The good news is that Indonesia’s deforestation rate has fallen in the last decade from 1.7% in the 1990s to 0.5% between 2000 and 2010, according to World Growth, an NGO (www. worldgrowth. org).

The latest data from the United Nations has significantly revised Indonesian deforestation rates downwards, demolishing many claims that Indonesia has the world’s highest deforestation rates. The new data has come as a solace for the sustainable palm oil campaigners who argue that the palm oil industry can grow without harming the environment or adding to global warming.

In 2005, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s Forest Resources Assessment reported that there were 88.5 million hectares of forested land in

Indonesia and an annual deforestation rate of 1.8 million hectares or 2% per year between 2000 and 2005. In 2005, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s Forest Resources Assessment reported that there were 88.5 million hec­tares of forested land in Indonesia and an annual deforestation rate of 1.8 million hectares or 2% per year between 2000 and 2005.

The good news is that Indonesia’s deforestation rate has fallen in the last decade from 1.7% in the 1990s to 0.5% between 2000 and 2010, according to World Growth, an NGO (www. worldgrowth. org).

These latest data have significantly revised Indonesian deforestation rates downwards, demolishing many claims that Indonesia has the world’s highest deforestation rates. For instance Greenpeace claimed, that Indonesia has the highest rate of deforestation of any country in the world, equivalent to the dis­appearance of 300 football fields every minute.

The new data has come as a solace for the sustainable palm oil campaigners who argue that the palm oil industry can grow without harming the environment or adding to global warming.

While these figures are regularly reshuffled based on new data, it is clear that the environmental campaigns against development based on claims of "rampant deforestation” are grossly overstated.

Will environmental campaigners acknowledge the new data? The numbers have a significant impact on many of the claims made in the campaigns against Indone­sian forestry and agriculture, the key one being that Indonesia is the world’s third — largest greenhouse gas emitter, World Growth said.

Table 4.2 shows that palm oil is the vegetable oil with the largest world consumption.

4.3.7