A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Search This Blog
Back to 500BC.
==========================
Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Friday, April 20, 2018
UK supermarket ban on palm oil angers producers in Indonesia, Malaysia
PALM OIL producers have hit back at a UK supermarket’s announcement it
will no longer use the ingredient in their home-brand products, claiming
that the move was “discriminatory” and misleading.
The Guardian first
reported on April 10 that Iceland would become the first major chain in
the UK to pledge there would be no palm oil used in its own-brand
foods, in order to help prevent further deforestation of Southeast Asian
forests.
Iceland, which specialises in frozen food and operates around 900
stores, said it has already removed palm oil from half of its own-brand
products.
The 10-member Council of Palm Oil Producer Countries (CPOPC) this week
protested the announcement, declaring that Iceland was misleading
consumers. Moreover, the body claimed that the move could actually speed
up environmental degradation and boost CO2 emissions.
“The campaign to cease using palm oil by Iceland would even cause more
excessive use of land and is unlikely to replace palm oil [by another
vegetable oil] globally,” said CPOPC executive director Mahendra Siregar
in a letter to Iceland’s managing director, as quoted by The Jakarta Post.
Palm oil is a highly productive crop with versatile uses in food, cosmetics and biofuels.
Indonesia and Malaysia account for around 90 percent of the world’s oil palm production.
The industry has, however, long been criticised by environmental
activists who say it has contributed to the widespread destruction of
prized rainforests in Borneo, Sumatra and Papua – home to some of the
world’s most endangered species like orangutans, tigers and elephants.
Palm plantation are also often blamed for forest fires that regularly
take place on Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia, blanketing large
areas of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in a choking haze that can
hang in the air for weeks.
Europe is the second-largest market for both Indonesia and Malaysian
palm oil. India is the largest. Some experts have, however, raised
concern that the removal of palm oil from Iceland’s products could
backfire.
Dr Jake Bicknell and Dr Matthew Struebig, from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Biology at the University of Kent told Plant Based News that
“Iceland’s move to ban palm oil products, rather than work with the
industry to seek sustainably sourced solutions, could be viewed as a
step backwards.”
“Environmentally conscious consumers should demand palm oil from
certified sources, but avoiding it altogether runs the risk of putting
pressure on other crops that are equally to blame for the world’s
environmental problems.”
Palm oil production is expected to rise further in 2018, with ongoing
strong demand from local consumption and exports to Asian countries.
Additional reporting from Reuters.