Palm Oil And Acacia Plantations
EDM number 2032 in 2007-08, proposed by Bob Spink on 14/07/2008.
Categorised under the topics of Agriculture, Agriculture and environment, Asia, Environmental protection, Nature conservation, Renewable energy and Wildlife.
That this House notes that the expansion of palm oil production threatens rainforests around the tropics; further notes that some 3,200,000 hectares of oil palms in Indonesia and Malaysia are grown on peatland; further notes that such cultivation on deep peat releases many more times greenhouse emissions than the palm oil can save when used in biodiesel, yet such biodiesel can be labelled as making a carbon saving according to the Department for Transport's carbon and sustainability reporting requirements published in January 2008; further notes that EU palm oil imports are being used to replace vegetable oils in for-bioenergy generation; further notes also that the expanding cultivation of acacias for woodpulp on peatlands erodes the peat even faster; further notes the WWF report which indicates that these industries are causing an alarming decline in Sumatran elephants and tigers, and that most future forest clearances in Sumatra will be on deep peatland; therefore urges the Government and the international community to press the Indonesian government to rescind all concessions for new plantations on peatland; further urges the Government to end the labelling of biofuels as saving emissions where this is a false statement; and further urges the Government and the EU to take action to stop the destruction of forests and to be honest about the overall impact of their biofuel policy for reducing carbon emissions.
This motion has been signed by a total of 19 MPs.
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