Oil palm plantations are a dead zone for biodiversity
September 16th 2008 22:26
:
17 Sept 2008
A new study, published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, shows that when primary rainforest is converted to palm oil plantation, 80% of species are lost.
In terms of biodiversity, oil plantation fared worse than degraded forest and even rubber and cocoa plantation.
The study looked at the presence of a variety of species from birds and bats to ants.
This result has huge consequences - due to increased demand for palm oil, for products such as biodiesel, loss of primary forest for more palm planatations is expected in the tropics.
In terms of biodiversity, oil plantation fared worse than degraded forest and even rubber and cocoa plantation.
The study looked at the presence of a variety of species from birds and bats to ants.
This result has huge consequences - due to increased demand for palm oil, for products such as biodiesel, loss of primary forest for more palm planatations is expected in the tropics.
Oil palm plantation in rainforest in Borneo
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