The rise in the use of biofuels has encouraged the growth of palm oil production. But oil palm plantations have negative environmental impacts on tropical rainforests.

Substituting fossil fuels for transportation with biofuels is just one means of protecting the environment from climate change effects. Palm oil production is surging, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia, to satisfy this need. The environmental benefits of using palm oil as an alternative source of energy may be more than offset by the negative environmental effects such production has on tropical rainforests. A policy brief issued by the OECD in November 2007, entitled “Biofuels for Transport: Policies and Possibilities” addressed this problem when it stated, “This is already becoming an issue in certain countries in South-East Asia where the expansion of palm oil plantations largely comes at the expense of existing forest area and biodiversity”.

Palm Oil and Deforestation

Besides being havens of biodiversity, the world’s tropical rainforests are the Earth’s largest terrestrial carbon sinks. The production of palm oil, both as a food item and feedstock for biofuel plays a large part in the destruction of these wonderful environmental assets.

• Christy Nellemann, author of The Last Stand of the Orangutan, published by the United Nations Environment Programme in February 2007 says, “A scenario released by UNEP in 2002 suggested that most natural rainforest in Indonesia would be degraded by 2032. Given the rate of deforestation in the past five years, and recent widespread investment in oil palm plantations and biodiesel refineries, this may have been optimistic”.

• Forests First in the Fight Against Climate Change, by Andrew W. Mitchell and published by the Global Canopy Program in May 2007 states, “Deforestation is largely caused by billion dollar agribusiness expansion driven by western demands for cheap palm oil (75% of world supply comes from Indonesia and Malaysia)”.

• Cruel Oil, by Ellie Brown and published by The Center for Science in the Public Interest in May 2005 predicts, “At this rate, virtually all Indonesian lowland tropical forests—which are the richest in plant and animal species—will be gone by 2010. A leading cause of this deforestation has been clearance for oil palm and timber”.

Environmental Effects of Palm Oil Deforestation

Deforestation in south east Asia, caused by the surge in oil palm plantations have multiple environmental implications, from global warming to biodiversity loss.

• The Oil for Ape Scandal, by Helen Buckland and published by Friends of the Earth in 2007 quotes Professor Biruté Galdikas, Orangutan Foundation International, as saying, “The orangutan is endangered because of habitat loss. Today the greatest threat to orangutan habitat is the continued expansion of oil-palm plantations. Palm oil is the greatest enemy of orangutan and their continued survival in the wild."

• In Greasy Palms, published by Friends of the Earth in 2005, the author E. Wakker says, “The original habitat in most areas suitable for oil palm is lowland evergreen tropical rainforest. These forests support the highest biodiversity of any terrestrial ecosystem, with those of equatorial Southeast Asia among the richest”.

• Deforestation caused by palm oil plantations can add to global warming. The Living Planet Report 2008, edited by Chris Hails and published by the World Wildlife Fund says that, “Yet recent research has shown that converting tropical forests, peatlands, savannahs or grasslands to biofuels based on food crops can generate 17 to 420 times the annual carbon emissions supposed to be saved as the biofuels replace fossil fuels”.

• In Sustainability Standards for Bioenergy, written by Imke Lübbeke and published by WWF – Germany the author states “The creation of oil plantations in Malaysia is regarded as the main cause of the air pollution that has been affecting many neighboring counties in Southeast Asia” .

There is no doubt that biofuels are important in the battle to curb rising levels of greenhouse gases, but rampant oil palm plantations may in fact add to carbon dioxide emissions and global warming and thru rainforest deforestation, help deplete the Earth’s environmental resources.