The microalgae s versatility makes them a good competitor with palm as a source of oil.

Palm oil boom

Doing palm better

Solutions to the environmental problems posed by palm production are complicated, partly because palm oil s ubiquity, but also because alternatives lack many of the benefits of the versatile oil.

We don't have to change the way a single Chinese company works if we get Cargill to only send sustainable palm oil to China.

All the palm oil going there is good.

Some of the consequences of palm oil production, including deforestation and habitat destruction, have led to consumer boycotts.

At the other end of the production chain, Taylor pointed to more low hanging fruit for reducing palm oil s environmental toll.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil started certifying palm oil that met environmental standards 10 years ago, but many of its members continued to cut down forests.

There presently aren t great alternatives to palm oil. Rhett Butler

Because Cargill has 20 to 25 percent of global palm oil.

The priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand

And the priest shall pour of the oil into the palm of his own left hand

A more immediate solution, Butler says, is cleaning up the palm industry.

If the goal is to meet growing global demand for edible oils, palm oil provides the most oil volume for a given patch of land.

They've funded research that shows that we can double global palm oil production without cutting a single tree in the next 20 years, and do it all in Borneo alone by planting on land that's already degraded.

The next day you put in a different strain and you can produce a sustainable alternative to palm or palm kernel oil, she says.

In 1985, Indonesia had less than 2,500 square miles of palm oil plantations.

The study shows that the highest net present value for palm oil is on land that's been degraded.

Ultimately, however, laws, treaties, government agencies and incentives will have little impact without fundamental changes to how palm oil is produced and consumed.

Microalgae cultivated by California based Solazyme show promise as a source of palm oil substitutes.

VIDEO How Palm Oil is Causing Environmental Destruction in Indonesia Global Voices

Victims of habitat destruction driven in part by palm oil production, Sumatran elephants are now considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Indonesia and Malaysia, which together account for 85 of the world palm oil market, have agreed to establish the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries, which will harmonize standards and promote environmentally sustainable production practices.

In fact, one promising alternative oil to palm requires no land at all.

So perhaps the most important development in the search for palm oil alternatives is the sense of urgency.

If Cargill makes a decision, the entire palm oil industry moves, or at least 40 or 50 percent of it.

The priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand.

And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand

How Did Palm Oil Become Such a Problem and What Can We Do About It? Global Voices

The cause of Indonesia s recurring infernos is the common practice of lighting fires to clear land for palm oil production, exacerbated by a prolonged dry spell partly attributable to El Niño.

As a result, Norway s food sector reduced palm oil consumption by two thirds in a single year.

More importantly, Cargill and one other company ship 50 percent of the palm oil that goes to China.

Child laborers in oil palm fields often serve as fruiters, harvesters, haulers, loaders, and uprooters.

But the coming years will also bring an increasingly ravenous hunger for palm oil.

The priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before Yahweh.

And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD

The deforestation, especially for oil palm, to provide biofuel for Western countries is what's causing these problems.

In 2013 the world consumed 55 million metric tons of palm oil, nearly four times what it used 20 years earlier.

Global Witness wants to see a fall in consumer demand for products linked to violence such as timber, soya and palm oil.

and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Yahweh.

And the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD

It s here, in the peat burning below the forests, where the greatest climate impact from palm production can be seen.

Moreover, farmers have few alternatives to operating palm oil or timber plantations.So every dry season, more and more land is burned.

In Europe, efforts to avoid genetically modified foods pushed palm, which is so bountiful it hasn t yet drawn much interest from genetic tinkerers.