Met someone who works in the palm oil industry and is very dismissive about biodiversity loss – not that it’s unimportant but that it doesn’t happen. Not so sure myself. They had just returned from a reception hosted by a major European palm oil user and returned with two large gift bags full of their products. I must admit when they handed me one of the flagship products and told me it’s 35% palm oil I was less than enthused, but I suppose just about everything one eats in Malaysia is at least 35% palm oil.
Always startling to meet or know perfectly pleasant and even honourable people who work in industries that are shady or worse, and then defend them. Palm oil, at least the Malaysian variety, is far from the worst.