Oil Palm plantations absorb more Carbon Dioxide compare to natural forest
Each second the Earth’s atmosphere is crammed with wasted carbon dioxide from human activities on the planet. Humans, animals, motorized vehicles and factories around the whole world emit excessive carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) into the Earth’s atmosphere, which has triggered global warming and changes in the environment. In order to reduce the
concentrations of this greenhouse gas in the Earth’s atmosphere, besides by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, re-absorption of the greenhouse gas is also needed.
Each plant, both forestry plants and oil palm plants, has the ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Through
plant photosynthesis, the existing carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere will be absorbed.
Through a plant’s metabolism, carbon dioxide is divided into carbon and oxygen. The carbon is processed and changed into parts of the plants (roots, stems and leaves).
Meanwhile, the oxygen is discharged into the atmosphere for animal life to breathe. Because plants have the ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and produce oxygen for the atmosphere in return, green plants, including oil palms,
are called as the “lungs” of the ecosystem (Figure 7.10).
Figure 7.10: Oil palm plantations as the “lungs” of the ecosystem (PASPI, 2016)
If oil palm plantations and forests are compared (Table 7.4), each ha of oil palm plantation absorbs a net 64 tons of carbon dioxide each year and produces about 18 tons of oxygen.
Table 7.4: Carbon dioxide absorption and oxygen production of oil palm plantations and tropical forests
Meanwhile, a forest’s net absorption amounts to about 42 tons of carbon dioxide each year and it produces about 7 tons of oxygen. Therefore, oil palm plantations are even superior to forests when it comes to absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and producing oxygen for the Earth.
How big Oil Palm plantations compare to the other vegetable oil?
Myth:
Palm oil plantations are larger than those of other vegetable oils, making world palm oil production higher than other vegetable oils.
Fact:
The area of the world’s four largest vegetable oil producing plants (palm oil, soybean, sunflower and rapeseed) reached about 200.5 million hectares in 2016. Of this area, 61 percent (121 million hectares) comprises soybean plantations. While the area of oil palm plantations is only 10 percent (Figure 2.1).
But in terms of oil production, with 121 million hectares, soybean plantations produce only 53 million tons of oil or only 33 percent of the world’s top four vegetable oil production. On the contrary, oil palm plantations with an area of 20 million hectares, can produce 65 million tons of oil or 40 percent of the world’s top four vegetable oils.
This is due to the high productivity of palm oil plantation, which is far higher than the productivity of other vegetable oil producing plants (Table 2.2).
Table 2.2: Comparison of the productivity of various crops
The productivity of palm oil per hectare of land is much higher (eight-10 times) than the productivity of other vegetable oils. Thus, with less land, oil palm plantations can produce more vegetable oil. The vegetable oil productivity data also reveal that oil palm plantations are the most efficient crops in converting solar energy into vegetable oils.
Because of this difference in oil productivity per hectare, there has been a major change in the share of palm oil and soybean oil production in the world vegetable oil market (Figure 2.2).
The share of palm oil increased from 22 percent (1965) to 40 percent (2016), while the share of soybean oil fell from 59 percent to 33 percent in the same period. Thus, it is quite clear that the large share of palm oil in the world’s vegetable oil production is not due to the large size of oil palm plantations but due to higher palm oil productivity than other vegetable oil producing plants.
Source: The Myths versus Facts by PASPI
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meanwhile in Indonesia
Oil Palm Market in Hungary
Terimakasih atas sambutan, penerimaan juga diskusinya yang dalam dan menyeluruh tentang perspektif dan perkembangan komoditas kelapa sawit untuk area yang di bawah naungan ITPC Budapest.
ttd. Agie Priakbar
Thank you for your welcome, acceptance as well as deep and thorough discussion about the perspective and development of oil palm commodities for the area under the auspices of ITPC Budapest.
signature Agie Priakbar
Grazie per l’accoglienza, l’accettazione e una discussione approfondita e ampia sulle prospettive e gli sviluppi delle materie prime della palma da olio per l’area sotto l’egida dell’ITPC Budapest.
firma Agie Priakbar
