convince delegates that rain forest destruction is a major contributor to climate change.
"Palm oil generates 10 times more energy than it consumes," Oxley said. "It's very prosperous and offers excellent returns on the land used to produce it."
The Palm Oil Truth Foundation lauds World Growth for having the courage and vision to see through the hype and scaremongering and taking a balanced view of the issues concerning palm oil cultivation. A crop that is ten times more efficient in land use than its competitors can hardly be described as a threat to the environment, especially when its competitors, which are ten times less efficient in land use are spared the scrutiny that the palm oil industry is subjected to. The fact that groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth should even attempt to link palm oil to climate change should raise the suspicion that there is more lying below the surface to their anti-palm oil stance. Are they proxies in a trade war cleverly disguised as legitimate environmental concerns? Wherever the truth may lie, the solution that they propose is worse than the threat it is supposed to avert! THE END
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