Palm Oil Growth And Sustainability

There is an imperative need not just for Tambopata, but all of Peru to increase its economy and enable the access of basic needs to its citizens. While the area of Tambopata has many arguments for its potential use, sustainable soybean cultivation is the best approach to improve Peruvian infrastructure, economy and future preservation of natural areas.

Because orangutans are so well adapted for the ecological niche they occupy, it is understandable why their populations suffer when their habitat is destroyed. In fact, in the last 20 years orangutans have lost nearly 80% of their natural habitat largely due to deforestation. Between the years of 1999 and 2006 roughly 55% of that deforestation was due to the expansion of the palm oil industry. Furthermore, Indonesia and Malaysia combined account for nearly 87% of the global output of palm oil with Indonesia generating about 18.7 and Malaysia 17.4 million tons a year. When considering these statistics, it raises questions about why this industry is seemingly more relevant than conserving natural resources and more importantly protecting an invaluable species of ape from extinction. To answer this question, it might be helpful to consider how the vast majority views the palm oil industry by comparison to the orangutans in terms of economics.

However, due to more people searching for plots there is greater pressure on the amount of available land. The logging industry is responsible for a relatively small level of deforestation, accounting for 3% in Brazil. Consequently, all these activity contribute together to the rapid loss of what is left of the rainforest and a large proportion of the world’s biodiversity. All of the resources that the rainforest provides could be lost in the next 40 years.

Deforestation is defined as: “the clearing of virgin forests, or intentional destruction or removal of trees and other vegetation for agricultural, commercial, housing, or firewood use without replanting and without allowing time for the forest to regenerate itself” (SCRIBD). Deforestation has been a problem in Latin America since the early 1900s and the severity of the dilemma is increasing rapidly. Deforestation not only has consequences for the environment, but also, the indigenous people and the national economy. The logging industry in Latin America is often exploited by multinational companies that are not properly regulated. The land that has provided a home and cultivated indigenous development for centuries is being dissipated rapidly. Due to an exponentially growing global population, there is an increased demand for low priced goods--like timber, crops, and meat. Many Latin American countries value revenue from selling these goods over the health of their local ecosystems. The crisis of deforestation and habitat loss is shifting from a local to global problem. As deforestation continues, global warming escalates worldwide, impacting every country and person. About 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from tropical deforestation, which is more than from all the world’s cars, trucks and buses combined (Schwartzman). Puerto Rico and Brazil provide contrasting examples of the impact of deforestation. Puerto Rico had an economic and environmental shift

Picture this. A beautiful tropical forest, with lush plant life and a huge variety of animals. The forest is huge, covering 40% of South America, Including 60% of Brazil, 13% of Peru, 10% of Colombia, and various parts of other countries, including Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. It is a little over half the size of the United States. This gorgeous example of natural beauty is called the Amazon Rain Forest. The resources of the Amazon Rain Forest should be developed, but they should be developed sustainably. The Amazon Rain Forest should be developed because it is full of resources, as well as many medicinal plants. It could really boost the economy of South America, mainly Brazil, if used well.

At the rate the forests are being depleted over one third of Colombia’s Total forest will be gone in about five years. Much of the land is abandoned after only two or three seasons of coca cultivating. Most of the wild life is gone also due to the lack of clean waters and plant life. The deforestation caused by coca and poppy producers and non-existent soil conservation techniques they practice have led several experts to theorize that the region could end up in a situation similar to that of Ethiopia or Somalia within 50 years, i.e. a fast growing population that is larger than the food production can support due to poor agricultural soils or techniques.

Together, coffee and cattle account for most of the deforestation of the Atlantic Forest and Amazon. Deforestation for agriculture and cattle, urbanization, human population growth, have resulted

This policy memo addresses the development and expansion of the cattle ranching industry in Brazil, which has contributed to the mass deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon in the last 40 years. It exposes the regional and global consequences to deforestation and provides strategies for the Brazilian government to sustainably manage cattle ranching industries while protecting the future of the Amazon. The rainforest ecosystem is an immense reserve of natural recourses that is far more valuable than the beef produced on Brazilian cattle ranches. Not only does the rainforest create habitat for up to 65% of the world’s biodiversity, but when harvested sustainably, it provides humans with an abundance of spices, foods, oils, medicines

However, the environmental effects caused by the oil industry in Ecuador are not limited to the Amazon region. The construction of the OCP (heavy crude oil pipeline) threatens many of the nation’s other fragile ecosystems. The pipeline, which would connect oil sources in the Amazon with the ocean port and refineries of Esmeraldas on the Pacific Coast, runs over the Andes through various protected areas and reserves and regions of high tourism activity. (OCP alert, 2) The high range of altitudes (up to 6300 meters) of the Andes, through which the pipeline will run, provides fragile and diverse habitats for a variety of plants and animals. Also, the many isolated areas of the Andean region have led to the evolution of an unusually large number of endemic species.

The açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea) is native to Trinidad, Brazil, and throughout the Amazon rainforest region. It grows among the flooded soil along estuaries of the Amazon river and is traditionally consumed by peasants because of its filling nature and its abundance and availability in its natural habitat. The açaí palm provides both food and construction material, via the berries, palm hearts, and palm fronds that are used as thatch roofing. Açaí has become extremely popular among American and European markets in recent years and although it is not yet a mainstream product, it has caused a substantial shift in the means of production where the fruit originates. If exports continue on their current upward trajectory it is troubling to consider the effects that this would have on açaí-producing nations given the long histories that Central and South American countries have of imposed dependency on

The current market pressures to produce for a globalized market with fixed requirements of consistency, quantity and quality, have provoked the reduction of the diversity of crops in the Andes region (Hellin and Higman, 2005). Mainly, these forces are the result of the neoliberal movement in Peru, which has envisioned to foment large scale production for agroindustry and foreign markets (Crabtree, 2002). Also, another major threat to the Peruvian ecosystem is a number of climatic changes that are already palpable; including growing glacial melt, more intense and volatile temperatures, and fluctuating rainfall amount and seasoning (USAID,

The wide uses of the soybean make the profit increase dramatically which also due to the increasing soybean consumption in China. The boost in Brazil economy is the direct result, the soybean industry now account for nearly 2 percent of Brazil’s GDP. However it brings more of the global issues than a country’s benefit--Global warming, lose of biodiversity, lose of a place that produce 20% of the world’s oxygen. Ignore the warning from the environmental groups, the land used for soybean farming is continue increasing and now it has covered more than 18,400 hectares of the amazon

Many including Rothkopf, Grunwalf, and Ruiz-Marrero claim that biofuel is not the solution but rather will become a problem. They claim that if biofuel was produced in large quantity then agriculture would convert from food to fuel. According to the World Bank, over seventy five percent of the rises in food prices is directly caused by biofuel. Indonesia is the leading producer of palm oil, a major biofuel. In order to increase productivity, the people destroyed thousands of trees to plant palm tree. The destruction led to an increase in carbon production. Indonesia moved from the 21st most carbon producer to the third. Another major producer of biofuel is Brazil. If Brazilian farmers were to deforest the Amazon rainforest, it could cause a fifty percent increase in global warming. Through the world, deforestation accounts for over twenty percent of carbon emission. A gallon of biofuel requires the same amount of grain as a person would eat in a year. The switch from food to fuel would cause a worldwide food shortage and an increase in world hunger.

Umuoma in Ihitte-Uboma Local government area of Imo State, Nigeria is an agrarian community that depends heavily on the processing of palm fruits for survival. The community in the 1960’s contributed immensely as a foreign exchange earner in the export trade of that era in Nigeria. The local industry has faced a lot of challenges over the years arising from high production costs, low productivity and rising competition of emerging markets in countries like Malaysia. The innovativeness of individual family entrepreneurial competencies has sustained this trade and also opened new markets and opportunities since the discovery of crude oil which has dealt a heavy blow on market growth of palm fruits products.

Soybean is the third largest oilseed crop in India next to Groundnut & Mustard and accounts for 25% of the total oilseeds produced in the country in a year. Soya oil contributes about 10% of total vegetable oils produced in the country. Groundnut is the most widely consumed and traded edible oil determining edible oil economics. India is the world’s second largest