It’s not because of smokestacks or freeways, but massive deforestation starting in the 1990s — driven In large part by the expansion of plantations for palm oil, an edible vegetable oil used in cookies, crackers, soap and European diesel fuel.
One of the most striking trends, in terms of emissions, was a shift toward the development of carbon-dense peatlands for palm oil production, the researchers found. Peatland soils store significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse.
Indonesia is the leading producer of palm and palm kernel oil, which together account for more than 30 percent of the world's vegetable oil use, and which can be used for biodiesel.
Most of Indonesia's oil palm plantation expansion is occurring on the island of Borneo, also known as Kalimantan, which occupies a land area nearly the size California and Florida combined. Plantation leases, covering 32 percent of Kalimantan's lowlands outside of protected areas, represent a major land bank that is slated for development over the next decade, according to the study.
Home to the world's third-largest tropical forest area, Indonesia is also one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gasses, due to rapid loss of carbon-rich forests and peatlands. Since 1990, development of oil palm plantations has cleared about 16,000 square kilometers of Kalimantan's primary and logged forested lands – an area about the size of Hawaii.
About palm oil fruit:
Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) was first introduced to Malaysia as an ornamental plant in 1870. MALAYSIA is the world’s second largest crude palm oil (CPO) producer after Indonesia.
The palm fruit is about the size of a small plum and is borne in large bunches weighing between 10 kg - 50 kg. A bunch can have up to 2000 fruits, each consisting of a hard kernel (seed) within a shell (endocarp) which in turn is surrounded by a fleshy mesocarp.
The mesocarp is made up of about 49% oil and about 50% kernel. The two oils (palm oil and palm kernel oil) have very different compositions.
Palm oil (from the mesocarp) contains mainly palmitic acid (C16:0) and oleic acid (C18:1); the two most common fatty acids in natural oils and fats, and is about 50% saturated. Palm kernel oil is more than 80% saturated and contains mainly lauric acid (C12:0).
The Malaysian Crude Palm Oil Futures(CPO) traded both on the spot and futures market has been the global pricing benchmark for the commodity trading worldwide for more than two decades. The price of crude palm oil moves in tandem with US soya bean futures.
If the current soya bean price crash further,the crude palm oil price will even dive further thus wiping out all the good gains all these while. Market traders like Godrej Industries’Ltd director, Dorab Mistry,the industry gurus has predicted that the price will fall further to around USD749.
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