3.1 Million

The amount of land, in hectares, that Malaysia intends to cover with oil palm by 2010, more than double the current figure. (Countryfile magazine, December issue). Oil palm growth is now seen as the biggest threat to rainforest and peatland destruction in Southeast Asia. Damage to peatland, partly due to palm oil production, is claimed to contribute to environmental degradation, including four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and eight percent of all global emissions caused annually by burning fossil fuels, due to the large areas of rainforest that are cleared to make way for palm oil plantations. The pollution is exacerbated because many rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia lie atop peat bogs that store great quantities of carbon that are released when the forests are cut down and the bogs drained to make way for the palm oil plantations. Palm oil is found in 1 in 10 food products - including chocolate, bread, crisps, detergents and lipsticks and the demand has recently increased to provide biofuels. It’s relatively easy to check the ingredients list and avoid buying these products, although the issues to consider include impact on the rural poor who rely on these crops for their livelihood. As ever the issues are as complex as they are far-reaching. 

http://www.greenpeace.org/cookingtheclimate