aerial view of a road through an oil palm plantation

Palm oil is unavoidable. Can it be sustainable?

Our appetite for the oil hurts the environment and wildlife. But Gabon hopes to show how to build an industry while protecting its forests.

Malaysia

Bunches of oil palm fruit harvested by hand are trucked to a mill for processing in mainland Malaysia. Oil palms yield more oil per acre than do other crops. But soaring demand for the world’s most popular vegetable oil has led to extensive deforestation and loss of wildlife in Indonesia and Malaysia, the biggest producers.
Photograph by PASCAL MAITRE
This story appears in the December 2018 issue of National Geographic magazine.
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