Protect Paradise For All: An Animation on Anti-Palm Oil Dirty Secret
#ProtectParadise4All #AntiPalmOilDirtySecret #StopGreenProtectionism
Indonesia is a Paradise
Indonesia is a paradise, it is the largest archipelagic country in the world, the third largest rainforest in the world. It has 17 thousand islands, home for 240 million people, and it is the third largest democracy in the world. It is still home to the largest mega biodiversity on Earth.
Land Cover
Indonesia has 600 million hectares of water, nearly 200 million hectares of land, and 120 million hectares of forests. Out of that 200 million, palm plantation is 9 million hectares. This is smaller than rapeseed and sunflower fields in Europe, that uses 11 million hectares to make vegetable oil.
Comparing Palm Oil with European Oil Producing Plant
Palm plantation is the same with olive plantation; both are trees and monoculture. Palm trees, just like olive trees, they absorb large amount of CO2; larger than rapeseed and sunflower can absorb.
The Benefit of Palm Oil
In Indonesia, palm oil has so many benefits to the people. Half of the palm plantations are own by small farmers. Millions of people depend on palm oil. Palm oil help people to get out of poverty, live better, and send their children to schools and universities.
Protecting the Environment
Protecting the environment and alleviating poverty are important for Indonesia. Indonesia is pro-job, pro-poor, pro-growth and pro-green. We work with others in reforestation projects, such as REDD with Norway. We promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26% and 41% if supported internationally. We put forest and peat land moratorium, so new palm plantation cannot be open. We have planted 4.5 million trees and we will plant more, up to 1 billion trees,
Anti-Palm Oil Couldn't Have Enough: the Dirty Secret of Anti Palm Oil
But they say, those are not enough. They want us to stop producing palm oil. European Biodiesel Board, for instance, wants us to stop selling to Europe or face penalty. They only want rapeseed and sunflower as substitute of palm oil.
To produce 4 tons of vegetable oil, you need 1 hectare of palm plantation, 7 hectares of rapeseed, and 7,5 hectares of sunflower. Although, they know it is inefficient, but they don't care.
They say palm plantation creates greenhouse gas emission, but Indonesian per capita emission is only 1,8 metric tons, while the Europe is 7,5 metric tons. They know they pollute more, but they don't care.
They also say that palm oil causes breast cancer and heart diseases. They know it is not true, but they don't care. WHY??, because they only care about their rapeseed and sunflower.
Paradise For All
We want our paradise for all. We don't want to be poor forever. We want to be able to go to schools. We also want to maintain the balance with our nature, maybe we can travel to Europe. Because we live here; It is for us; It is our paradise; It is my home.
