- Often wet, swampy rainforests are drained to be cleared for palm oil plantations. As they dry, their peat filled soils release large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas that has a global warming impact 23 times that of CO2.
- The cleared land is highly susceptible to long burning fires that emit large quantities of carbon. Illegally
lit peatland fires in Borneo have for years been one of the largest global sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Fires are used to clear the land because it is cheaper than bulldozing.
- It has recently been calculated that 15% of all global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels come from this rainforest destruction. Unfortunately, the international community has no cohesive strategy to address this issue although it is now becoming widely recognised and discussed.
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