The first vegetable oil produced in the world, palm oil, a product dear to the agro-industry, is omnipresent in our daily lives. Especially food (cakes, chips, chocolate, margarine, etc.) but also cosmetics (soap, shampoo, lipstick, etc.). It has been scientifically proven that it is harmful to health (high content of saturated fatty acids), and its space-consuming cultivation leads to significant deforestation. Particularly in Malaysia, the world’s second largest producer (35%), where around 124,000 km2 of virgin tropical forest have been ravaged for the voracious needs of palm oil. Since 2001, the country of 33 million people has lost nearly a fifth of its forests. Accelerated deforestation which constitutes a serious threat to various animal species living in these forests, particularly orangutans.
More than 50,000 orangutans on the planet
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the three remaining orangutan species are classified as “critically endangered “. Conservation organization WWF says the population has fallen over the past 40 years, from more than 288,000 orangutans in 1973 to 50,000 in 2023.
Improve diplomatic relations
Aware of this scourge, the European Union is now forcing Malaysian manufacturers, who sell it palm oil, to prove that their products have no link with deforestation. For the Malaysian government, there is no question of reducing its palm oil exports, which represent 7.5 billion dollars. In order to prove that Malaysia “is always committed to preserving biodiversity”, the Ministry of Raw Materials has decided to offer orangutans to palm oil purchasing countries. An initiative that resembles “panda diplomacy” of China which consists of “giving” cute bears to improve its diplomatic relations with another country.
