Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Giving Trees: The (Un)Sustainability Of Palm Oil In Indonesia, Amber Rosche

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Palm oil is the main source of cooking oil for much of Africa, Asia and Brazil. Due to the increasingly high demand for palm oil, countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia have cleared millions of acres of tropical rainforests to create space for oil palm plantations. This deforestation has led to extreme environmental and social concerns such as the burning of peatlands, the endangerment of a number of species, including the Sumatran Tiger, rhinos and orangutans, and the displacement of native populations. Indonesia is the world’s largest consumer and producer of palm oil, producing almost half of the world’s supply …