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Headlines : EnvironmentMalaysia: The huge cost of a cheap fuel
Wetlands International have shown that destruction of SE Asian peatlands for Palm Oil plantations, which cover 0.2% of the global land surface, is responsible for 8% of the global CO2 emissions. However, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol currently allows for peatland areas that have been burned and cleared to create biofuel plantations to be eligible for CDM funding!
[Posted By Agustina]Republished from World Rainforest Movement
Malaysia, together with Indonesia, is the world’s leading producer of crude palm oil for export, at a high cost, though. According to a 2005 Friends of the Earth report, 87 per cent of recent deforestation in the country has occurred to make way for palm-oil plantations. Since Malaysian rainforests are some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, clearing these areas poses serious threat to countless species of plants and animals.
Not only does this practice wreak havoc on the countries’ megafauna (such as orangutans, Sumatran rhinos and tigers, Asian elephants, gibbons, and tapirs), it also causes significant pollution. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 25 to 30 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere each year (about 1.6 billion tons) comes from deforestation.
Posted by Agustina
Factoid: the main usage of palm oil is in foods, not in biofuels (i.e. biodiesel) – in fact, the problem with palm oil is that it is used in cookies and other junk food in the US – see these web sites:
http://www.cspinet.org/palm/
http://www.organicconsumers.org/Politics/palmoil100305.cfm
“Palm Oil in Food and Cosmetics linked to Orangutang extinction”
http://www.americanpalmoil.com/nonfood.html
“80% goes to food products; 20% goes to industrial uses including: “Soaps, plastics, drilling mud, diesel substitute, Candles, lotions, body oils, shampoos, skin care products, rubber and cleaning products.”
At least get the facts straight.
The central issue involved in the destruction of rainforest is the GATT/WTO system of corporate control and big agribusiness. See the World Rainforest’s home page at http://www.wrm.org.uy/ for more details.
Claiming that it’s all due to biofuel production is nothing but a clever public relations operation put out by fossil fuel interests in order to keep biofuels from taking over any part of their lucrative transportation market – even if all biofuel production stopped, devastation of global rainforests will continue until the global corporate agribusiness system is shut down. Using the issue to attack biofuels is disingenous at best – but if biofuels are used, they must be sustainably produced.
Factoid: read an article before replying
It doesn’t say all palm oil goes to biodesel, in fact, if you read the article it says:
Right now palm oil is mostly used in food products, but if the demand for palm oil-based biodiesel increases, the oil palm business will certainly expand, creating more deforestation and species destruction.
Of course that is in the 7th paragraph of the article and it would require for you to follow the link, but i guess you couldn’t waste time in that since you were in a hurry to reply.
The article adresses the paradox of a specific public policy that the gov says will generate clean energy, but that will have devastating effects to the forest.
Ill summarize it for you in case you find the article to be too long:
Malaysia has already begun preparations to change from diesel to bio-fuels by 2008, including drafting legislation that will make the switch mandatory. From 2007, all diesel sold in Malaysia must contain 5% palm oil. Being the world’s largest producer of crude palm oil, Malaysia intends to take advantage of the rush to find cleaner fuels.
The Oil Drum discussion on Palm Oil
Hmmm… so if Malaysia stops exporting palm oil to the US and Europe, and instead uses it as a domestic fuel, why is that a bad thing? Halting rainforest destruction means halting the expansion of rainforest destruction – unless you’ve got some program in mind to turn existing plantations back into rainforest???
Using palm oil for fuel is better then using diesel for fuel, but the smartest thing for Malaysia to do would be to move towards solar and wind power and do away with fossil fuels entirely. However, those stats seem accurate – 80% of current palm oil production is used as a food export crop; domestic biodiesel production seems like a better use.
In any case, right now there is a huge assualt on biofuels being run by some fossil fuel public relations outfit that masquerades as ‘environmental activism’ – biofuels should be produced using sustainable agricultural practices, but the reason fossil fuel concerns are doing this is simply to prevent loss of their market share all over the world.