A sustainable argument for palm oil

A worker shows palm oil fruits at a factory in Sepang, outside Kuala Lumpur on November 20, 2014. Tropical forests continue to tumble at a rapid rate to make way for fast-expanding palm oil cultivation despite a decade-old industry drive to encourage sustainable cultivation, evironmental activists warned on November 20. AFP PHOTO / MOHD RASFAN

DEFORESTATION has taken centre stage in the global discourse on sustainable development and climate change.

The tropical rainforests have somehow come under close scrutiny. This may be because they are the remaining viable forests left to trap the greenhouse gases. Most temperate forests are long gone, decimated in the name of development in the West.