Landscapes in transition: an analysis of sustainable policy initiatives and emerging corporate commitments in the palm oil industry

Mun Hou Tham,Susan Page,Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz,Simon Drew,Khadijah Syayuti,Sune Hansen,Martha Maulidia,Greetje Schouten,Stephanie Evers,Alex Sayok,Rory Padfield,Effie Papargyropoulou,Nagulendran Kangayatkarasu

doi:10.1080/01426397.2016.1173660

Abstract

The recent Southeast Asian haze crisis has generated intense public scrutiny over the rate, methods and types of landscape change in the tropics. Debate has centred on the environmental impacts of large-scale agricultural expansion, particularly the associated loss of high carbon stock forest and forests of high conservation value. Focusing on palm oil—a versatile food crop and source of bioenergy—this paper analyses national, international and corporate policy initiatives in order to clarify the current and future direction of oil palm expansion in Malaysia and Indonesia. The policies of ‘zero burn’, ‘no deforestation’ and ‘no planting on peatlands’ are given particular emphasis in the paper. The landscape implications of corporate commitments are analysed to determine the amount of land, land types and geographies that could be affected in the future. The paper concludes by identifying key questions related to the further study of sustainable land use policy and practice.

Highlights

In a period of less than a year between June 2013 and April 2014, the rate, methods and types of landscape change in Southeast Asia came under intense public scrutiny (Forsyth, 2014)
With the aim of contributing towards current debates on sustainable land use policy and practice in Southeast Asia, this paper summarises current national and international policy initiatives for palm oil production in Malaysia and Indonesia, the two biggest palm oil-producing countries in the world
Malaysia and Indonesia’s comparative advantage for palm oil expansion—the ability to draw on lowcost labour from the region, available land and climatic conditions—and existing land use policies have led to large-scale acquisition of land by state and federal bodies

Summary

Introduction

In a period of less than a year between June 2013 and April 2014, the rate, methods and types of landscape change in Southeast Asia came under intense public scrutiny (Forsyth, 2014). Oil palm plantations have been developed across much of Southeast Asia, and more recently in Latin America, and West and Central Africa (Butler & Laurance, 2009) Expansion in these countries includes areas of high ecological and environmental value, such as primary and secondary forests and peatland catchments. To elucidate the landscape implications of these pledges, the amount, type and location of land potentially affected in Indonesia and Malaysia were identified and mapped out to allow geographic comparison This aspect of the research focused on the areas and locations of primary forests, secondary and selectively logged forests and peatland forests within both countries from state- and national-level governmental reports and statistics. All secondary sources of information analysed in this research, including corporate websites, government policy documents and forestry and peatland statistical sources, are provided in the online supplementary information

A summary of the palm oil sustainability challenge

National and international policies

Palm oil corporate policy initiatives

Findings

Conclusion