Rainforest being destroyed for palm oil, say experts

Rainforests are under threat from palm oil, experts say, which is being harvested and secretly sold to millions of Brits who do not realise it is in their diesel.

The Times has revealed that 12 oil firms supplied 123 million litres of palm oil to gas stations in the year leading up to April 2009, with just 15 per cent of that resource coming from farms meeting environmental standards.

Ian Duff, a forest campaigner for Greenpeace, complained that the governing of this issue is being blighted by the fact a watchdog handling the matter has directors of oil firms on its board, hence swaying the committee's impartiality.

"The agency is preventing the public from discovering which of these companies are selling us palm oil, one of the cheapest and most environmentally damaging biofuels," he told the newspaper.

Meanwhile, scientists will meet at the University of Leicester next month to discuss the use of mapping systems and photography to monitor and prevent deforestation.

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