Palm oil expansion is the leading cause of orangutan habitat loss, driving a welfare and conservation crisis for the three remaining species across Borneo and Sumatra.
Orangutans displaced by deforestation face multiple acute welfare crises: starvation as food trees are cleared, burning during land preparation fires, and killing by workers who view them as pests. Infants that survive are often captured and sold into the illegal pet trade, where they face lives of profound social deprivation. Rescue and rehabilitation programmes provide critical welfare support, but they operate at the margins of a systemic problem driven by global demand for cheap vegetable oil. The welfare case for consuming only certified sustainable palm oil — or products that have genuinely eliminated palm oil from their supply chains — is direct: each purchase decision either contributes to or resists the habitat destruction driving this suffering.