Peru Passes Momentous Ban On Palm Oil Deforestation

Peru has just become the second South American country to commit to ending palm oil driven deforestation by 2021, according to reports.

The move has been described ‘a momentous win’ for wildlife and sustainable agriculture by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF).

Peru has joined Colombia on its environmental promise, which was made possible by the NWF, the largest private, non-profit conservation education and advocacy organisation in the United States. It has more than six million members and supporters and 51 state and territorial affiliated organisation, Live Kindly reports.

The NFW worked with Sociedad Peruana de Ecodesarrollo – a local partner, as well as Peruvian palm oil Producers’ Association JUNAPALMA for two years in a bid to achieve the agreement.

As per Live Kindly, Kiryssa Kasprzyk, who led the NFW’s work on the agreement, said in a statement:

This commitment is a momentous development for the people of Peru and the global effort to confront climate change. It underscores that we can feed the world without hurting biodiversity or clear-cutting tropical forests.

Palm oil is a vegetable oil which is extracted from the fruit and the seeds of the oil palm and can be found in half of all packaged goods found in UK supermarkets.

It’s used in goods like bread, cereal, chocolate, shampoo, cosmetics, cleaning products, biofuel and more, and will often be listed under various different names such as kernal, fruit oil, palmate and stearine, meaning many people don’t even know it’s in their products.