The closest contender to palm oil

Dr Paul Nelson, from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been studying the palm oil industry in Papua New Guinea for more than 10 years.

Dr Nelson says whether we like it or not, palm oil is one of the most important crops for people living in the humid tropics and one of the main land uses of choice after rainforest clearing.

"There are some people saying we should boycott palm oil,'' Dr Nelson said."I think that will have zero effect on forest-clearing rates, in fact it would have a negative effect because there's a certain amount of vegetable oil that's needed in the world and palm oil makes up about one-third of that."

Without palm oil, inevitably companies would turn to soy bean oil, which was far more destructive for rainforests, he said.

"The closest contender to palm oil in terms of what we can produce per hectare is soy bean and you need seven times as much area," Dr Nelson said. "Soy bean needs to be cultivated each year so you get things like soil erosion."

In comparison, palms can grow for several years without needing cultivation and the trees require less fertiliser and pesticides.
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Dr Paul Nelson, from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been studying the palm oil industry in Papua New Guinea for more than 10 years.

Dr Nelson says whether we like it or not, palm oil is one of the most important crops for people living in the humid tropics and one of the main land uses of choice after rainforest clearing.

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