way2go! 6, Schulbuch

71 0 Half of the things we buy A are not sustainable. B contain palm oil. C come from Southeast Asia. D are produced in Indonesia. 1 Palm oil production A can be done anywhere. B is carried out responsibly. C involves chopping down trees. D is always sustainable. 2 Rainforests are A a small part of Indonesia. B where many animals and plants live. C a big source of income for farmers. D strictly protected in Southeast Asia. 3 Palm oil farmers in Indonesia A now have a worse standard of living. B are destroying the rainforests. C cannot afford to get an education. D have a better life thanks to palm oil. 4 Sustainable palm oil production A is happening in Latin America. B would also destroy the rainforests. C is important for the future. D can never be achieved. 5 The problems of palm oil production A are not easy to solve. B do not affect the poor farmers. C can only be solved by companies. D will be solved if we stop using it. The main problem is that palm oil production is responsible for deforestation. This is particularly true in Indonesia, which lost more than 6 million hectares (more than the area of 6 million football fields) of primary forest between 2000 and 2012. As rainforests are home to more than half of the world’s species of plants, animals and insects, the loss of so much forest seriously endangers much of the world’s biodiversity. It has been estimated that orangutans, for example, could be extinct in 10 years if deforestation in Indonesia continues at the same rate. Humans are also negatively affected as they are forced tomake way for new plantations. The people who have lived off the forests’ rich resources for generations often do not own the land they work on and, as a result, communities are destroyed. Yet palm oil production also brings advantages to some people in developing countries. In Indonesia, for example, 11% of the country’s export money is earned through palm oil. The farmers earn a stable source of income, which makes it possible for them to build homes, install running water and send their children to school. They can now afford standards of living that would not have been pos- sible before. This is also true in Malaysia, which is the second-largest producer of palm oil and pro- duces about 39% of the world’s supply. Over the last 10 years, mar- kets in Africa and Latin America have grown too. However, if the oil is not produced in a sustainable way, with countries cre- ating laws to pro- tect the enviroment and companies act- ing responsibly, this growing industry could further de- stroy the world’s rainforests. Some people have called for the production of palm oil to stop, but because many small farmers depend on it for their income, the solution is not that simple. It is clear that many issues will need to be resolved over the coming decades: Should companies work harder to save the environment? How can gov- ernments protect their rainforests better and still support their local farmers? What do consumers need to know about the products they buy? Should everybody just stop buying products made with palm oil? These questions must be addressed if the precious tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia are to be protected. Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des V rlags öbv