Blimey I’m on a ranty roll today but I’ve just heard that The Bank of England is to consider using palm oil in the production of the new £20 note, following criticism of the use of animal fats in the plastic £5. The new £20 note is due to be introduced by 2020, but the tender for production has been put on hold.
Vegans, Hindus and Sikhs have objected to the tallow used in plastic notes. NEVERTHELESS, YOU CAN’T USE PALM OIL FOR £5 NOTES. This would be OUTRAGEOUS. We are already destroying vast swathes of land where the orangutangs live by using palm oil in far too many of our products. To increase this output would be completely unacceptable. Borneo Island is home to some of the last remaining untouched wilderness areas and one of the world’s most endangered great apes the orang-utan and palm oil is a crop that has come to symbolise the destruction of Indonesia’s forests. It needs state protection for the animals and for the indigenous people’s territory,
The popularity of oil palm is understandable, it is easy and cheap to grow and has a very high yield compared with other oil seed crops. Indonesia has grown it for generations and global demand has soared because it is an oil that is used in hundreds of household products, from shampoo and soap to doughnuts and chocolate.
We need to help change that landscape because unless we decide unilaterally to pay them to stop growing it as well as stop buying the product, how are they going to be encouraged to stop? Then we can so that we can encourage them to focus more on their eco-tourism instead.
Many consumers are choosing to stop buying products that contained palm oil, but we will have no control of the £5 notes, do understandably the announcement is proving controversial with conservation groups, who warned that palm oil production can wreck rainforests and displace people living in them. However, in its statement, the Bank of England says it is committed to using sustainable levels of palm oil, should that eventually be chosen for the new notes and it also says that the amounts of oil needed are so small that there would be no need for an increase in global production. “It would depend on where the Bank of England source it,” said Rachel Agnew of the Rainforest Foundation. “Whether it is sustainable is the issue.” Nevertheless the Rainforest Foundation takes issue on how sustainability is certified. Palm oil production was responsible for 8% of the world’s deforestation between 1990 and 2008.
I have written previously about Palm oil and Easter eggs and will do so again soon!
