Palm oil: why do we care more about orangutans than migrant workers?

The environmental impact of palm oil is in the spotlight but the workers who endure exploitation in the name of our cakes and cosmetics are largely ignored. Today, Indonesia and neighbouring Malaysia account for about 85% of the global production of palm oil and employ as many as 3.5 million workers to maintain plantations and harvest the most traded oil in the world. The palm oil industry would not be possible without migrant labour. This is the conclusion of Pablo Pacheco, principal scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research, who points out that the palm oil industry in turn has promoted a “migrant flux”.