by Elias Marat

August 22, 2019
from TheMindUnleashed Website

 

 

 

 

 

 


Peru has vowed

to put an end to

palm oil-driven deforestation

by 2021...




Peru has vowed to put an end to palm oil-driven deforestation by 2021, according to reports, in a move that is being hailed as a "momentous win" for wildlife and sustainable agriculture by conservationist group the National Wildlife Federation (NWF).

The Andean nation joins Colombia in its pledge to produce the oil without deforestation.

 

Palm oil cultivation has been a booming crop across Latin America, but has also been one of the foremost drivers of deforestation in rural regions.

 

https://twitter.com/NWF/status/1162448018269978624

 

 

The NWF partnered with local conservationist group Sociedad Peruana de Ecodesarrollo, as well as the Peruvian government and national palm oil Producers’ Association (JUNPALMA) for two years before making the announcement.

Kiryssa Kasprzyk, who led the federation’s campaign, said in a statement:

"This commitment is a momentous development for the people of Peru and the global effort to confront climate change. It underscores that we can feed the world without hurting biodiversity or clear-cutting tropical forests."

Palm oil is a vegetable oil that is extracted from the fruits and seeds of the oil palm, also known as the African palm, and is a common additive on supermarket shelves across the globe.

Oil extracted from the fruit of the palm is not only used in foods like instant noodles, yogurt, ice cream, and wine, but is also used in biofuel and a range of household products including laundry detergents, shampoo and cosmetic goods like lipstick.

Roughly 66 million tons of palm oil are produced each year, driving a trend that has seen forests burned and land robbed to make room for plantations, contributing greatly to global deforestation and the displacement of rural populations.

Since 2000, the production of palm oil in Latin America has more than doubled, according to Al Jazeera.

In Peru this translated to 140,000 hectares (or 540 square miles) of lost forest land in 2018 alone, putting the South American nation in seventh place in terms of forest loss, according to Global Forest Watch...