Palm oil free: why it concerns us
Thousands of hectares of tropical forests are destroyed every year for palm oil, mainly in Indonesia and Malaysia. This is where more than 85% of the world's production comes from. Although this is a problem thousands of kilometres away, we are part of it - the Czech Republic consumes around 30 000 tonnes of palm oil every year.
Palm oil is found in about half of packaged foods, but also in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and biofuels. It is cheap and very profitable, but its real price is paid in the destruction of forests, the draining of peatlands, massive CO₂ emissions and the loss of biodiversity. Symbolic victims are, for example, the orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra, who are losing their natural home.
The impact is also felt by local people - loss of land, conflicts with companies and corruption make conservation much more difficult. The solution is not just to find substitute oils, but to reduce consumption and promote sustainable management and education of local communities.
International No Palm Oil Day
Symbolically, we are launching the "Palm Oil Free" fundraiser on 1 February.
100% of the funds raised will go to orangutan conservation through the organisation Orangutan Outreach a for educational projects Education4Conservation primatologist Stanislav Lhota and Green Books that have been helping to protect nature in Indonesia for a long time.
