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Proceedings of the National Academy of... Jan 2018Many major corporations and countries have made commitments to purchase or produce only "sustainable" palm oil, a commodity responsible for substantial tropical forest...
Many major corporations and countries have made commitments to purchase or produce only "sustainable" palm oil, a commodity responsible for substantial tropical forest loss. Sustainability certification is the tool most used to fulfill these procurement policies, and around 20% of global palm oil production was certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2017. However, the effect of certification on deforestation in oil palm plantations remains unclear. Here, we use a comprehensive dataset of RSPO-certified and noncertified oil palm plantations (∼188,000 km) in Indonesia, the leading producer of palm oil, as well as annual remotely sensed metrics of tree cover loss and fire occurrence, to evaluate the impact of certification on deforestation and fire from 2001 to 2015. While forest loss and fire continued after RSPO certification, certified palm oil was associated with reduced deforestation. Certification lowered deforestation by 33% from a counterfactual of 9.8 to 6.6% y Nevertheless, most plantations contained little residual forest when they received certification. As a result, by 2015, certified areas held less than 1% of forests remaining within Indonesian oil palm plantations. Moreover, certification had no causal impact on forest loss in peatlands or active fire detection rates. Broader adoption of certification in forested regions, strict requirements to avoid all peat, and routine monitoring of clearly defined forest cover loss in certified and RSPO member-held plantations appear necessary if the RSPO is to yield conservation and climate benefits from reductions in tropical deforestation.
Topics: Conservation of Natural Resources; Crop Production; Indonesia; Magnoliopsida; Palm Oil; Wildfires
PubMed: 29229857
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1704728114 -
Journal of Environmental Management Dec 2017Most palm oil currently available in global markets is sourced from certified large-scale plantations. Comparatively little is sourced from (typically uncertified)... (Review)
Review
Most palm oil currently available in global markets is sourced from certified large-scale plantations. Comparatively little is sourced from (typically uncertified) smallholders. We argue that sourcing sustainable palm oil should not be determined by commercial certification alone and that the certification process should be revisited. There are so-far unrecognized benefits of sourcing palm oil from smallholders that should be considered if genuine biodiversity conservation is to be a foundation of 'environmentally sustainable' palm oil production. Despite a lack of certification, smallholder production is often more biodiversity-friendly than certified production from large-scale plantations. Sourcing palm oil from smallholders also alleviates poverty among rural farmers, promoting better conservation outcomes. Yet, certification schemes - the current measure of 'sustainability' - are financially accessible only for large-scale plantations that operate as profit-driven monocultures. Industrial palm oil is expanding rapidly in regions with weak environmental laws and enforcement. This warrants the development of an alternative certification scheme for smallholders. Greater attention should be directed to deforestation-free palm oil production in smallholdings, where production is less likely to cause large scale biodiversity loss. These small-scale farmlands in which palm oil is mixed with other crops should be considered by retailers and consumers who are interested in promoting sustainable palm oil production. Simultaneously, plantation companies should be required to make their existing production landscapes more compatible with enhanced biodiversity conservation.
Topics: Agriculture; Arecaceae; Biodiversity; Conservation of Natural Resources; Food Supply; Palm Oil; Plant Oils
PubMed: 28837912
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.08.021 -
PloS One 2022Much concern about tropical deforestation focuses on oil palm plantations, but their impacts remain poorly quantified. Using nation-wide interpretation of satellite...
Much concern about tropical deforestation focuses on oil palm plantations, but their impacts remain poorly quantified. Using nation-wide interpretation of satellite imagery, and sample-based error calibration, we estimated the impact of large-scale (industrial) and smallholder oil palm plantations on natural old-growth ("primary") forests from 2001 to 2019 in Indonesia, the world's largest palm oil producer. Over nineteen years, the area mapped under oil palm doubled, reaching 16.24 Mha in 2019 (64% industrial; 36% smallholder), more than the official estimates of 14.72 Mha. The forest area declined by 11% (9.79 Mha), including 32% (3.09 Mha) ultimately converted into oil palm, and 29% (2.85 Mha) cleared and converted in the same year. Industrial plantations replaced more forest than detected smallholder plantings (2.13 Mha vs 0.72 Mha). New plantations peaked in 2009 and 2012 and declined thereafter. Expansion of industrial plantations and forest loss were correlated with palm oil prices. A price decline of 1% was associated with a 1.08% decrease in new industrial plantations and with a 0.68% decrease of forest loss. Deforestation fell below pre-2004 levels in 2017-2019 providing an opportunity to focus on sustainable management. As the price of palm oil has doubled since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, effective regulation is key to minimising future forest conversion.
Topics: Agriculture; Arecaceae; COVID-19; Conservation of Natural Resources; Forests; Humans; Indonesia; Palm Oil; Pandemics
PubMed: 35349594
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266178 -
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Feb 2012Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), which has received much interest in its use and further development for industrial applications, is a method that offers some... (Review)
Review
Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), which has received much interest in its use and further development for industrial applications, is a method that offers some advantages over conventional methods, especially for the palm oil industry. SC-CO₂ refers to supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) that uses carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a solvent which is a nontoxic, inexpensive, nonflammable, and nonpolluting supercritical fluid solvent for the extraction of natural products. Almost 100% oil can be extracted and it is regarded as safe, with organic solvent-free extracts having superior organoleptic profiles. The palm oil industry is one of the major industries in Malaysia that provides a major contribution to the national income. Malaysia is the second largest palm oil and palm kernel oil producer in the World. This paper reviews advances in applications of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) extraction of oils from natural sources, in particular palm oil, minor constituents in palm oil, producing fractionated, refined, bleached, and deodorized palm oil, palm kernel oil and purified fatty acid fractions commendable for downstream uses as in toiletries and confectionaries.
Topics: Chromatography, Supercritical Fluid; Oils; Palm Oil; Plant Oils; Solvents
PubMed: 22328076
DOI: 10.3390/molecules17021764 -
Metabolism: Clinical and Experimental Nov 2020Interesterified fats have largely replaced the partially hydrogenated oils which are the main dietary source of trans fat in industrialized food. This process promotes a...
BACKGROUND
Interesterified fats have largely replaced the partially hydrogenated oils which are the main dietary source of trans fat in industrialized food. This process promotes a random rearrangement of the native fatty acids and the results are different triacylglycerol (TAG) molecules without generating trans isomers. The role of interesterified fats in metabolism remains unclear. We evaluated metabolic parameters, glucose homeostasis and inflammatory markers in mice fed with normocaloric and normolipidic diets or hypercaloric and high-fat diet enriched with interesterified palm oil.
METHODS
Male Swiss mice were randomly divided into four experimental groups and submitted to either normolipidic palm oil diet (PO), normolipidic interesterified palm oil diet (IPO), palm oil high-fat diet (POHF) or interesterified palm oil high-fat diet (IPOHF) during an 8 weeks period.
RESULTS
When compared to the PO group, IPO group presented higher body mass, hyperglycemia, impaired glucose tolerance, evidence of insulin resistance and greater production of glucose in basal state during pyruvate in situ assay. We also observed higher protein content of hepatic PEPCK and increased cytokine mRNA expression in the IPO group when compared to PO. Interestingly, IPO group showed similar parameters to POHF and IPOHF groups.
CONCLUSION
The results indicate that substitution of palm oil for interesterified palm oil even on normocaloric and normolipidic diet could negatively modulate metabolic parameters and glucose homeostasis as well as cytokine gene expression in the liver and white adipose tissue. This data support concerns about the effects of interesterified fats on health and could promote further discussions about the safety of the utilization of this unnatural fat by food industry.
Topics: Animals; Cytokines; Diet, High-Fat; Fatty Acids; Homeostasis; Insulin Resistance; Liver; Mice; Palm Oil
PubMed: 32910938
DOI: 10.1016/j.metabol.2020.154350 -
PloS One 2016Palm oil is the most widely traded vegetable oil globally, with demand projected to increase substantially in the future. Almost all oil palm grows in areas that were...
Palm oil is the most widely traded vegetable oil globally, with demand projected to increase substantially in the future. Almost all oil palm grows in areas that were once tropical moist forests, some of them quite recently. The conversion to date, and future expansion, threatens biodiversity and increases greenhouse gas emissions. Today, consumer pressure is pushing companies toward deforestation-free sources of palm oil. To guide interventions aimed at reducing tropical deforestation due to oil palm, we analysed recent expansions and modelled likely future ones. We assessed sample areas to find where oil palm plantations have recently replaced forests in 20 countries, using a combination of high-resolution imagery from Google Earth and Landsat. We then compared these trends to countrywide trends in FAO data for oil palm planted area. Finally, we assessed which forests have high agricultural suitability for future oil palm development, which we refer to as vulnerable forests, and identified critical areas for biodiversity that oil palm expansion threatens. Our analysis reveals regional trends in deforestation associated with oil palm agriculture. In Southeast Asia, 45% of sampled oil palm plantations came from areas that were forests in 1989. For South America, the percentage was 31%. By contrast, in Mesoamerica and Africa, we observed only 2% and 7% of oil palm plantations coming from areas that were forest in 1989. The largest areas of vulnerable forest are in Africa and South America. Vulnerable forests in all four regions of production contain globally high concentrations of mammal and bird species at risk of extinction. However, priority areas for biodiversity conservation differ based on taxa and criteria used. Government regulation and voluntary market interventions can help incentivize the expansion of oil palm plantations in ways that protect biodiversity-rich ecosystems.
Topics: Africa; Animals; Biodiversity; Conservation of Natural Resources; Crop Production; Endangered Species; Forests; Palm Oil; Plant Oils; South America
PubMed: 27462984
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159668 -
Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical... 2020Current guidelines recommend reducing intake of diets rich in saturated fats and replacing it with diets rich in unsaturated fats. Palm oil contains a high amount of... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Current guidelines recommend reducing intake of diets rich in saturated fats and replacing it with diets rich in unsaturated fats. Palm oil contains a high amount of saturated fatty acids, but its effect on serum lipid levels is unclear. The study aimed to compare the effects of palm oil consumption with other edible oils rich in monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on serum lipid profiles.
METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN
We searched Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central Registry of Controlled Trials and CINAHL. Clinical trials were eligible if they compared palm oil-rich diets with diets rich in MUFAs or PUFAs. We pooled results of included studies using a random effects model and assessed the quality of the evidence and certainty of conclusions using the GRADE approach.
RESULTS
Intake of palm oil intake compared to oils rich in MUFA was associated with increased levels of total cholesterol (TC) [mean difference (MD)=0.27 mmol/L; 95% CI 0.08 to 0.45], LDL-C (MD=0.20 mmol/L; 95% CI 0.02 to 0.37) and HDL-C (MD=0.06 mmol/L; 95% CI 0.02 to 0.10). Similarly, for comparison with oils rich in PUFAs, palm oil showed increased in TC (MD=0.38 mmol/L; 95% CI 0.14 to 0.62), LDL-C (MD= 0.44 mmol/L; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.88) and HDL-C (MD=0.08 mmol/L; 95% CI 0.03 to 0.13). For both comparisons, there were no significant effects on triglycerides.
CONCLUSIONS
Even though palm oil increases marginally the level of serum lipids, the evidence is mostly of low to moderate quality.
Topics: Diet; Dietary Fats; Humans; Lipids; Palm Oil
PubMed: 32990612
DOI: 10.6133/apjcn.202009_29(3).0011 -
Anais Da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias 2023The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the inclusion of palm oil on the ruminal environment and nutrient digestibility of sheep diets. Twenty...
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the inclusion of palm oil on the ruminal environment and nutrient digestibility of sheep diets. Twenty rumen-cannulated sheep were kept in individual stalls equipped with feeding and drinking troughs The animals were fed five diets based on Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum. cv. Roxo) silage and supplemented with 0, 25, 50, 75, or 100 g kg-1 of palm oil (based on total DM). The Elephant grass was harvested at 90 days of regrowth and the concentrate was based on ground corn grain, soybean meal and mineral mix (20 g kg-1 DM), offered to the sheep at a ratio of 1.5 g kg-1d-1 of body weight (restricted intake) to maintain a forage-to-concentrate ratio of 1:1, based on DM. There were no differences (P = 0.324) in ruminal disappearance and degradability parameters with up to 75 g of oil per kg of DM. Organic matter showed a linear reduction in apparent digestibility, while ether extract increased linearly. Palm oil affected the digestibility and nutritional parameters in ruminant diets.
Topics: Sheep; Animals; Palm Oil; Digestion; Diet; Dietary Supplements; Silage; Nutrients; Rumen; Fermentation; Animal Feed
PubMed: 38055598
DOI: 10.1590/0001-3765202320190 -
PloS One 2021Palm oil is relatively inexpensive, versatile, and popular, generating great economic value for Southeast Asian countries. However, the growing demand for palm oil is...
Palm oil is relatively inexpensive, versatile, and popular, generating great economic value for Southeast Asian countries. However, the growing demand for palm oil is leading to deforestation and biodiversity loss. The current study is the first to employ a capability-opportunity-motivation (COM-B) framework in green consumerism, to determine which capability, opportunity, and motivation factors strongly predict the intentional purchasing of sustainable palm oil products by Australian consumers (N = 781). Exploratory factor analysis revealed four main types of predictors of SPO purchasing-Pro-Green Consumption Attitudes, Demotivating Beliefs, Knowledge and Awareness, and Perceived Product Availability. Multiple regression revealed that these four factors explained 50% of the variability in SPO purchasing behaviour, out of which Knowledge and Awareness accounted for 18% of the unique variance. Perceived Product Availability and Pro-Green Consumption Attitudes were also significant predictors but accounted for only 2% and 1% of unique variance, respectively. These results provide a valuable foundation for designing behaviour change interventions to increase consumer demand for sustainable palm oil products.
Topics: Adult; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Humans; Palm Oil; Regression Analysis; Sustainable Development
PubMed: 34407066
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254897 -
The Lancet. Planetary Health Sep 2021In comparison with protein, dietary fat receives little attention in the food system sustainability literature, although we calculate that the average consumption of... (Review)
Review
In comparison with protein, dietary fat receives little attention in the food system sustainability literature, although we calculate that the average consumption of fats in many populous regions of the world is below nutritional recommendations. Animal products are the major source of dietary fat, particularly in regions with excess fat consumption. We estimate that an additional 45 Mt of dietary fat per year need to be produced and consumed for the global population to reach recommended levels of fat consumption, and we review different strategies to fill this gap sustainably. These strategies include diverting oils currently used for energy production to human consumption, increasing palm oil and peanut oil yields while avoiding further deforestation, developing sustainable cropping systems for the production of rapeseed and soybean oils, increasing the consumption of whole soybeans and derived products, and expanding the use of animal fats already produced.
Topics: Animals; Diet; Dietary Fats; Humans; Palm Oil; Plant Oils
PubMed: 34508684
DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00194-7