Blowguns and biofuels

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Confrontation over deforestation

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Not to be confused with the other Blowpipe, a portable surface to air missile used by the British Army from 1975-85, members of the Penan tribe are using traditional methods of battle to try to stop the destruction of their homes and environment where they have "existed for centuries as nomadic hunter-gatherers living on fish, wild animals, and plants". (Read about it here)

At the center of the conflict is the destruction of the rainforest in Indonesia and Malaysia in order to set up palm plantations where palm oil can be processed.  Palm oil came into the global consciousness a few years back when analysts began questioning biofuels' indirect effect on agriculture elsewhere in the world, but palm oil is also used in numerous food and cosmetic products (too many to be listed here).  The regions of Indonesia and Malaysia are at the center of the palm oil controversy spreading around the globe because of the rate at which palm plantations are replacing virgin rainforest land.

Between 2000-2005, Indonesia had the fastest deforestation rate in the world, which was "equivalent to 300 soccer pitches destroyed every hour" (Reuters reports); in American terms, that is 4.4 million football fields per year. (gas 2.0 reports)

In Brazil, the rainforest is being clearcut to make way not only for agriculture, but also for cattle ranchers.  In Indonesia, the destruction can be attributed mostly to the production of palm oil. "While Indonesia was destroying its forests at a faster pace than any other country, Brazil destroyed a larger area of forest every year."

Rainforests are not just important to the tribes who live within them and depend upon them for their subsistence; rainforests are essentially the lungs of the planet, storing carbon and releasing oxygen.  To cut them down is to worsen the climate crisis and put humanity's survival on this planet in jeopardy.  "Experts say up to 25% of greenhouse gas emissions comes from tropical forest clearance" when carbon that was stored in the plants is released.

Together Indonesia and Malaysia "contain more than 80% of the remaining virgin rainforests in Southeast Asia". (gas 2.0)  "Indonesia already has 6 million hectares of oil palm plantations, but has plans for another 4 million by 2015 dedicated to biofuel production alone." (Greenpeace)  "90% of the world’s palm oil exports come from the oil palm plantations of Malaysia and Indonesia." (Organic Consumers Association)

While the blame of rainforst destruction is placed on the production of palm oil, the Western media likes to make the palm oil and biofuel industries equivalent; we are led to believe here in America that 100% of the palm oil produced is used for biofuels.  The truth is not so; 70% of all palm oil produced is used in food products and cosmetics.  Only 30% of the palm oil that is produced is used to make biofuels; however, this figure is set to increase substantially in the future, but will still be less than food and cosmetics' impact on the industry.

Palm oil is found in food products of all sorts from bread, crackers, and chips to ice cream and chocolate bars to personal care and beauty products such as soaps, shampoos, and lipstick. The list of companies and products using palm oil is too long to list, so go here if you want to see who is creating 70% of the demand for palm oil.

Only very few people in the media are asking us to stop buying Bath and Body Works or Chanel products, or to stop eating Campbell soup, Hershey's chocolate, Kellogg cereal, or Nabisco cookies to decrease demand for palm oil.  The overwhelming majority of the media is demanding the end to biofuels to reduce that demand.  Seriously, go here to see who is destroying the rainforest in Malaysia and Indonesia; it's you and I buying groceries to eat and cosmetics to look pretty. 

While the recent clashes between tribesmen and local officials can be attributed to biofuels' expansion, cutting biofuels won't end the deforestation.  The palm oil industry is seemingly at its peak meeting demands in the food and cosmetic industries, so any news about biofuels expansion causes spikes in prices and increases rainforest clearing.  "Soaring demand for its use in green biofuel has pushed up the price (for palm oil) by 45% this year, prompting companies to clear more rainforest and plant yet more palms. The latest expansion seems to have set off the blockades." (LondonTimes)

Biofuels continue to take the blame for palm plantations replacing virgin rainforest in Indonesia and Malaysia; there are countless interpretations of the obvious rainforest destruction going on that point the finger squarely at the emerging biofuel market.  One piece, though, states a more sinister strategy to the destruction.

One project in Indonesia, "the PTPN proposal calls for plantations to be established in three national parks; Betung Kerihun, Kayan Mentarang, and Danau Sentarum, as well as in the surrounding protected forest."  WWF did a study of the area that was to be developed into palm plantations and found that only 10% of the land was suitable for cultivation with appropriate altitude and climate for palm growing.  The WWF concluded that their data supported other local organizations' claim that the entire operation was a "cover for a massive logging scheme to harvest the area's rich timber resources". (Read more about that here)

Biofuels have become the common scapegoat for such problems like climate change, rainforest destruction, natural habitat encroachment, rising food prices, etc.; all of this while a majority of companies in the industry teeter on bankruptcy.  Perhaps, just maybe, the oil industry, the timber industry, and manufacturing industry have figured out how to game the system against biofuels.  The world produces 3 billion gallons of oil per day (EIA); in 2005 the world produced under 10 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel the whole year (EIA).

What concerns environmentalists about increasing the production of biofuels in the coming decades is the additional impact a new fuel type would have on global ecosystems.  In comparison, the timber, ranching, and agriculture industries together have a much greater impact on rainforest destruction than biofuels currently do.

In America, we have "converted 90% of N. American virgin forests into firewood, shingles, furniture, railroad ties, and paper.  Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, and other tropical countries with rainforests are often branded as environmental villians of the world, mainly because of their reported levels of destruction of their rainforests; but despite the levels of deforestation, up to 60% of their territory is still covered by natural tropical forests." (RainTree) The appetites of Americans and Europeans together, after consuming their own virgin forests, are now moving on to other countries' resources.

Biofuels do contribute to the current rainforest destruction going on in Indonesia and Malaysia, but the degree of responsibility pinned on them recently does not take into account all of the other factors contributing to the phenomena.  Food, cosmetics, lumber, and beef all affect the rate at which the remaining rainforests are being destroyed.  With China and India raising the standards of living for another 2 billion people, demand for these products will only increase in the future.

To simply stop biofuel production will not solve the underlying consumption of regular everyday products that is leading to the rainforests being torn down.

More articles by this author on Examiner.com can be found here.