More than half of deforestation is due to production of food and animal feed, such as beef, soy beans and palm oil. Overall, exports account for about a fourth of that deforestation which is connected to food production.
Over half of products in supermarkets contain palm oil and demand is contributing to deforestation. United Kingdom supermarket Iceland said they will stop using palm oil in their own brand food by the end of 2018.
In the past decades, large areas of forest in Sumatra, Indonesia, have been replaced by cash crops like oil palm and rubber plantations. New research shows that these changes in land use increase temperatures in the region.
To counter the impact of unsustainable palm oil production, such as deforestation and habitat degradation, the European Parliament has approved a resolution to phase out the use of vegetable oils that drive deforestation by 2020.
Demand for palm oil is expected to more than double by 2030. For mindful consumers weary of contributing to environmental degradation, it is increasingly difficult to avoid. One estimate suggests that more than 50 percent of all supermarket products contain it in one form or another.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo said he would halt the expansion of the mining and palm oil industries, likely this year, to curb rainforest deforestation.
