Environmental Challenges and the Controversy about Palm Oil Pro- duction – Case Studies from Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar

• After palm oil was brought to South East Asia from central Africa in the 20 century the worldwide production has grown by 65 percent over the past decade. Demand is still increasing, especially after the European Union agreed to its 10 percent target for biofuels in their total transport consumption. • As biggest and second biggest producer of palm oil Indonesia and Malaysia account together for more than 85 percent of the production for the world market, and trade mainly with China, the European Union and India. • Myanmar started as well with palm oil production but is also investing heavily in ́Jatropha curcas ́-tree for an alternative biofuel. • The massive growth of the plantations is causing enormous environmental problems like monocultures, loss of biodiversity and climate change but as well social issues caused by lack of workers' rights and diverse conflicts with indigenous people. • The “Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil“ was founded in 2004 to tackle these issues, but so far the multi-stakeholder platform consisting of the palm oil industry, related manufacturers and civil society has only made limited progress.