Hazards of oil-palm industry

In Indonesia and Malaysia, the two most forested countries of Southeast Asia, where forests are disappearing fastest, clearing to create oil-palm plantations is a prime causes of deforestation. In May 1999 the Indonesian government stated that it would allocate a further 30m hectares of forest for new plantations - palm oil exports are a major source of foreign exchange for debt repayments - and the World Bank has agreed a US$400m loan to extend palm oil plantations. NGOs are worried that this will lead to further abuse of the environment and indigenous people, distort local and national economies and monopolise land use. Nonetheless, still in 2017 thousands of acres of rainforests in Indonesia are burned to the ground annually. These fires are intentionally and illegally started to make way for palm oil plantations.