Palm oil advocate trumpets the cause

       Palm oil, a key export for Southeast Asian nations, is likely to be the biggest victim of the ongoing effort to prevent forests being levelled to make way for plantations, a study reveals.
       The commodity is one of the biggest non-oil and gas exports for Indonesia and Malaysia and it is gaining ground in countries such as Laos.
       These countries will likely be affected by moves to protect forests, says World Growth, a non-governmental organisation which undertook the study.
       The NGO said there has been a sudden increase in hostility towards the palm oil industry which employs a large number of the region's inhabitants.
       The US-based World Growth says its philosophy is to encourage economic well-being for people in the developing countries while caring for the environment but not compromising the improving of living standards.
       "This campaign [against palm oil plantations] is unusual as it has started to appear in the last 12 months ahead of the Copenhagen summit," Alan Oxley,chairman of World Growth, said at a Bangkok press conference.
       Mr Oxley, who is in Bangkok to attend the Bangkok Climate Change Talks, said measures to prevent some forest land being used for palm oil hampered efforts to reduce poverty and improve living standards in the region's countries.
       About 40% of land in Indonesia is forest, but Mr Oxley said 20% was the normal amount a country needs to preserve to protect biodiversity.
       Malaysia and Indonesia have set aside 55% and 25% respectively for forest conservation while the European average is 25%, he said.
       An increase in palm oil production could provide a vital cashflow for the substantial poor populations of such countries, he said.
       Mr Oxley, however, has come under heavy fire from the environmental lobby which accuses him of being a climate change sceptic. In 2006 he was named by The Australia Institute's director Clive Hamilton as one of Australia's so-called climate change "dirty dozen".
       He has stated "there is no reasonable certainty that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide from human activity cause significant global warming."
       Nevertheless, he says the oil palm offers much stronger financial returns than traditional crops which could be used to help local people. A hectare of oil palm oil generates about $2,500 per year compared with $80 for rice, he said.
       Studies show that about 60% to 70%of deforestation is caused by poor people growing rice, he said.
       A report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation showed that deforestation is largely due to human settlement, not commercial crops, he said.
       He also said oil palm uses less land than crop-based oilseeds, using only 0.26 hectares of land to produce one tonne of oil, while soyabean, sunflower and rapeseed need 2.2,2 and 1.5 hectares,respectively.
       On claims that the oil palm industry was destroying forest biodiversity in developing countries, Mr Oxley said in Malaysia, the world's second largest producer, the crop was restricted to 20% of state land allocated for agriculture.
       Issues surrounding palm oil delayed implementation of the Asean-India Free Trade Agreement, signed in Bangkok in August, he said.
       One reason for the delays could be that other edible oil industry bodies are looking to undermine palm oil as a replacement for soybean, rapeseed or other vegetable oils.
       "Today palm oil accounts for about 30% of the global consumption, up from 20% nearly a decade ago," he said,"this maybe prompting the oil seed producers to defend their territory."
       Major palm oil producers should be wary of groups such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace who are campaigning for processors and consumers to boycott the commodity and for the European Union to block imports of it.
       The EU Renewable Energy Directive already has restrictions on the availability of palm oil, he said.
       World Growth, which Mr Oxley described as a "free market NGO", launched its "PalmOil Green Development" campaign to counter claims made by environmental groups that cutting down forest reserves to grow palm oil is negative.
       World Growth, however, will not disclose its funders, leading some commentators to speculate that its backers do not support measures such as the green lobby's campaign, which they think restricts the free market.