Malaysia, Indonesia Reaffirm Palm Oil Plan

The Malaysia and Indonesian governments Friday reaffirmed plans to set aside a combined 12 million metric tons of palm oil a year for biodiesel production despite uncertainty about the future of the industry.

Both ministers said their governments would step up a campaign to counter allegations in the Europe and the U.S. that the expansion of oil palm plantations has caused massive deforestation and loss of habitat for the orangutan in Southeast Asia.
Indonesia’s Apriyantono said criticism of the industry was unfair as palm oil wasn’t the main cause of deforestation in the region.

“(In Indonesia), about 64 million hectares of forest have been opened and oil palm plantations account for only 5.5 million hectares. The (loss) of forest is…mainly because of illegal logging,” Apriyantono said.

Forbes