For many years our conservationists have been working behind the scenes with key partners to help drive up standards of sustainable palm oil.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has just announced its new, improved standards which deliver deforestation free palm oil.
This marks a significant step forwards, fighting back against the habitat destruction that is pushing wildlife towards extinction.
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of oil palm trees. Up to 50% of products in an average UK supermarket now contain it.
If we were to stop using palm oil, we would need to find an alternative to supply the global demand for edible vegetable oils. Because other oil crops – such as coconuts, olives, sunflowers and maize – are less productive per square kilometre, even more land would need to be converted to agriculture – causing even greater environmental damage.
The solution is to demand sustainable, deforestation free palm oil. Write to your MP, retailers and manufacturers. Look for the RSPO label on packaging. Choose sustainable. It’s time to Act For Wildlife.
Note: The RSPO’s no deforestation standards are following the High Carbon Stock Approach. Full details off the RSPO’s updated standards can be found on their website here: https://www.rspo.org/ga/ga15/Resolutions/RSPO_P&C_2018.pdf
How Chester Zoo is fighting for orangutans
Chester Zoo cares for two groups of critically endangered orangutans as part of a crucial conservation breeding programme for the species; our conservationists are working with field partners in Borneo, utilising the zoo’s skills and resources to help protect rainforest habitats for orangutans in the wild; we are campaigning here in the UK to increase awareness and demand for sustainable palm oil among consumers; we are working behind the scenes to continue to drive up standards in the sustainable palm oil industry; and we are working with businesses to make Chester the world’s first Sustainable Palm Oil City.