Orangutans threatened by quest for palm oil

Forest destruction driven by demand for a cheap ingredient found in everyday products from shampoo to biscuits is being blamed by conservationists for contributing to the extinction of the orangutan, Asia's only great ape.

One in ten mass-produced foods on Britain's shelves is estimated to contain the bulking agent and preservative palm oil but supermarkets and food manufacturers have been accused of doing too little to ensure their supplies are not threatening the survival of one of the world's best-loved mammals.

An estimated 5,000 orangutans are killed each year in Malaysia and Indonesia by the burning of vast tracts of virgin forest to supply the world's growing taste for palm oil.

Roads driven deep into the plantations give access to previously inaccessible areas for poachers, who kill orangutan mothers and sell their babies as pets to Asian families.

WWF, formerly the World Wildlife Fund, estimates that 80 per cent of the orangutan habitat has been lost in the past 20 years.

Experts warn that at current rates of deforestation the orangutan will be extinct in the wild in just 12 years.

Its disappearance would set a dismal precedent for the survival of other endangered animals like the polar bear and the tiger.

Dr Willie Smits, of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, said: "The rate of loss of orangutan has never been greater than in the last three years and palm oil plantations take the brunt of the blame."Conservationists say that Britain could do more to combat the problem and want the Government to enshrine a responsibility to the environment in Company Law Reform Bill before Parliament.

Of 96 UK companies Friends of the Earth wrote to urging the sustainable of palm oil, only 18 replied.

Amid a postcard campaign from the public, five major food retailers - Sainsbury, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, the Co-op, and Asda - have joined a not-for-profit organisation aiming to clean up the industry.

But Britain's biggest retailer Tesco, which laid out its environmental credentials earlier this month, and the store chains Morrisons and Iceland have refused to join the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, whose membership costs £1,300 a year.

The international body has agreed what counts as sustainable palm oil and hopes to certify ethically-produced supplies within two years.

The threat facing the orangutan is laid bare in a report, The Oil for Ape Scandal, by five wildlife groups led by Friends of the Earth.

Derived from an old Malay word meaning, Old Man of the Forest, orangutans are the only great ape (the others are the gorilla, chimpanzee and bonobo) living outside Africa.

They have an opposable toe, allowing them to swing between trees with all four limbs and are the most tree-dwelling of all the great apes.

But their very dependence on the forests makes them vulnerable.

According to the Friends of the Earth, there are now fewer than 60,000 left and the United Nations lists the Bornean orangutan is as "endangered" and the Sumatran orangutan as "critically endangered."Friends of the Earth says that year after year satellite pictures have shown vast fires raging through their habitat to meet the global demand for hardwood and palm oil.

Palm oil is the reason given for chainsawing the rainforests but companies can harvest valuable hardwoods in the four-year wait for the palm plants to mature.

The despoilation displaces indigenous people, some of whom are killed, and is often sanctioned by corrupt officials even though plantations could be grown on other already deforested land.

According to Transparency International, Indonesia has a "severe corruption problem".

Demand is growing quickly for palm oil because of the cheapness and versatility of the saturated fat, which is so thick it does not need to be hydrogenated and so does not contain harmful trans fats.

It can be used in a variety of food and household products.

Britain is thought to be the biggest consumer of palm oil in the European Union, the biggest importer, followed by China and India.

Friends of the Earth is not calling for a consumer boycott because the prevalence of palm oil would make such a call almost unworkable; it is often listed as "vegetable oil" on labels.

But it wants retailers such as Tesco - which uses palm oil in own brand products from flans to gravy - to do more.

In its defence, Tesco said it was working with its three big suppliers of palm oil to secure sustainable sources.

A spokeswoman said the grocer was also seeking to identify the sourcing of the "small amounts" of palm oil which did not come from its three major suppliers.

Ed Matthew, corporate responsibility campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: "How on earth can Britain's biggest retailer - with 30 per cent of the market and profits of £2.2 billion a year - not take this seriously? Maybe it is arrogance.

Maybe they think they are too important to be told what to do."He said orangutans were an indicator of the health of the forests.

"They are a magnificent species that we share 98 per cent of our DNA with," he said.

"They are so symbolic in the conflict between man and nature.

"And if we can't save the orangutan what hope do we have of saving the natural environment.

The next 10 years are crucial."

- INDEPENDENT