Indonesia Fastest Forest Destroyer
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 05. 4.07
Photo by Nick Lyon
The only upside about writing about the destruction of Indonesian and Malaysian rainforests for palm oil plantations is that I get wonderful comments calling me an idiot from the Palm Oil Truth Foundation, a cheesy website run by nameless flacks "without strings to the world of commerce and power" that readers are invited to visit for "the truth" every time we post. I will get it out of the way up front here.
Indonesia has made it into the Guiness Book of Records for achieving the world's fastest rate of deforestation, with an area the size of 300 soccer fields every hour. According to Greenpeace, the citation will read
"Of the 44 countries which collectively account for 90 percent of the world's forests, the country which pursues the highest annual rate of deforestation is Indonesia with 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres) of forest destroyed each year between 2000-2005."
from Reuters: Indonesia has lost 72 percent of its intact ancient forests and half of what remains is threatened by commercial logging, forest fires and clearances for palm oil plantations, Greenpeace said.
Indonesia is the second second-largest palm oil producer after Malaysia and is poised to be the world's biggest producer of the commodity with more than 16 million metric tons this year.
Greenpeace said while Indonesia was destroying its forests at a faster pace than any other country, Brazil destroyed a larger area of forest every year.
The group said Indonesia's rate of forest destruction also made the country the third-largest greenhouse polluter after the United States and China.
Experts say up to 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions comes from tropical forest clearance.
::reuters via ::theSietch
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Don't Let Palm Oil Destroy the Rainforest
- Stop Buying Packaged Cereal! 5 Awesome Granola Recipes to Try Instead
- Yes, There is Such a Thing as an Optimistic, Green American: Be One!
- Avoid Evaporating Gas: Park in the Shade and Buy Gas When it's Cool
- Find Your Dinner at the Farmers' Market: Peas and Prosciutto
- Cooking on a Budget: Use Everything
Feel passionately the same way. Can you help with some links to back the statement about.... "experts say up to 25% of greenhouse gas...."
This is horrible...all this deforestation through out the world for a little bit of money? I honestly feel that cities need to focus on sustainability within their region. Local farms...yes! Local Lumber...yes! Local palm oil...Yes! If the region doesn't support something then the city should not have it. Indonesia is ruining it's beauty and the environment to give people on the other side of the world some palm oil? This world is a mess....
Maybe a dumb question, but what is palm oil used for? how can we avoid supporting the industry?
Palm Oil is used for Bio-fuels, amongst other uses.
Andrew, palm oil is in a lot of foods. You can read a bit about it at the Palm Oil propaganda website posted above .
According to one of the posts on the site, Denny's must use it to fry foods in (chicken, at least).
My suggestion is to check the ingredients lists and ask the restaurants you eat at what kind of oil they use.
Palm oil has mostly been used for food production, but it is increasingly being used as an ingredient for bio-diesel and biomass fuel.
Here a link to an article by Rhett A. Butler.
"Why is oil palm replacing tropical rainforests?
Why are biofuels fueling deforestation?"
http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0425-oil_palm.html
Palm oil is increasingly being used in food as a natural saturated fat, and it's cheaper than coconut or avocado. Many companies are using it to replace trans-fats in their recipes, since partially hydrogenated oils have been outed as being very unhealthy.
Sigh,....
sad sad sad... I am half Indonesian
Far from proud i am.
Shame... really is a terrible shame.
There are ppl over here who are trying to good though.
I am based in Singapore and every year we get choked with 'haze' from the slash and burn season in indonesia.. so there is a regional pull now to put pressure on the indos to make some change.
Only thing is its very hard to educate a country that has issues with regular education, environmental aweness is sadly last on their list..
STOP THE BURNING
STOP THE HAZE
keep speaking out about such things!the louder the better.
Nadya
Treehugging is commendable. I'm a monthly contributor to the WWF.
However, what mystifies me is why the animosity towards palm oil? I've been brought up to have an inquiring mind. I've clicked on your link to the Palm Oil Truth website and found it's views to be well balanced, sensible and judicious.
Certainly, Treehugger, in my book can justifiably claim to be sensible and well balanced too. However, take care not to be sucked into this global campaign that I'm beginning to suspect is planned protectionism and economic subversion of the highest order, rather than love for the environment. How else can we explain why palm oil, a crop that is manifestly sustainably grown (at least in Malaysia) should come under such concerted attack?
Celine's post is refreshingly well thought out. All these attacks against an oil crop like palm oil is beginning to look more and more like "planned protectionism and economic subversion of the highest order" as she puts it.
I see the Palm Oil Truth Foundation members have shown up. Of course, everyone else knows why there's such animosity toward palm oil... because the increased demand for it is driving the burning of rainforests which in addition to being a huge harm to the planet with regard to global warming, it is also driving the orangatuang (sp?) to near extinction. I don't think anyone would have a problem with it were it not for that.
Even if they are Palm Oil Truth Foundation members, they have a point about this planned protectionism thing.
What is absolutely baffling is why this concerted attempts to link palm oil to orang utan extinction. These feral attacks on the palm oil and orang utan extinction appears to me to be pure hype!
CNN reports that more than a hundred million sharks are killed each year for their fins and yet, sites such as Treehugger and the environmental types are strangely muted in their response. If you truly love animals and the environment, I would expect you to be donning shark suits and be hanging out of the Empire State Building in protest!
I'm more inclined to think that palm oil attracts this degree of animosity for a reason. It is the most popular and fastest growing edible oil globally on account of its inherent suitability for food manufacturing. Its extremely high yield and relative low cost makes it a marked commodity to its competitors. The fact that palm oil is now favored as a feedstock for biofuel signals that it has to be taken down - at all costs!