TheJakartaPost
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Your letters: Palm oil industry misleading the public
It is sad to see, yet again, baseless accusations made about NGOs who dare to expose the many shortcomings of the palm oil industry, âOrangutans and the prosperity approach on palm oilâ, (The Jakarta Post, Nov
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t is sad to see, yet again, baseless accusations made about NGOs who dare to expose the many shortcomings of the palm oil industry, 'Orangutans and the prosperity approach on palm oil', (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 18)
Time and again to deflect criticism the palm oil industry suggests some NGOs are sponsored by the soya industry.
Where is the evidence?
The palm oil industry also never fails to tell us about the poor local farmers. What they don't tell you is, these farmers are poor because the owners of the palm oil companies are fabulously rich. No NGO would ever wish to deprive local people of earning a decent wage, but sadly palm oil companies don't pay decent wages.
For the past 20 years, I have been following and not infrequently criticizing the palm oil industry for its widespread slaughter of endangered species and industrial scale deforestation ' a lot of it illegal. I am not sponsored by anyone and have paid my own way twenty times to visit Indonesia and see for myself the destruction caused by the palm oil industry. To my mind the palm oil industry is the most environmentally destructive one on this planet.
For this to happen was no accident. It was, and remains, the intention of the industry to grab as much land as it can before a competitor does. With land increasingly scarce in Indonesia I see palm oil companies now moving into Equatorial Africa. How long will it be before we see from photographs from Africa of widespread deforestation, killed or captured gorillas, chimpanzees, etc.?
What is not talked about as often as it should be is the explosive growth of the illegal wildlife industry. Can it be a coincidence this growth matches the rapid growth of the palm oil industry and loss of habitat for wildlife?
There have been dozens of films made by prestigious television companies, all graphically illustrating the environmental damage perpetrated by the palm oil industry. Does anyone believe these companies are also sponsored by the soya bean industry?
If the palm oil industry was to spend more time on addressing the 'cause' of the criticism they receive and less time in denial, they would go a long way to winning themselves some friends as well as protecting what is left of Indonesia's and Malaysia's forests and wildlife.
Sean Whyte
England, UK
