The three short paras in which you clinically dissected the counter arguments is so succinct that I think should be requoted here:

“Some environmental organizations link palm oil biofuels to deforestation. Greenpeace, for one, staunchly opposes palm oil as a source of biofuel based on this concern. The Center for Science in the Public Interest also stands firmly against palm oil, warning that it “harms health [when eaten], the rainforest and wildlife.”

It’s a funny situation: usually environmental and social groups lobby for alternatives to fossil fuels while oil companies and major international financial institutions continue with their business as usual production of those fuels. Here, the environmental groups are lobbying against the alternatives to fossil fuels that oil producers and the World Bank are pushing for.

To the protests from environmental groups, pro-palm oil organizations have several convincing responses. Firstly, they point out that oil palms are some of the most productive biofuel sources in the world. One hectare of oil palm plantation is enough to produce 5 metric tons of crude biodiesel a year. This means less land is required to produce biofuel this way. The Palm Oil Truth Foundation also argues that “in Malaysia, the expansion of oil palm plantations over the last decade came mostly from the conversion of other economic crops such as rubber, cocoa and coconut” and not from deforestation. The total amount of greenhouse gases reduced by palm oil biodiesel, claim proponents, is 40-60% over regular diesel.”

I’ve lived in Malaysia for the past 25 years and I can vouch for the fact that the deforestation claims are false.

Despite more than a hundred years of planting to earn its ranking as the world’s largest producer of palm oil, Malaysia can still boast of forest cover of 65%, MUCH MUCH HIGHER THAN THE 20% prevailing in ALL the countries of the industrial West! That’s down to the fact that palm oil is the most productive of all the oil seeds yielding more than 4,500 metric tons of oil per hectare. (much higher than the 500 metric tons typically yielded by the competing oil seeds). In view of its high yield palm oil in Malaysia is typically planted on legitimate agricultural land and for decades now, there is really no necessity to cut down jungle to plant palm oil.

People are beginning to wake up to the fact that something malodorous and sinister lies beneath the surface of these dubious attacks against palm oil.

It will be people like you Gavin, with your critical and analytical mind that’ll eventually expose environmental outfits like Greenpeace and CSPI for the humbugs that they really are!

Algae: The Next Biofuel

Inaugural

Algae Commercialization
Business Plan and Networking Forum

April 10, 2008

http://www.nationalalgaeassociation.com

I found the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil certification program a very encouraging option for sustainably produced biodiesel.