Indonesia's push for biofuels (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Lucy Williamson
BBC News, Kalimantan
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If the Indonesian government has its way, another 5m hectares (12m acres) of land in Kalimantan and elsewhere will be turned over to companies growing biofuel crops like oil palm, cassava or sugar cane.

Global demand for alternative fuels is growing, and Alhilal Hamdi, head of Indonesia's new Biofuels Development Board, says now is the time for his country to tap into it.

He said the plan will create between three and four million jobs, and will attract investment to the country.
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Pak Noordin works with the local pressure group Oil Palm Watch. To date, he says that around a third of palm oil concessions have been built on previously forested land.

"The threat to the forests today comes from palm oil," he said, "because in clearing the land, they have to cut everything, they leave nothing behind and that completely destroys the biodiversity. It's different with logging concessions - they leave a bit behind."
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6320285.stm