2 V.Palm oil is surely one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity,' declares Dr. Famon Ellwood of the University of the West of England, Bristol. 'Palm oil is replacing rainforest, and rainforest is where all the species are. That's a problem. This has led to some radical questions among environmentalists, such as whether consumers should try to boycott palm oil entirely.
Meanwhile Bhavani Shankar, Professor at London's School of Oriental and African Studies, argues,'It's easy to say that palm oil is the enemy and we should be against it. It makes for a more dramatic story, and it's very intuitive. But given the complexity of the argument, I think a much more nuanced story is closer to the truth.'
V.One response to the boycott movement has been the argument for the vital role palm oil plays in lifting many millions of people in the developing world out of poverty. Is it desirable to have palm oil boycotted, replaced, eliminated from the global supply chain, given how many low-income people in developing countries depend on it for their livelihoods? How best to strike a utilitarian balance between these competing factors has become a serious bone of contention.
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