Pacific island nations want to popularise the use of coconut oil as a fuel instead of the increasingly expensive petroleum products. This was revealed at a recent un conference on small islands, held at Mauritius. Vanuatu, the Pacific archipelago that uses 20 per cent of its annual budget to import petroleum, was one of the biggest proponents of coconut oil.

"If we have enough funds to produce coconut oil and if we don't have to fight against the oil lobby, islands may reduce their dependence seriously,' Vanuatu's environment minister Russell Nari reportedly said. During World War ii , some people in Philippines had first discovered the use of coconut oil as a fuel. But the idea was abandoned after the war. In June 2004, it was again encouraged by energy ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Coconut oil has many advantages: it does not pollute, has a nice smell and costs less.