Indonesia is market leader in global palm oil production. Palm oil is used for food, cosmetics and as biofuel. The last forests are destroyed to grow more oil palms. Palm oil plantations are replacing four-fifths of the rainforest in Indonesia. Orangutans are one of many victims of massive deforestation. Orangutans, an entirely Asian species in the family of great apes, roam Indonesian rain forests on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. During the past decade, orangutan populations in the wild have decreased by approximately 50%. Human activities, especially the unchecked burning of rain forests to clear land for palm oil plantations, have resulted in a critical loss of habitat, driving orangutans to the brink of extinction in Indonesia.
