Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms, primarily the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis,and to a lesser extent from the American oil palm Elaeis oleifera and the maripa palm Attalea maripa. The oil is an important oil in food manufacturing, where, in it's refined form, its used because of its ease in replace other oils and stability in ready-to-eat snack foods. Additionally demand for biofuel as a substitute for petroleum has lead to increased global demand. About 33% of global oils produced from oil crops in 2014. Palm oil uses significantly less land per volume of oil compared to other crops like soy.

The use of palm oil in food, fuel and beauty products has attracted the concern of environmental groups; the high oil yield of the trees has encouraged wider cultivation, leading to the clearing of forests in parts of Indonesia and Malaysia to make space for oil-palm monoculture.This has significant impacts on the local ecosystems leading to deforestation and biodiversity loss. For example, these processes have resulted in significant acreage losses of the natural habitat of the three surviving species of orangutan. One species in particular, the Sumatran orangutan, has been listed as critically endangered.