Deforestation (cutting or burning down forests) accounts for up to 25% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions worldwide each year - a staggering two billion tons per year! To give an idea of just how huge that is, all the planet?s transport and industry account for roughly 14% each.

Flying, which is often seen as one of the biggest evils in climate change only accounts for 3% of total greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, in the next four years, burning rainforests is likely to pump more CO2 into the atmosphere than every flight that has ever taken place from the Wright brothers? first ever powered flight until 2025! Make no mistake about it: ignoring the destruction of the rainforest is a recipe for future environmental disaster.

Palm oil plantations have expanded very rapidly in Indonesia - the area of land occupied by plantations has doubled in the last ten years, threatening endangered species like the orang-utan and Sumatran tiger with extinction. The burning of its rainforests to create palm oil plantations is the reason that Indonesia is now the world?s third largest emitter of carbon dioxide.

Palm oil plantations are the biggest cause of rainforest loss in Malaysia and Indonesia. The rainforest is cleared by burning, so that palm trees can be planted. This destroys all the rainforest plant species that lived there and forces any animals living there to either move deeper into the forest or die.