According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, the overwhelming direct cause of deforestation is agriculture, with commercial agriculture being responsible for 32% of deforestation. Deforestation contributes to species extinction, habitat loss, and reduction in biodiversity, to name a few ecological issues. With that in mind, I propose taking action by educating consumers about how their spending contributes to the demand of some commercial agriculture products that contributes to the problem of deforestation.

1. Taking Action
Consumerism
and Deforestation
Jonathan Meza
(CSU Fresno)

2. What is Deforestation?
 Clearing Earth’s forests on a massive scale,
often resulting in damage to quality of the land
 Contributes to species extinction, habitat loss,
and reduction in biodiversity
 Forests are cut down for many reasons, but
biggest driver is agriculture
 Commercial agriculture is responsible for 32%
of deforestation
Source: UNFCCC. Page 81. (2007).

3. What is Palm Oil?
 A form of edible vegetable oil obtained from
the fruit of African oil palm tree
 African oil palms originated in West Africa, but
can flourish wherever heat and rainfall are
abundant
 Most widely used produced edible oil
 Found in many products: foods, cosmetics,
and bath products
Source: http://www.cmzoo.org/conservation/palmOilCrisis/

4. Palm Oil Production
Classification
 Commodity
 Vegetable Oil
 Palm Oil
 Country
 Indonesia
 China
 Malaysia
Production Data
(in million tons)
09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 March
2013
April
13/14
Total 141.36 148.98 157.41 160.71 168.98 169.53
Total 46.06 48.74 51.99 55.82 58.43 58.52
Total 25.59 27.24 30.13 32.73 35.58 35.54
Total 17.88 19.02 21 22.4 23.1 23.21
Total 19.94 20.39 20.42 21.64 21.49 21.49
Source: USDA-FAS (2014).

5. Image Source:
Lian Pin Koh, Tien Ming Lee,
Sensible consumerism for
environmental sustainability,
Biological Conservation, Volume
151, Issue 1, July 2012, Pages 3-6,
ISSN 0006-3207.

6. Why is Palm Oil so popular?
 Global demand for vegetable oil is growing
fast
 Relatively cheap
 Most versatile
 High yielding
 Most widely produced
Source: http://www.rspo.org/en/who_is_rspo

7. The Problem:
Wasteful Consumerism
 Pursuing a business-as-usual course of
consumption would impose severe pressures in
producer countries to clear land for oil-palm and
soybean agriculture
 Up to an additional ∼12 million hectares by 2040
 Exacerbate rates of deforestation and biodiversity
loss in these tropical regions
 As long as demands for agricultural products
continue to increase, so too will pressures to clear
more forests for croplands
Source: Lian Pin Koh, Tien Ming Lee (2012).

8. Solutions?
 Boycott palm oil products completing, or
 Reduce consumption of palm oil products
 If each person in the EU and US reduces
his/her daily vegetable oil consumption by an
average of 25 g – roughly equivalent to forgoing
one large serving of French Fries – the
pressure to convert tropical forests for oilseed
expansion could be reduced by up to ∼70%
Source: Lian Pin Koh, Tien Ming Lee (2012) and USDA-FAS (2014).

9. Solution 1 - Boycott
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G32YehcdUAw

10. Solution 2 - RSPO
 Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil
 Established in 2004 “to promote the
production and use of sustainable palm oil for
People, Plant, and Prosperity”
 Composed of various organizations from
different sectors of palm oil industry for the
purpose of developing and implementing
global standards for sustainable palm oil
Source: http://www.rspo.org/en/who_is_rspo

11. RSPO Member Companies
 Aveeno
 Avon
 Betty Crocker
 Bird’s Eye Foods
 Body Shop
 Colgate-Palmotive
 ConAgra Foods, Inc.
 COVERGIRL
 General Mills
 GoodLight Natural
Candles
 Hershey Company
 J.M. Smucker Co.
 Johnson & Johnson
 Keebler
 Kelloggs
Source: http://www.cmzoo.org/docs/palmOilShoppingGuide.pdf

12. Take action!
It’s your turn!
Help the environment!