Sumatra is home to a number of palm oil plantations such as the ever expanding Duta-Palma plantation which employs people from the local area to work in the fields. For a days work the workers will be paid around $3.50 US.
The production of palm oil and the expansion of the industry by cosmetic, food and biofuel company’s is driving the wholesale destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests and peatlands through growing palm oil consumption. The natural peatlands are drained and the areas are burned in order to make space for plant palm oil saplings. This causes massive amounts of biodiversity loss and releases vast amounts of peatland carbon in the form of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.