What You Can Do to Help Orangutans

Orangutans belong to two species that are found on Indonesian islands in southeast Asia. Indonesia is an area that is having rapid population growth and where forest is being cleared for farming and roads.  The relatively small clearing of land for subsistence farms pales in comparison to what is done by palm oil plantations. First let's talk about what the impacts of the palm oil plantations are, then we will discuss what palm oil is, and finally how you can help the orangutans.

Palm oil plantations have been cropping up on many Indonesian islands as the industry continues to grow. The rate of consumption is doubling every ten years and according to the United Nations Environment Program palm oil plantations are the number one cause of rainforest loss in Malaysia and Indonesia.  Most of the palm oil grown in the world is grown on two southeast Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra. These two islands are the only islands where orangutans are found. In the countries of Indonesia and Malaysia there are many poor people and the palm oil trade has given many people jobs. While this is economically great for these countries it is bad for their rainforests. To create palm plantations the companies generally clear-cut (remove all of the trees in an area) and then burn millions of acres of rainforest. This happens every year as they need to grow more and more palm plants. The burns that the companies start often turn into uncontrolled fires that can wipe out large areas of rainforest as well as kill orangutans. One such fire in 1997-98 killed an estimated 8,000 orangutans. This was a serious blow to the population that hurts genetic variability and the amount of animals able to bear young. As acres of rainforest is cleared for plantations, it turns connected areas of rainforest into islands. Orangutans may become isolated in these islands and not able to contact other orangutans for mating and social purposes. These isolated areas of rainforest also may end up not having enough resources to support a population of orangutans so they eventually die out or leave this area. The increasing amount of non-sustainable palm oil plantation growth is causing the extinction of orangutans and if things do not change they may go extinct in the near future.

Palm oil is found in almost 50% of the products you use on a daily basis. Palm oil is found in cookies, crackers, shampoos, soaps, lotions, makeup, pet food, and all sorts of other products. It is the most widely produced edible oil. Palm oil is able to produce the highest amount of oil per plant of all vegetable oils and is the cheapest to make into a usable product. The low cost has increased interest in using palm oil as a bio-fuel and due to its chemical composition and health benefits it has become an increasingly used item in health foods. Palm oil is named in a variety of ways. It may be called palm kernel oil, palmitate, or palmitic acid. There are over 50 names for palm oil that are used in many different items. If you are looking for palm oil you need to be vigilant and look for any of the names in the list below and on almost any product.

1. arachamide mea	25. palmitate
2. capric triglyceride	26. palmitoyl oxostearamide
3. caprylic triglyceride	27. palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3
4. caprylyl glycol	28. peg-100 stearate
5. cetyl alcohol	29. peptide complex
6. cocoa butter equivalent (CBE)	30. saponified elaeis guineensis
7. cocoa butter substitute (CBE)	31. sls
8. elaeis guineensis	32. sodium lauryl
9. emulsifier (some can be palm oil derived)	33. sodium lauryl sulphate
10. epoxidized palm oil (UV cured coatings)	34. sodium lauryl sulfate
11. ethylene glycol monostearate	35. sodium lauryl sulfoacetate
12. ethylhexyl palmitate	36. sodium palm kernelate
13. fatty alcohol sulphates	37. sodium palmate
14. glyceryl stearate	38. sodium stearate
15. isopropyl	39. sodium laureth sulfate
16. isopropyl palmitate	40. sodium laureth sulphate
17. mono-glycerides of fatty acids	41. sodium lauroyl lactylate
18. myristoyl	42. stearamidopropyl dimethylamine
19. octyl palmitate	43. steareth-2
20. oleyl betaine	44. steareth-20
21. palm kernel oil	45. steareth-21
22. palm oil	46. stearic acid
23. palm olein	47. vegetable oil
24. palm stearine	48. vitamin A palmitate

Table from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Now there is hope and you can help. The palm oil industry has been taking steps to improve sustainability and if done right, palm oil is the most productive and sustainable vegetable oil. These sustainable companies use pesticides safely, take good care of their employees, dispose of waste correctly, and use the land as productively as possible. To ensure this sustainability the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil has been formed and certifies plantations. Any plantation not certified by the RSPO has harmed wildlife, violated the rights or natives, or had negative environmental impacts. These are companies who do not help the orangutans and cause further harm to them. You can look for products that have been labeled with the RSPO logo below. You can also help by trying to buy alternatives that do not contain palm oil or palm oil that was grown sustainably to products with palm oil. There are apps from the El Paso Zoo and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo as well as other to help you do this and they are available on the App Store or from Google Play. These apps will allow you to differentiate between the products. Companies who get more support from consumers who prefer sustainable palm oil will pass that on and work to make palm oil more sustainable. There are many more ways you can help orangutans and learn about these majestic apes. You can check out the following links to gather more information and find those apps. I learned a lot by reading these sites and found them extremely helpful. As an average person you may not always see yourself as being able to help wildlife around the world but you can if you make the effort. Help save the orangutans from extinction.

http://www.cmzoo.org/index.php/conservation-matters/palm-Oil-Crisis/

https://redapes.org/about-orangutans/orangutan-crisis/

http://www.elpasozoo.org/news/el-paso-zoo-launches-mobile-application-to-help-save-orangutans-elephants-and-their-habitat