Palm Oil and Azusa Pacific University

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by: palmoiltruthfoundation
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Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 Time: 12:45 PM
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When I read the heartwarming story published by the Los Angeles Times on a 2008 football match between Azusa Pacific University and Westmont College, it was about far more than winning the game. 3 days earlier a wildfire had swept through the Westmont campus, destroying several academic buildings, faculty homes and student rooms. Unable to host the game, the rules require that Westmont to forfeit. Instead, Azusa Pacific invited their opponents to play at their campus where they welcomed Westmont fans with free admission and lunch.

On the field Westmont won an emotional 2 to nothing victory, while Azusa Pacific won admiration for their good will! LA Times reporter, Bill Plaschke wrote: "Rarely in Southern California sports has there been a better show of sportsmanship than this, Azusa Pacific sacrificing its chance at a title defense to give Westmont a fair shot of taking it!"

Contrast the actions of Azusa Pacific with the actions of green groups like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth against palm oil and it is easy to see why these green groups have not covered themselves in glory. On the contrary, their anti-palm oil campaigns has raised the ugly specter that they have sold out to an unworthy cause - to commercial interests opposed to the growth of palm oil for reasons other than the oft stated one of deforestation.

If not for the recent well researched paper by researchers Caroline Boin and Andrea Marchesetti entitled "Friends of the EU" (Vide: http://www.policynetwork.net/accountability/publication/friends-eu) which exposed that the EU, through its environmental ministries and commissions is involved in funding up to 70% of the operating budgets of environmental NGOs, nothing would have come to light.

Thanks to the painstaking research of Ms Boin and Marchesetti, the real reasons behind the baffling attacks against palm oil which is to protect oilseed crops like rapeseed and sunflower which are indigenous to the EU is now public knowledge.

It is inarguable that these EU oilseeds would find it difficult to compete on a level playing field, with "the cheapest oilseed crop in the world" especially in the production of biofuel, the use of which the EU has committed itself to promoting!.

Dr Paul Nelson, from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been studying the palm oil industry in Papua New Guinea for more than 10 years.

Dr Nelson says whether we like it or not, palm oil is one of the most important crops for people living in the humid tropics and one of the main land uses of choice after rainforest clearing.

"There are some people saying we should boycott palm oil,'' Dr Nelson said."I think that will have zero effect on forest-clearing rates, in fact it would have a negative effect because there's a certain amount of vegetable oil that's needed in the world and palm oil makes up about one-third of that."

Without palm oil, inevitably companies would turn to soy bean oil, which was far more destructive for rainforests, he said.

"The closest contender to palm oil in terms of what we can produce per hectare is soy bean and you need seven times as much area," Dr Nelson said. "Soy bean needs to be cultivated each year so you get things like soil erosion."

In comparison, palms can grow for several years without needing cultivation and the trees require less fertiliser and pesticides.

"It's a really good crop for small farmers because they get a regular income and they can go away and they're still producing - it's not a finicky crop," Dr Nelson said.

In the view of the Palm Oil Truth Foundation, it is time for the policy makers in Greenpeace and FOE to fess up and realign their policy to right a wrong that they have wrought on palm oil for so long. Until they adopt a policy of engagement and reconciliation with the palm oil industry, they will forever be tainted by their dishonorable actions against palm oil for the last half decade. THE END.

About the Author

Palm Oil Truth Foundation is an international non governmental and not for profit organization set up to expose the lies and myths surrounding palm oil, the health aspects relating to the consumption of palm oil, palm oil based biodiesel and sustainability issues relating to palm oil.