Palm Oil Plantations Embrace Biodiversity In Attempt To Change Environmentally Destructive Reputation (VIDEO)

CNN's Dan Rivers reports on efforts to improve biodiversity on palm oil plantations in Malaysia.

Palm oil plantations carry a history of controversy. The cash crop is used for fuel and food, but at the same time, it destroys rainforests. Also, according to a recent Reuters article, compared to diverse forests, monoculture plantations do not trap greenhouse gases as efficiently.

These challenges are no more visible than on the United International Enterprises Estate, located in the Majung District of Malaysia. The plantation has over 1.4 million trees. Unfortunately, they are all the same.

But this plantation's manager is ready to take action. A nature reserve has been created on the plantation, populated by rare trees. The manager's goal is to increase the plant diversity to 500 plant variations.

The plantation is the first to be certified by the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil Production, a group working to make palm oil more eco-friendly. Through this effort, plantations are required to set aside land for jungle regeneration and engage in other sustainable practices. Critics claim the effort is just an attempt to improve the image of palm oil, but hopefully the changes will have a positive impact. As tree guru James Kingham states, his goal is to create "a Noah's Arc of biodiversity."

Are the efforts enough to turn a notoriously destructive industry around, or is it simply a greenwashing maneuver to distract from the truth? Let us know what you think in the comments.

WATCH:

Comments

[morongobill]

07:27 PM on 11/25/2010

Very good discussion but it's just words to most.
If you dare, watch this award winning film which shows the real effects on the environment and the orang-utans in particular, and it was made in Indonesia.
I am hard-hearted but this brought tears to my eyes.
http://www.greenthefilm.com/

morongobill
http://morongobillsbackporch.blogspot.com

[Cactusman]

02:36 PM on 11/23/2010

Greenwashing for sure. Better than nothing at all, perhaps, but certainly this is no substitution for a diverse, ecologically intact rainforest, which would harbor thousands of species per hectare.

Birth control of our own invasive species is the best long-term answer.

[davidgoldmandg]

04:02 AM on 11/22/2010

Oil palms are never going to be env friendly. They are grown on land where tropical forests are cut down for that purpose.

Talk about greenwashing

[Galong]

07:34 AM on 11/22/2010

Absolutely true, but the same can be said about coffee, Rambutan, Durian, mangoes, Cashew, Banana, Coconuts, etc. The fundamental problem is too many consumers on a shrinking planet and a total lack of environmental ethics/concern from both the producing and consuming countries.

[davidgoldmandg]

05:30 PM on 11/22/2010

Not Mango, Not Cashew, Not Coconut. Mango / Cashew grow in dry areas - not rainforest. Coconut grows in salty sandy coast, not rainforest.

Dont know about rambutan. Durian usually is grown in solitary trees / not orchards.

Coffee probably right, but they leave lots of trees for shade which coffee needs.

Wonder what solution is though...

[LeeCalif]

12:18 AM on 11/22/2010

Stop using palm oil . PERIOD .

[Galong]

07:01 AM on 11/22/2010

You're not wrong, but FYI, in southern Thailand the vast majority of the jungle was clear-cut to plant rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis), a horribly toxic monoculture which holds NO wildlife other than one spider. Palm oil plantations harbor much more wildlife than rubber plantations. Over 50 bird species have been noted in oil palm plantations.

[thaidude]

12:14 AM on 11/22/2010

Dan Rivers is a sold-out journalist. He has proven once again that he can be bought.

[Galong]

09:52 PM on 11/23/2010

So true... which is exemplified by his one-sided coverage of the protests last April/May

[MagicalPossibilities]

12:04 AM on 11/22/2010

Smells like greenwashing to me.

[darkmark]

09:53 PM on 11/21/2010

candy coated extinction = extinction.

[m2b]

08:39 PM on 11/21/2010

The company I purchase biodiesel from specifically avoids palm oil due to its rainforest destruction and overall environmental impact. Its not the only biofuel supplier that is cutting off palm oil as a source for the fuel either.

[m2b]

08:27 PM on 11/21/2010

What a terrible article, this is an insult to greenpeace or anyone else who have been working so hard to campaign against this terrible industry. And no mention of the chimpanzee becoming extinct because of it?

[Galong]

09:54 PM on 11/23/2010

Do you mean Orangutans instead of Chimpanzees?

[m2b]

10:00 PM on 11/23/2010

Yes I did mean that, thanks for pointing that out.

[lemmonmc]

12:36 PM on 11/21/2010

This is a terrible article and film piece.
"Palm oil plantations carry a history of controversy."

What a breath taking understatement. They give us some obviously non-Indonesian 'white guy' who comes off like a well heeled colonial elitist, and then some Indonesian business land owner who most likely has, harassed, threaten, or even harmed people in the process of acquiring that land.
Cutting down an entire rain forest, then bragging about planting a few miserly trees as an afterthought to diversity is pathetic.

They interviewed no indigenous people, no environmentalist, no biologist, than presented this information as if it had some kind of merit. You know why? Because then you would have heard about the violence being used against indigenous people who live in these areas, the corrupt local officials, the unbelievably non-sustainable side effects of planting such huge mono-cultures of trees.Without the science and cultural perspective this was propagandistic garbage.

Go to this link and check out Heather Rogers, she lived in Indonesia among the activist indigenous and observed first hand the hell these people are going thru and the violence and corruption (That was completely ignored in this fluffy huff post piece) Fully documenting their fight in trying to keep a green sustainable life and forest from nature destroying free market capitalist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WijoFIJLAM0

[m2b]

08:28 PM on 11/21/2010

And the animal species becoming extict. Good comment.

[JPETERB]

12:11 PM on 11/21/2010

Most persons are healthy and healthy persons do not trust people that do not respect them and do not tell the truth to them. If they can avoid deceitful people, they will and do. Most persons do not trust corporations or groups of people that do not respect them and do not tell the truth to them. The "image" of a liar is never a good "image" for business selling to healthy people. It is a "graven image" if it is false and dishonest picture of the reality it purports to show as true. Most healthy people will comprise the "market" that will buy these products, so lying about your products is not good for your business, unless the product seller has no respect for the buying customer.

[b525]

10:50 AM on 11/21/2010

Indonesia and other southeast Asian countries have been clearing/burning vast tracts of their tropical rainforest in the last 20 years to plant enormous palm oil plantations.

The palm oil is used for bio-fuels and processed foods worldwide but palm oil plantation development is heavily/overly concentrated in Indonesia right now. This is causing massive deforestation of tropical forests and destruction tropical forest eco-systems.

Although the development/planting of palm oil plantations is not necessarily bad, the concentration of palm oil plantations in the country of Indonesia/Southeast Asia has been, and is, extremely destructive to vast tracts of tropical rainforest and millions of species which took millions of years to evolve.

Palm oil plantations should be dispersed more evenly over all the tropical nations of the world to reduce tropical forest destruction.

Indonesia which 20 years ago had some of the largest virgin tracts of rainforest on earth, is now well on it's way to total deforestation. Often these forest are cleared by simply burning the trees to the ground, which is quicker than cutting and processing the timber. So billions (trillions?) of board feet of lumber are also being wasted to create vast palm oil plantation/monocultures devoid of significant life/species.

Agribusiness/food companies producing, buying and selling palm oil should diversify their palm oil portfolio and buy from multiple tropical countries, not just Indonesia. They should also diversify their planting/creation of palm oil plantations to multiple tropical nations.

[JPETERB]

12:19 PM on 11/21/2010

Humans should also consume far less of this product and thus "buy" less palm oil. It is not a healthy "food" as used in most processed food stuffs. Like all ingest-able animal and plant fats, it is not needed for most healthy diets in the quantities now produced and consumed. This is most true of western urban and sedentary populations, where is is a significant cause if current ill health and future disease.

[sabelmouse]

06:42 AM on 11/21/2010

i care less about their image than about what they actually do.

[themainpoint]

11:51 PM on 11/20/2010

Any industry can turn their image around. Just do things sustainably or at least with reasonable care and consideration of all issues and make up if possible for any past damage. Poof! Image repaired.

[logic-a-go-go]

09:58 PM on 11/20/2010

Instead of trying to improve their image, why don't they just stop the destruction? Find an alternative.