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Primate scientist Jane Goodall said on Wednesday the race to grow crops for
vehicle fuels is damaging rain forests in Asia, Africa and South America and
adding to the emissions blamed for global warming.
"We're cutting down forests now to grow sugarcane and palm oil for biofuels and
our forests are being hacked into by so many interests that it makes them more
and more important to save now," Goodall said on the sidelines of the Clinton
Global Initiative, former US President Bill Clinton's annual philanthropic
meeting.
As new oil supplies become harder to find, many countries such as Brazil and
Indonesia are racing to grow domestic sources of vehicle fuels, such as ethanol
from sugarcane and biodiesel from palm nuts.
The United Nations' climate program considers the fuels to be low in carbon
because growing the crops takes in heat-trapping gas carbon dioxide.
But critics say demand for the fuels ...