Talk at the Library: Can Sustainable Palm Oil Become Widely Available?

Palm oil has a bad reputation in Switzerland, yet we certainly consume it on a daily basis. The world’s most traded vegetable oil forms part of numerous manufactured products from food to cosmetics. Moreover, it is widely used as cooking oil. To make way for plantations, rainforests and peatland have been widely destroyed, most significantly in Indonesia and Malaysia. Ongoing oil palm expansions threaten forests and natural habitats in other parts of Asia, Latin America and West Africa.

Recently the European Union has reacted with a ban on palm oil in biofuels, with Malaysia and Indonesia taking the case to the World Trade Organization. May this well-intended measure be counterproductive? What are the main problems of oil palm plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia? How does this compare to other regions? Is it possible to have sustainable palm oil in the amount needed to meet global demands? How challenging is the certification processes? What is Switzerland doing? And what can we do as consumers?

Join us for a members-only conversation with Jaboury Ghazoul, Professor of Ecosystem Management at ETH Zurich. Jaboury Ghazoul and his team at ETH are studying the complex consequences of intensive oil palm production and the diverse conflicts of interest at play. As part of the Oil Palm Adaptive Landscapes (OPAL) project, the team looks at different oil palm landscapes working together with different stakeholders in Indonesia, Cameroon and Colombia to move towards more sustainable and inclusive pathways.

Program:

11:50 – Doors open

12:00 – Conversation with Jaboury Ghazoul

13:30 – End of event

This event is for Asia Society Members only.

Space is limited and seats are awarded on a first come first serve basis.

A brown bag lunch will be served.

Attendance is free. In order to avoid no-shows, a CHF 50 no-show fee will be charged if you do not cancel your registration until 24 hours before the event the latest.

Photo: A hut in the middle of oil palm plantations in Buluq Sen village, Kutai Kartanegara, Indonesia. © CIFOR Photo/Nanang Sujana

Jaboury Ghazoul

Jaboury Ghazoul, Professor of Ecosystem Management at ETH Zurich, is a tropical plant ecologist, working on plant ecology and land use change. Jaboury's main research interests are pollination ecology, forest and landscape restoration, ecosystem services and, more generally, conservation management. His wider interests include geology, marine biology and political history. Currently, Jaboury holds the Prince Bernhard Chair of International Nature Conservation of the Utrecht University in collaboration with WWF Netherlands. Since 2014 he is a member of the Expert Committee on Forest Science (UK Forest Commission). Before he was President of the Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) from 2014-2016.