Saturday 13 September 2008

Could wood like this end up as furniture in your home?

Many palm oil companies absolutely love wood! Which is one reason why they like to chop down rainforests at such an alarming rate. Why? Because selling off the wood makes them a big fat and quick profit - long before a palm oil seedling bears fruit. In fact, many companies have bought land from the government for developing palm oil plantations.

First they log all the forest. Then they disappear without planting a single palm oil seed. They have made a quick profit and cleared off, even closing down their company - only to open up another one under a different name and start all over again. In July of this year I was driven across central Borneo for about eight hours without seeing a single piece of forest. Welcome to Borneo 2008.
Photo: Centre for Orangutan Protection