You don’t get a much better symbol of the fight against ecological destruction – and climate change – than the orang-utan.Saving the critically endangered and highly charismatic red ape is the goal of countless NGO hours and millions of donor dollars.But the main cause of the orang-utan’s downfall – the mass clearing of forest for the cultivation of palm oil on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo – also has a disturbing, and largely untold, human cost.
An estimated 12 million people work in the palm oil industry across Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. This region produces nearly 90 per cent of the world’s palm oil, a cheap vegetable oil that is found in around half of all the products we find in our supermarkets, including food, cosmetics and toiletries.Large palm oil manufacturers claim the industry provides vital jobs and income for these workers. But the evidence shows that the life of a palm oil plantation worker is hot, unhealthy and badly paid.
