In the rush to feed the world’s growing appetite for climate-friendly fuel and cooking oil that doesn’t clog arteries, the Bornean orangutan could get plowed over.

Several plantation owners are eyeing Tanjung Puting park, a sanctuary for 6,000 of the endangered animals. It is the world’s second-largest population of a primate that experts warn could be extinct in less than two decades if a massive assault on its forest habitat is not stopped.

The orangutans’ biggest enemy, the United Nations says, is no longer poachers or loggers. It’s the palm oil industry.

On the receding borders of this 1,600-square-mile lush reserve, a road paved with good intentions runs smack into a swamp of alleged corruption and government bungling. It’s one of the mounting costs few bargained for in the global craze to “go green.”

The park clings to the southern tip of the island of Borneo, which is shared by Indonesia and Malaysia, the top producers of palm oil. Exporters market it as an alternative to both petroleum and cooking oils containing trans fats.

“That’s only a slogan, you know,” said Ichlas Al Zaqie, the local project manager for Los Angeles-based Orangutan Foundation International. “They change the forest, and say it’s for energy sustainability, but they’re killing other creatures.”
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