Interesting Fact # 478 - Palm Oil
Palm oil is present in one in 10 supermarket products in the UK.
(The popularity of palm oil is set to rise with the demand for bio fuels. Unfortunately this means large areas of tropical forest are being cleared to make room for plantations, destroying the habitat of a number of endangered species, in particular, the orangutan populations on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
Ironically the clearing of tropical forests is one of the leading causes of climate change and Indonesian peat bogs have been converted into palm oil nurseries, and this is thought to be responsible for 2000 million tonnes of CO2 emitted annually in Indonesia: 600 million tonnes from the decomposition of dry peat, and 1400 million tonnes from fires resulting from the draining of the bogs.)
(The popularity of palm oil is set to rise with the demand for bio fuels. Unfortunately this means large areas of tropical forest are being cleared to make room for plantations, destroying the habitat of a number of endangered species, in particular, the orangutan populations on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
Ironically the clearing of tropical forests is one of the leading causes of climate change and Indonesian peat bogs have been converted into palm oil nurseries, and this is thought to be responsible for 2000 million tonnes of CO2 emitted annually in Indonesia: 600 million tonnes from the decomposition of dry peat, and 1400 million tonnes from fires resulting from the draining of the bogs.)
An article on Palm oil and how trans fats endanger wild elephants in Borneo.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2008.03-conservation-fat-food-trans-palm-oil/