INDONESIA. Home of the orangutan, Sumatran tiger and clouded leopard but for how much longer?

As demand for palm oil soars, the country’s precious rainforests are being ripped up and replaced with monoculture palm plantations, displacing some of the world’s most endangered species and reducing biodiversity by up to 90 per cent.

This is not just devastating news for wildlife. As more of the jungle is earmarked for clearance, the local communities within them are also driven out – often by force.

A traditional cooking ingredient in the tropics, the use of palm oil in the commercial food industry has become widespread in recent years thanks to its low price.

In 2004 Friends of the Earth estimated that palm oil was used in one-tenth of grocery products in Britain, while research by the Independent last year revealed it was present in 43 of the 100 best-selling brands.

Even conscientious consumers wishing to avoid products with palm oil in struggle to do so, as manufacturers are able to list the ingredient as “vegetable oil” on labels.

So what sort of well-known brands contain palm oil?

Well, for example, if there’s a loaf of Warburtons, Hovis or Kingsmill in your bread bin, then yes, that does. And if you spread your toast with Flora or Clover then that’s a double whammy.

The list goes on; Special K, Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, Mr Kipling Cakes, McVitie's Digestives, Goodfella's pizza, KitKats, Galaxy chocolate, Dairy Milk and Wrigley's chewing gum, it’s in them all.

And if you’re not eating it then you might be washing with it – palm oil is also found in Persil washing powder, Comfort fabric softener and Dove soap.

“Consumers need better labelling so they can make informed decisions,” says Angela Pooley, of Friends of the Earth.

“But if you want to avoid palm oil, buying local produce is probably the best way.”

In our quest to steer away from fossil fuels, energy giants are turning to bio fuels like palm oil, which are burned to create energy.

“It’s sold to us as sustainable but it isn’t,” says Angela, who recently objected to the controversial palm oil plant earmarked for Weymouth.

“Cultivating palm oil leads to the destruction of the rainforest and it has to be shipped halfway across the world to get here.”

There is no quick solution to the problem, but environmentalists suggest using less energy in the first place and being open to innovative solutions.

“There was a brilliant plan to create a solar farm in Parley, but it was thrown out by the council,” says Angela.

“Eco Sustainable Solutions had a lovely field, which they wanted to put solar panels on and use for grazing sheep – so it was dual purpose.”

The scheme would have generated enough energy to meet the electricity needs of 1,100 homes annually and could have saved more than 2,530 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

“We have to look at producing more sustainable energy,” says Angela.