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| A child holds a leaf to cover from the rainfall. ©UNICEF Indonesia / Purnomo |
Jakarta, Indonesia, 20 November 2016 – Palm oil is used in approximately half of all consumer goods, from soap and body lotion to processed foods and biofuels. And because it’s easy to cultivate and cheaper to process than other vegetable oils, global demand continues to rise. That’s good news for Indonesia and Malaysia, who together account for 85% of global production. The palm oil boom, however, comes at a significant cost to the environment. The impacts of clearing land for the planting of oil palm plantations – including deforestation, damaged peatlands and greenhouse gas emissions due to slash-and-burn practices -- has been widely assessed. Little attention has been paid, however, to the impact of the industry on children, despite the fact that in Indonesia alone 5 million children are affected.
Wanting to know more, UNICEF conducted an assessment – the first of its kind - on how children are impacted by the cultivation of oil palm in Indonesia and Malaysia. The research provides insights into the living conditions of children in production centres like Sumatra and Kalimantan, which due to their relative remoteness, rarely receive much attention. Based on a comprehensive desk research, interviews with workers (many of them women) children, teachers, health personnel and NGO representatives, as well as consultations with plantation mangers and government representatives, the study identifies seven main impact areas and a number of root causes.
