Palm oil is used in just about everything and its harvest is causing a large amount of deforestation in South America. Peru is committing to ending this practice and moving towards sustainable palm oil harvesting by 2021.

Seems a little strange to pair palm oil harvesting and deforestation together because, doesn’t it come from trees? It does! But in order to harvest the amount of seeds needed from said tree, large portions of rain forest are cut down and replaced by oil palms. So there are still a lot of trees but no biodiversity.

By harvesting in a sustainable way, many natural habitats would be saved and the potential for more carbon to be released into the atmosphere from the cutting down and burning of trees, would be halted. Ultimately, it is better for everyone if more sustainable agricultural practices are put into play with palm oil harvesting as well as all other aspects of agriculture.