The Oregon Zoo has created educational displays focusing on the negative impacts caused by palm oil plantations. Part of the display urges consumers not to buy products containing palm oil. However, the zoo is selling products containing palm oil in its vending machines.
When confronted about this, staff members replied that they only sell products that contain palm oil that comes from plantations that have incorporated biological corridors and are therefore “sustainable.” Corridors protect wildlife habitat and promote biodiversity, but the education curator of the Oregon Zoo said, “At some point today, you will probably consume palm oil, and there’s no way of knowing whether that palm oil contributed to the loss of habitat,” clearly indicating that sustainably grown palm oil is not so cut-and-dried.
Corridors alone are an inadequate form of conservation, because they don’t promote sustainable farming practices. For these corridors to serve a purpose, there must first be animals left alive to use them. There are currently no standards for sustainability in place, only a “recommendation” laid down by the Round Table on Agriculture.
So by what means can the Oregon Zoo claim that it only sells sustainably grown palm oil?
