Schools in palm coast: Public Schools in Palm Coast, FL
Public Schools in Palm Coast, FL
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#204 Best Public Middle Schools in Florida
#204 Best Public Middle Schools in Florida.
Indian Trails Middle School
Flagler County Public Schools, FL,
7-8,
2 Niche users give it an average review of 2 stars.
Read 2 reviews.
Overall Niche Grade: A minus,
Students: 869,
Student-Teacher Ratio: 20 to 1,
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#479 Best Public Elementary Schools in Florida
#479 Best Public Elementary Schools in Florida.
Old Kings Elementary School
Flagler County Public Schools, FL,
PK, K-6,
Overall Niche Grade: B+,
Students: 1,031,
Student-Teacher Ratio: 15 to 1,
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#545 Best Public Elementary Schools in Florida
#545 Best Public Elementary Schools in Florida.
Belle Terre Elementary School
Flagler County Public Schools, FL,
PK, K-8,
1 Niche users give it an average review of 5 stars.
Read 1 reviews.
Overall Niche Grade: B+,
Students: 1,205,
Student-Teacher Ratio: 16 to 1,
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#273 Best Public High Schools in Florida
#273 Best Public High Schools in Florida.
Matanzas High School
Flagler County Public Schools, FL,
9-12,
325 Niche users give it an average review of 3.6 stars.
Featured Review: Junior says
Although I’m only a junior, I feel that in these three years I’ve spent at Matanzas High School I’ve grown to know and love it. Matanzas is a fairly large high school but I’ve always felt like an….
Read 325 reviews.
Overall Niche Grade: B+,
Students: 1,564,
Student-Teacher Ratio: 26 to 1,
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#275 Best Public High Schools in Florida
#275 Best Public High Schools in Florida.
Flagler-Palm Coast High School
Flagler County Public Schools, FL,
9-12,
604 Niche users give it an average review of 3.7 stars.
Featured Review: Alum says
Flagler Palm Coast High School , home of the Bulldogs.
My experience in FPC was nothing short of amazing. I got the real feel of a high school experience through all the extracurricular activities….Read 604 reviews.
Overall Niche Grade: B+,
Students: 2,524,
Student-Teacher Ratio: 27 to 1,
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#817 Best Public Elementary Schools in Florida
#817 Best Public Elementary Schools in Florida.
Rymfire Elementary School
Flagler County Public Schools, FL,
PK, K-6,
2 Niche users give it an average review of 5 stars.
Featured Review: Niche User says
Very nice organization, and proud to see how they improve the school’s system every time they can.
Great teachers and stuff!.Read 2 reviews.
Overall Niche Grade: B,
Students: 940,
Student-Teacher Ratio: 14 to 1,
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#818 Best Public Elementary Schools in Florida
#818 Best Public Elementary Schools in Florida.
Imagine School at Town Center
Flagler County Public Schools, FL,
K-8,
1 Niche users give it an average review of 2 stars.
Read 1 reviews.
Overall Niche Grade: B,
Students: 852,
Student-Teacher Ratio: 18 to 1,
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#901 Best Public Elementary Schools in Florida
#901 Best Public Elementary Schools in Florida.
Lewis E. Wadsworth Elementary School
Flagler County Public Schools, FL,
PK, K-6,
1 Niche users give it an average review of 5 stars.
Featured Review: Parent says
Teachers are great. However, Flagler Schools have no idea and no training on how to deal with children with learning disabilities or autism..
Read 1 reviews.
Overall Niche Grade: B,
Students: 823,
Student-Teacher Ratio: 15 to 1,
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#403 Best Public High Schools in Florida
#403 Best Public High Schools in Florida.
Pedro Menendez High School
St. Johns County School District, FL,
9-12,
298 Niche users give it an average review of 3.7 stars.
Featured Review: Senior says
Pedro Menendez has a comfortable community and offers excellent educational programs such as the International Bachelorette and Duel Enrollment program. Teachers and staff are understanding and….
Read 298 reviews.
Overall Niche Grade: B,
Students: 1,470,
Student-Teacher Ratio: 23 to 1,
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Buddy Taylor Middle School
Flagler County Public Schools, FL,
7-8,
1 Niche users give it an average review of 4 stars.
Featured Review: Alum says
I went to this school in 7th and 8th grade and I had the experience of being there for the reconstruction of the entire school. The teachers were very helpful and got you engaged in the subject. To….
Read 1 reviews.
Overall Niche Grade: B minus,
Students: 887,
Student-Teacher Ratio: 19 to 1,
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Bunnell Elementary School
Flagler County Public Schools, FL,
PK, K-6,
Overall Niche Grade: B minus,
Students: 1,050,
Student-Teacher Ratio: 14 to 1,
Being able to do a range of things is important as it allows students to forge their own path by testing different areas out and seeing how they like them.
Like all things there are some negatives, such as the occasional lack of communication from faculty to students or slightly strange mental health protocols but overall attending Matanzas high school has been a privilege that has help me grow into the scholar I am today!… Read 325 reviews
7 out of 5 604 reviews
My experience in FPC was nothing short of amazing. I got the real feel of a high school experience through all the extracurricular activities….
Great teachers and stuff!.
… Read 1 review
In my opinion, the only negative attributes Pedro Menendez has are inefficient transportation and school website…. Read 298 reviews
The teachers were very helpful and got you engaged in the subject. To this day I use alot of what I learned from those grades to my everyday life now…. Read 1 reviewNot sure what schools you are zoned for?Find out by exploring our school boundary maps. Look up public schools and districts by address or ZIP code.
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Language plus the sea: language schools on the coast | EduTravel
For parents who want their child aged 5-19 to combine holidays at sea with learning a foreign language – summer schools in the resorts of England, Malta, Spain, France and the USA.
The southern sun, fresh air, beach volleyball, boat trips and palm alleys – the child will bring only positive impressions from school and will definitely advance in English, Spanish or French.
Kings Colleges Bournemouth – English, beach, Stonehenge (England)
At the Kings school, a child of 13-17 years old will improve their English, relax on the best British beaches, visit Oxford, Bath, London and Brighton. The school is well located in the heart of the resort town of Bournemouth, within walking distance of the beach. Schoolchildren live in residences or host families nearby.
English lessons are 15 hours per week. Classes are held in an easy game form. Students watch videos, work on group projects, read British magazines and, of course, communicate a lot in English. The task of teachers is to save the child from the language barrier so that he himself wants to continue learning the language.
After school – entertainment program. Children play on the school grounds, as well as in the nearby Meyrick Park, swim and sunbathe a lot on the golden beach of Bournemouth.
In the evenings – talent shows, discos, barbecues, quests and competitions.
At the weekend, students go on excursions to London, which is only 2 hours away, as well as to Oxford, Brighton and Bath. On short excursions in the middle of the week, the guys will visit the town of Salisbury, see Corfe Castle and the legendary Stonehenge.
Age: from 13 to 17 years old
Duration from 2 weeks
Dates: July 2 – August 27, 2017
Accommodation: in residence or host family 900-x weeks
: from GPB 1040
DETAILS ABOUT THE PROGRAMSEND INQUIRY
Anglo Continental – English and more than 40 master classes (England)
The small school Anglo Continental is a family business that has been specializing in language programs for almost 70 years. The school has programs for children 10-15 and 16-19years. The child will improve his English and try 40 master classes: from photography to mini-golf.
Children study in a separate building in the center of Bournemouth and live with host families.
Children aged 10-15 and 16-19 study separately, but on a similar schedule. Both groups take 20 English lessons per week. Lessons go in the morning, from 8.45 to 12.15 2-3 teachers work at each lesson. To achieve progress in the language, students are divided into mini-groups, each of which is assisted by a teacher.
After lunch, an entertainment program. 40 master classes are available at the school: creative classes, digital photography, swimming, bowling, ceramics. Schoolchildren spend a lot of time on the Bournemouth beach: they sunbathe, play volleyball, swim. All games are supervised by teachers.
At the weekend the guys go on excursions to London: they go boating on the Thames, walk around the Harry Potter Museum, the National Gallery and go shopping. In the middle of the week – short excursions to the picturesque resort towns in the vicinity of Bournemouth.
Age: from 10 to 19 years old
Duration from 2 weeks
Dates: July 3 – August 27, 2017
Accommodation: in a host family program
from GPB 1480
PROGRAM DETAILSSEND INQUIRY
EC Language Schools – English & Maltese Attractions (Malta)
At the European Center (EC) school, a child of 13-17 years old will speak English, see the sights of Malta and plunge into the atmosphere of an international resort. The school is located in Msida, within walking distance of the yacht marina and golden beaches. The guys spend the whole day on the program: lessons, master classes, excursions – and live in host families or specially selected hotels nearby.
Pupils have 20 English lessons per week. Lessons traditionally take place in the morning and are aimed at expanding vocabulary, developing reading, writing, listening to English and communicating in English.
The language practice continues after the lessons while playing football, volleyball, games on the beach and in the pool, excursions around the picturesque Malta and its historical center – Valletta.
In the evening, discos, barbecue parties and quizzes in English are arranged for schoolchildren. 2 evenings a week are free: children spend them playing on the school grounds or communicating with the host family.
Age: from 13 to 17 years
Duration from 2 weeks
Dates: July 1 – August 27, 2017
Accommodation: in a host family or in a hotel Cost weeks programs: from EUR 1130
DETAILS ABOUT THE PROGRAMSEND YOUR INQUIRY
Enforex – English or Spanish in Barcelona, Valencia or Marbella (Spain)
Enforex schools were originally created for those who want to combine seaside holidays with foreign language teaching. A child aged 5-18 will relax on luxurious Spanish beaches, get acquainted with the rich cultural life of Barcelona, Valencia or Marbella, improve English or Spanish.
Accommodation: in school residences or host families.
Schools have afternoon and morning programs. These options are convenient for parents who want to relax in Spain with their child. You can pick up the student after the morning language lessons or in the evening, after the entertainment program.
Language programs are similar across all Enforex schools. 20 English or Spanish lessons per week taught by native speakers. After the lessons – entertainment programs depending on the age of the group. Beach volleyball and football, panda parks, creative workshops, banana rides – for younger students. Relaxing on the beach, shopping, learning flamenco, Spanish cooking – for teenagers.
For an additional fee, you can study robotics, acting, improve your public speaking, leadership skills or yoga.
But the most interesting part of Enforex programs is excursions. In 2 weeks, depending on the location of the school, the child will get acquainted with the beauties of Barcelona, visit Park Güell and Tibidado, see Tarragona, walk around Valencia, Alicante, Seville, Granada.
These cities will tell students about the history of Spain, its culture and traditions.
Age: from 5 to 17 years (Valencia: from 11 to 17 years)
Duration from 2 weeks
Dates: July 2 – August 29, 2017 (Valencia: until August 129) Accommodation: in residence or host family. There is a daytime and morning training program.
Cost of 2 weeks program: from EUR 1250
DETAILS ABOUT THE PROGRAMSEND INQUIRY
Center International Antibes – French on the Cote d’Azur (France)
At the school in Antibes, a child of 8-17 years old will start or continue learning French, get to know the main cities of the Côte d’Azur and relax on the beach.
The language program includes 20 French lessons per week. Training takes place in groups of 12-15 students. The main emphasis in the classroom is on mastering colloquial speech and setting the correct pronunciation.
After the lessons there is a program of entertainment and short excursions. Among the activities: swimming, yachting, beach soccer, zumba, tennis. And on short excursions, the guys will get to know Antibes, a cozy resort between Nice and Cannes.
On the weekends – long excursions along the Cote d’Azur. The guys will see Monaco, Cannes, Saint-Tropez, Nice, admire the snow-white yachts, rocky landscapes, green parks and the blue sea. Such a holiday will charge the child with energy for the whole year!
The school also has a day program – convenient for those who want to relax with their child. You will pick up the student after class and explore Nice, Cannes, Monaco together.
Age: 8 to 17 years old
Duration from 2 weeks
Dates: July 2 – October 28, 2017
Accommodation: in a residence or host family. There is also a daytime training program
The cost of a 2-week program: from EUR 1520
DETAILS ABOUT THE PROGRAMSEND YOUR INQUIRY
The Language Academy (TLA) Junior – English in Florida (USA)
At the TLA Language Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, teenagers aged 14-18 will have fun during their holidays, improve and practice their English.
And on excursions he will get acquainted with the famous resorts of the USA: Miami and Orlando. Accommodation: in a residence, homestay or hotel near the school. The program is recommended for children with a valid US visa.
English lessons take place in the morning and take 15 hours a week. After lunch, the entertainment program begins, which is sure to please the teenager. The children walk along Las Olas Boulevard – the social center of the city, ride a boat along the canals, go shopping, swim in a huge pool on the school grounds or go to the beach.
Weekend excursion to Orlando where Disneyland, Universal Theme Park and Aquarium are located. Or in Miami to sunbathe on the most beautiful beaches in the USA.
Age: from 14 to 18 years
Duration from 2 weeks
Dates: July 2 – August 19, 2017
Accommodation: in a residence, host family or 9019 cost 9019 weekly program: from USD 2390
DETAILS ABOUT THE PROGRAMSEND YOUR INQUIRY
Resume
- For children aged 10-17 who dream to combine an English camp with a holiday at sea – Kings Colleges and Anglo Continental in Bournemouth, on the beautiful English coast in Malta, or EC Language School .
- For children aged 5-17 who want to improve their English or Spanish, and at the same time get to know the culture of Spain – Enforex schools in sunny resorts: Valencia, Barcelona, Marbella. Schools have residential programs, as well as morning and afternoon programs, when parents pick up the child after classes or entertainment.
- For children aged 8-17 learning French – Center International Antibes on the Côte d’Azur.
- And teenagers with a valid US visa will enjoy TLA in Fort Lauderdale, USA: shopping, trips to theme parks and beaches in Miami .
Book a school for summer holidays
by phone +7 (495) 935-85-45
request form on the website
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Palm oil: a necessary evil
Global demand for Asian palm oil is hurting wildlife. Meanwhile, on another continent – in African Gabon – they are trying to bring the industry to a new level and save forests from deforestation.
Virgin forests in the southwest of Gabon stretch for hundreds of kilometers. On a January morning, I go to the banks of the Ngunye River with a few employees of the agricultural company Olam. We got here by boat and go further into the forest – along the elephant trail. Along the way, we come across centuries-old trees, chimpanzee nests and heaps of gorilla droppings. Somewhere above, monkeys are jumping along the branches. A young Olam ranger kicks off his boots, climbs a tree trunk barefoot, and climbs back down with a handful of pink, plum-like fruits.
We make our way further and find wild mangoes, kola nuts and garlic-smelling bark. Sunlight breaks through the foliage: fish can be seen splashing in a small pond. There are many scratches and scratches on the trees around, left by elephant tusks.
From one thought that this forest can be cut down, the heart shrinks.
These lands are not part of a park or reserve, but are located on the Muila oil palm plantation managed by Olam.
Somewhere in Malaysia or Indonesia, two of the world’s largest palm oil producing countries, lumberjacks and bulldozers would probably have been flooding the jungle long ago to clear it into even rows of oil palms.
These palm trees with huge clusters of red fruits, covered with lushly growing spreading leaves, have been planted for centuries. For thousands of years, their fruits have been boiled and crushed, thus extracting oil. The shells were sent to the fire for heating, and the leaves were used almost everywhere – from baskets to the roofs of dwellings. In the past few decades, palm oil consumption has experienced an explosive growth, due to its versatility and high density, as well as the fertility of the trees. Compared to other crops such as soybeans, palm trees require half the land to produce the same amount of oil.
Palm has become the most popular vegetable oil, accounting for a third of the world’s consumption. In India and other countries, it is used in cooking.
And yet – it is included in almost all products available in any supermarket: cookies, pizza dough, bread, lipstick, lotion, soap. It is also found in biodiesel, which is considered environmentally friendly: in 2017, 51 percent of the palm oil consumed by the European Union was used to fuel cars and trucks.
Worldwide, the demand for palm oil continues to grow. India consumes the most, accounting for 17 percent of global purchases. It is followed by Indonesia, the European Union and China. The United States is in eighth position. In 2018, global consumption is expected to reach 65.5 million tons, or about 9 kilograms per person.
The cost of meeting this demand is extremely high. Since 1973, 41,000 square kilometers of rainforest have been cleared, burned and leveled to the ground in Kalimantan, an island belonging to Malaysia and Indonesia, to clear land for planting oil palms. From 19For 73 years, one fifth of the forest cut down in Kalimantan has been allocated to palm trees, and since 2000 – already 47 percent!
Deforestation has caused terrible damage to nature.
Some 150,000 critically endangered orangutans in Kalimantan died between 1999 and 2015, and while logging and hunting were the main causes, palm oil production also played a role.
In addition, deforestation exacerbates climate change – deforestation and land use change account for almost half of Indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions and also cause severe air pollution. Smoke from Indonesian forest fires (many of which are lit specifically to clear land for oil palms) has caused at least 12,000 deaths in 2015 alone!
People who got in the way of palm expansion also suffered: there are known cases of human rights violations – the use of child labor and forced eviction. On the Indonesian island of Sumatra, palm oil producers have razed entire villages to the ground.
They left people homeless, making them dependent on government benefits
Such environmental lawlessness is now trying to avoid in Gabon.
The piece of paradise that I visited will not be affected: the territories are under the protection of the Olam company. Under an agreement with the government, the company will grow oil palms outside of it, on the lands allotted to it.
“We are trying to find a new way to develop Gabon so that we don’t cut down all of our forests but balance oil palms, agriculture and conservation,” explains Lee White, biologist and environmentalist, head of the Gabon National Parks Agency. A nation of less than two million people is embarking on a path of agricultural industrialization, and the government is relying on science to determine which parts of the country’s forest cover are of particular natural value and which can be given over to oil palm cultivation.
In Africa, as in Southeast Asia, oil palms will continue to be an important crop for a long time to come: exporting countries rely on sales revenue. It is unwise to boycott the consumption of palm oil: alternative crops will need even more land.
It also makes no sense: palm oil has penetrated almost everywhere and is often included in a wide variety of products – for example, it is in food additives such as sodium lauryl sulfate, and in cosmetics, where stearic acid derived from it is added, as consumers are often unaware. So it is unlikely that we will be able to significantly reduce consumption. The only reasonable approach is to reduce the harm from production.
Indonesia and Malaysia play a central role in palm oil production, but the palm itself, Elaeis guineensis, is not native to Asia. It began to spread in West and Central Africa – it was here, in the riverbeds, deep in the jungle, that archaeologists discovered palm fruits that were 3,000 years old. Throughout the 19th century, British traders imported palm oil from Africa, using it for a wide variety of uses, such as soap, margarine and candles, and the list continued to grow. When experts learned how to isolate glycerin, the scope of the oil expanded even more – it was also used in pharmaceuticals, in the production of photographic film, perfumes and even dynamite.
By the beginning of the 20th century, oil palms were brought to Indonesia, and commercial plantations began to appear there. By the end of the 1930s, they covered only 100,000 hectares. Over the next half century, advances in agricultural technology—the selection of trees resistant to common pathogens, and the colonization of plantations by African weevils (Elaeidobius kamerunicus) for better pollination—led to increased yields and increased investment in oil palms.
However, quite recently, at 1970s – three-quarters of the island of Kalimantan was covered with luxurious rainforests. However, in an effort to meet the growing global demand for palm oil, manufacturing companies have destroyed a significant part of the woody plants. The health risks associated with eating trans fats have sparked a boom, with palm oil replacing trans fats in many foods. In addition, rising consumption has spurred demand for biofuels. The peak came in the early 2000s, when thousands of square kilometers of peatlands and lowland forests in Kalimantan were planted with oil palms.
Indonesia
In 2015, this forest, which grew on a peat bog on the island of Kalimantan, was burned to clear the land for oil palms. That year, air pollution from forest fires in Indonesia, both natural and man-made, was one of the causes of at least 12,000 premature deaths. Nearly half of Indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions are associated with deforestation or burning of high-carbon forests and peatlands
By that time, under increasing pressure from international conservation groups, the World Wide Fund for Nature, in collaboration with several of the largest producers and importers of palm oil, began to develop standards for cleaner production. Plantations certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil are not allowed to destroy “forests of particular importance, as well as sites of significant biodiversity (i.e. endangered species) and especially fragile ecosystems.” Companies are also required to minimize erosion, conserve water sources, pay workers at minimum wage rates, and seek “early, informed and non-coerced consent” from local communities.
To date, one fifth of the world’s palm oil suppliers have been certified by the RSPO. Many palm oil consumer products companies – Unilever, Nestle, Procter & Gamble – have publicly announced a move to certified purchasing exclusively within a few years. This is a big step forward, but not enough.
Humid afternoon heat. Not far from the northeastern tip of Kalimantan, small groups of elephants graze along a muddy river. When the sun goes down to the treetops, the elephants gather on the muddy shore. And now more than 50 animals are swimming into the fast waters of the Kinabatangan River to cross it, forming an even chain, shaking their huge heads and throwing fountains of water from their trunks.
The Kinabatangan Valley is one of the easiest places to see virgin forest in the Malaysian state of Sabah, located in northern Kalimantan. Directly from the boats on the water, tourists can observe representatives of the rare and most recognizable species – Bornean elephants, proboscis monkeys, Malayan kalaos, and even, if you’re lucky, orangutans.
Malaysia
A worker gathers fruit on a plantation in Sarawak, one of Malaysia’s two states on the island of Kalimantan. These mature trees are about 25 years old, which means they will soon be cut down and replaced with new ones. With age, oil palms produce less fruit, and because of the increasing height of the trees, it becomes harder to harvest them
From this spectacle is breathtaking – the animals are visible at a glance. However, the reason for this “openness” is that they simply have nowhere to hide. For hundreds of kilometers along the river, the forest was completely destroyed – now only oil palms grow here. You can drive for hours, overtaking chains of palm oil tanks, and not see a single other tree.
The government of Sabah decided in the 1970s to reduce the economy’s decades-long overreliance on logging by turning its attention to agriculture and carving out long stretches of fertile land in the lowland forests – including the Kinabatangan region – for crop production. “They started with the premise that the best land should be turned over to agriculture,” explains John Payne, a biologist and environmentalist who has lived in Sabah since 19.79 years old.
During the 1980s, agricultural land in Sabah was mainly used for cocoa. However, with the decline in world prices and the introduction of the pest Conopomorpha cramerella, cocoa revenues declined and most plantations switched to oil palms. The land was so cheap that companies from the Malaysian mainland began to actively buy it, build oil plants and other infrastructure. This made it easier for farmers to sell the fruits on the market – and the clearing of forests continued with renewed vigor. Today, a fifth of the state is covered in oil palms. Sabah produces over 7 percent of the world’s palm oil.
The price paid for this in terms of ecology was monstrous. Many of the remaining fragments of the forest are fragmented and are just islands of the jungle that look untouched – almost without animals.
“This area used to be home to the highest density population of orangutans, but now it’s all oil palms,” Payne sighs.
Indonesia
Workers from the Kalimantan Orangutan Rescue Fund release an orangutan onto a protected island. This monkey was raised in the Nyaru Menteng Reserve: the jungle in which it lived was destroyed. After rehabilitation, the animal can return to the rainforest if it is possible to find a site that is suitable in size. As a result of deforestation and hunting in Kalimantan since 1999th to 2015, about 150 thousand orangutans died
With such losses, it is not easy to see a ray of hope. However, in Sabah, a group of scientists, activists, RSPO representatives and government officials are trying to right the wrongs of the past. Payne is the leader of the Palm Oil & Non-Government Organizations Alliance (PONGO – similar to the Latin name for orangutans, Pongo). The goal of this coalition of industry representatives and non-governmental organizations is to turn 5 percent of the largest plantations in Kalimantan into forest suitable for orangutans.
The Hutan Conservation Organization (who took me to Kinabatangan) has planted more than 100,000 trees of 38 species over the past decade in an attempt to preserve a corridor along the river for wildlife.
Until recently, Sam Mannen, a leading proponent of forest protection, was the head of the state’s forestry department. Under his leadership, the area of protected areas in Sabah has increased from 12 to 26 percent of the area of the state over the past decade and has exceeded 19,000 square kilometers. Mannen’s goal was to increase the rate to 30 percent by 2025 by linking national parks, sanctuaries and other patches of state-owned forests with newly planted “green corridors” for wildlife movement.
Mannen believes in cooperation with oil producers. “Without the oil palms, protecting nature in Sabah would be difficult,” he tells me as we chat in his office in the coastal town of Sandakan, Sabah’s former logging capital. In terms of revenues to the budget, the palm industry is only ahead of the oil industry.
“Money works for the good of nature conservation,” Mannen is sure.
“On the other hand,” I object, “if it weren’t for palm trees, it wouldn’t take so much money to protect nature.” “You could make that argument as well,” says Mannen. “But in that case we would be poor.”
The palm business boom has brought obvious economic benefits to Sabah: paved roads, new schools, satellite television. In the state capital, Kota Kinabalu, brand new shopping malls gleam with European and Asian luxury goods.
Malaysia
The excavator rakes the seedlings to load them onto a conveyor that will deliver them to the parquet. In Asia, palm oil production is much better mechanized than in Africa. A facility in the Malaysian state of Perak can process 40 tons of fruit per hour and produce 2 tons of crude palm oil. Work goes on around the clock
In August of this year, Mannen lost his post as the new government in Sabah opened an investigation into allegedly illegal logging, sanctioned by the previous administration.
During his almost 20 years of service, Mannen managed to annoy both sides of the “oil conflict”. Despite this, many conservationists believe that he curbed the agricultural industry. He was “a confident, effective leader representing the state with a vision for the future,” notes Payne.
In the end, the palm oil industry will have to rethink its approach, says Darrell Webber, head of the RSPO, a native of Sabah. With the support of Mannen, Webber and Malaysian activist Cynthia Ong are making ambitious efforts in this direction. Their goal is to educate everyone from small farmers with a few hectares to powerful CEOs of large companies how and why palm oil production can be improved and all production in the state recognized as sustainable.
“With demand growing and Sabah willing to meet it, we will have to set the rules of the game,” Ong is convinced.
The state hopes to achieve RSPO certification by 2025, but how to achieve this is not yet clear. “We rebuild the plane on the fly,” Ong describes the process.
The Malaysian NGO Wild Asia is trying to gather hundreds of small plantations in Kinabatangan and other areas into groups that can be certified together so that these groups sell palm fruit to certified processors. Nestle, a major consumer of palm oil but no plantations, is helping to finance the project. Farmers will be able to raise more money, RSPO members such as Nestle will be able to trace the origin of the oil they supply. “We want to make it part of the buying process,” comments Nestle’s Kertia Abdul Kadir.
Since 2011, this Swiss multinational company has supervised the planting of about 700,000 trees along the Kinabatangan River in an area of 2,500 hectares.
Critics of the RSPO say it’s questionable to work with companies that have cut down forests in the past. In their opinion, one of the main requirements for certification – stop deforestation – sets the bar too low.
RSPO’s Darrell Webber, formerly of the WWF, retorts by comparing the palm industry to nothing less than St.
Paul’s on the road to Damascus. “Will you forgive a great sinner, because he can become a better missionary? Webber asks. Or should all sinners be driven away? But what changes will we achieve then? It is necessary to find a way to convince all participants in the process.”
In the last decade, Webber said, more and more palm oil producers have recognized the need for change. “We managed to get the consent of many, but there are still a lot of those who do not want to cooperate. Our task is to convince the many dissenters. It will take time,” he explains.
Gabon
More than half of Olam’s Mouila plantation, where workers plant palm trees, is located in the savannah. The place was chosen in such a way as not to cut down the forest. Gabon has developed a national land use plan in an attempt to “keep a balance between oil palms, agriculture and forest protection,” says National Park Agency chief Lee White
In Gabon, one of Africa’s most forested countries, palm oil is taking on new frontiers and a boom is on the horizon.
Located on the equator on the western coast of the continent, Gabon occupies 267.7 thousand square kilometers. This is comparable to, say, Great Britain, only the population of Gabon is almost 35 times smaller. More than 76 percent of the African country is covered with forest, 11 percent is under the protection of national parks – a true paradise for nature.
“This is the kind of vast untouched forest that needs to be protected from any industrial development,” said Glenn Hurowitz, who heads conservation organization Mighty Earth in Washington and criticizes Olam’s business in Gabon. – There is a huge amount of degraded soils in the tropics. Why plant palm plantations in countries where there is so much virgin forest?
One of the answers is that this is the desire of Gabon. The former French colony ranks fourth in terms of GDP per capita among the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, but most of the income comes from the oil industry. The country needs to develop other sectors as well.
Hurowitz retorts that Gabon should get into ecotourism. In a relatively calm country with fantastic national parks and nature, there are only a few airfields, the roads are almost impassable, and the hotel business is in its infancy.
The development of tourism here is extremely promising – the Agency of National Parks of Gabon – Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux (ANPN) also advocates for this. However, tourism will not cover all the needs of the country. Gabon imports most of the food: wheat and milk are shipped from France, beef is delivered by plane from India and Brazil. The government of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who won a controversial 2016 election, has decided to make industrial-scale agriculture – including palm oil – part of Gabon’s economy. This will require deforestation.
Aware of the conflict of interest in the struggle for public lands, the government launched a project that few places in the world had tried before: the creation of a national land use plan.
Lee White was born in the UK and has lived in Gabon since 1989 as a dual citizen. White leads ANPN and is one of the president’s closest advisers. He oversaw the compilation of the land cadastre, demarcating areas for priority agricultural development. The government allocated two new oil palm sites to Olam and sold the existing plantation. Olam is now developing 1,300 square kilometers, or 0.5 percent of Gabon’s territory. About 557 square kilometers are allocated for oilseed plantations.
Congo
Workers at a processing plant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo move steam-softened palm fruit into a press. The oil palm Elaeis guineensis is native to West and Central Africa; now in her home region there is an expansion of industrial plantations. If it develops into a boom, habitats for gorillas, forest elephants and other endangered species could be affected
Seven hours from Libreville, after a three-hour drive through the furious dirt roads, is the Lope National Park – one of 13 parks created with the direct participation of Lee White.