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Release Date: 08/01/2022

Palm Oil Frontiers

In the third and final episode of China Dialogue's podcast series, Palm Oil Frontiers, Gayathri Vaidyanathan takes to the streets of Chennai in southern India to find out how much people know about palm oil. India is the world’s largest importer of palm oil, and the second largest consumer after Indonesia. The commodity is widely used as a cooking oil in restaurants (especially at the street- and fast-food end of the industry) and low-income households, as well as in the production of processed foods. Despite its prevalence, however, many people in India are unaware of its presence,...

Squeaky clean

Palm Oil Frontiers

In episode two of China Dialogue's podcast series, Palm Oil Frontiers, Lise Josefsen Hermann visits Manabí province in Ecuador to find out if it’s really possible to produce palm oil sustainably. The narrative around palm oil has long been extremely negative. For many, the commodity is inextricably connected with deforestation and habitat destruction, especially in the rainforests of Southeast Asia. It is however an incredibly useful and efficient oil crop. As such, most involved in the oil palm sector argue that we shouldn’t be trying to get rid of it, but rather to find ways to...

The mothers of Malen

Palm Oil Frontiers

In episode one of China Dialogue's new podcast series, Palm Oil Frontiers, Abdul Brima visits Malen Chiefdom in Sierra Leone to find out how an industrial-scale oil palm plantation is impacting the lives of local women. The oil palm is native to West Africa, where it continues to play a vital role in food security and local economies. Palm oil is especially important for women in the region, many of whom earn a much-needed boost to their incomes by selling oil produced from their own fruit – money they use to raise their children. But in Malen Chiefdom in the southern part of Sierra Leone,...

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India is the world’s largest importer of palm oil, and the second largest consumer after Indonesia. The commodity is widely used as a cooking oil in restaurants (especially at the street- and fast-food end of the industry) and low-income households, as well as in the production of processed foods. Despite its prevalence, however, many people in India are unaware of its presence, let alone the environmental damage the expansion of oil palm plantations in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia has caused. This lack of awareness means there’s very little market pressure to purchase palm oil from sustainable sources. Indeed, only 2% of India’s palm oil is sustainably produced, according to an internal estimate by the Sustainable Palm Oil Coalition of India. What can be done to change this? Do consumers really have an important role to play, or should the onus be on government and industry? And what has India’s increasing problem with health issues such as diabetes and obesity got to do with it?

For more: https://dialogue.earth/en/tag/palm-oil/

Credits:

Producer and host: Gayathri Vaidyanathan

Commissioning editor: Lizi Hesling

Sound design: Alyssa Moxley

Research: Gayathri Vaidyanathan, RK Srividya

Art work: Nahal Sheikh

Thanks to: Josie Phillips, Jessica Aldred

Music:

“Uncertain Ground” by Blue Dot Sessions
Source: https://app.sessions.blue/browse/track/120215
Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

“The Telling” by Blue Dot Sessions
Source: https://app.sessions.blue/browse/track/124670 Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

“Hermes Gray” by Blue Dot Sessions
Source: https://app.sessions.blue/browse/track/114852
Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/