Expansion Of Oil Palm Plantations Research Articles

Deforestation, certification, and transnational palm oil supply chains: Linking Guatemala to global consumer markets

Although causal links between tropical deforestation and palm oil are well established, linking this land use change to where the palm oil is actually consumed remains a distinct challenge and research gap. Supply chains are notoriously difficult to track back to their origin (i.e., the ‘first-mile’). This poses a conundrum for corporations and governments alike as they commit to deforestation-free sourcing and turn to instruments like certification to increase supply chain transparency and sustainability. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) offers the most influential certification system in the sector, but whether it actually reduces deforestation is still unclear. This study used remote sensing and spatial analysis to assess the deforestation (2009–2019) caused by oil palm plantation expansion in Guatemala, a major palm oil source for international consumer markets. Our results reveal that plantations are responsible for 28% of deforestation in the region and that more than 60% of these plantations encroach on Key Biodiversity Areas. RSPO-certified plantations, comprising 63% of the total cultivated area assessed, did not produce a statistically significant reduction in deforestation. Using trade statistics, the study linked this deforestation to the palm oil supply chains of three transnational conglomerates – Pepsico, Mondelēz International, and Grupo Bimbo – all of whom rely on RSPO-certified supplies. Addressing this deforestation and supply chain sustainability challenge hinges on three measures: 1) reform of RSPO policies and practices; 2) robust corporate tracking of supply chains; and 3) strengthening forest governance in Guatemala. This study offers a replicable methodology for a wide-range of investigations that seek to understand the transnational linkages between environmental change (e.g. deforestation) and consumption.

Regional Development, Rural Transformation, and Land Use/Cover Changes in a Fast-Growing Oil Palm Region: The Case of Jambi Province, Indonesia

The development policies implemented in Jambi Province, Indonesia, since the New Order era, have encouraged transformations in demography, regional paradigms, growth base sectors, and growth actors. This study aims to understand how the central government’s demographic policies and plantation development program have impacted regional land cover change, rural development transformation, and economic development in Sumatra Island’s biodiversity-rich rainforest region (Jambi Province). This study explores the shifts in village typology that have occurred. Descriptive analysis and cluster analysis were applied to collect data at the provincial level that included population, poverty rate, levels of education, HDI, GRDP, Gini index, and land cover. Village Potential Data at the village level was then used to build an infrastructure index and a diversity of activities index. The results of this study indicated that macro development indicators are in a positive trend: HDI, educational levels, GRDP per capita, and the proportion of the tertiary sector in GRDP have all increased. The growth of the tertiary sector was largely driven by the trade and motorized-vehicle repair sectors. The provincial landscape has changed significantly due to the expansion of oil palm plantations. At the village level, the infrastructure index and diversity index show an increase in the number of facilities and variations in economic activity in most villages. Some shifts in rural typology are highlighted: the increase in urban villages and in villages that specialize in oil palm plantation or other industrial plantation crops.

Program EVALUASI PROGRAM CETAK SAWAH BARU DALAM RANGKA MEWUJUDKAN KETAHANAN PANGAN DI PROVINSI JAMBI

The fact of the pattern of agricultural land conversion in Jambi Province, changes in the area of food crops are more influenced by economic factors (commodity prices, share of food subsectors) and population growth with a tendency to decline every year. The pattern of agricultural land conversion in Jambi Province is also as a result of the use of cultivated land from food crop land to plantation cropland and the massive expansion of oil palm plantations. The objectives of this study are: Evaluating the implementation of agricultural land expansion through the printing of new rice fields in Jambi Province and Analyzing the sustainability status of the agricultural land expansion program through printing new rice fields in Jambi Province. The results of the evaluation of the rice field printing program in Jambi Province, indicates that the rice field printing program can be implemented as planned. The expansion of the land faced several obstacles. These constraints include limited farm capital, inadequate farming roads and irrigation facilities, insufficient availability of agricultural tools and machinery, market access and locations for expanding distant land and relatively less fertile land and relatively low knowledge and skills of farmers. The results of the MDS analysis, whose analysis includes socio-cultural, economic, ecological, infrastructure and institutional dimensions, show that the rice field printing program in Jambi Province is included in the status of being quite sustainable with a sustainability index value of 52.94. Sustainability status of new rice field printing program It only achieves so because the economic, infrastructure and institutional dimensions are relatively low and fall into the category of less, which is less than 50. Meanwhile, ecological and socio-cultural aspects are the highest index values and are included in the sufficient category. The policy implications that can be taken are as follows: Infrastructure development policies in the form of agricultural business road construction, construction / rehabilitation of tertiary irrigation network facilities, drainage of water discharge and irrigation of sluice circulation and meeting the needs of agricultural tools and machinery (Rice threshing machines, rice plow tractors, three-wheeled vehicles), Optimizing rice paddy farming through Paddy plow tractors, three-wheeled vehicles), Optimizing paddy rice farming through a) increasing productivity by improving varieties, improving cultivation technology and conserving land and water resources; b) increasing the rice paddy planting index by building and expanding the reach of irrigation networks and utilizing water resources optimally, and c) increasing the efficiency of farming through optimal utilization of local resources.

Reverse Social Impact of Oil Palm Plantation Expansion: A Study of Three Communities in Jambi, Indonesia

Studies on the social impacts of oil palm development have focused on various communities with distinct characteristics. Due to the rarity of comparative investigations, this study aimed to examine the impact of oil palm plantation expansion on the Suku Anak Dalam, Jambi Malay, and the Javanese transmigrant, the three communities with different socio-economic characteristics. In-depth interviews and observations were conducted to understand the communities’ interaction and dependence on forest resources. The study also conducted a household census to assess 67 Malay and 66 Javanese transmigrant families. However, a household census could not be conducted to asses 45 families of the Suku Anak Dalam due to some limitations. This necessitated indirect data collection through the community leader. The results showed that the oil palm development significantly and negatively impacts the Suku Anak Dalam more than the Malay community and the Javanese transmigrant. The Suku Anak Dalam face difficulties in meeting their basic needs because the conversion of forest areas into oil palm plantations has reduced their access to these resources. In contrast, the Malay community and the Javanese transmigrants have enjoyed various benefits, such as ownership of oil palm gardens, employment opportunities as daily laborers, and partnerships with companies through the nucleus-plasma program. Therefore, it is crucial for the government to protect the Suku Anak Dalam community from the negative impacts of oil palm plantation development activities.

System of Carbon Dioxide (Co2) Detection Using Sim7600 Communication Module in Palm Oil Plantations

The problem of environmental damage caused by the palm oil industry has become a global issue. This often becomes an obstacle to the development of the palm oil industry in Indonesia. In fact, millions of Indonesians work in the palm oil sector and are a source of non-oil and gas state revenue. For this reason, efforts to support a sustainable palm oil industry need to be carried out. One of them is the implementation of a smart system in the form of a carbon dioxide (CO2) level detection system. It is important to know these parameters because they are affected by the expansion of oil palm plantations. The measurement results can be accessed and displayed in real-time web-based using the SIM7600 communication module. It is hoped that this CO2 detector will be a solution to environmental problems and related parties can determine mitigation actions in the most extreme conditions.

Expansion of Oil Palm Plantations: PT Agrapana Wukir Panca Social, Economic and Environmental Issues (Case Study of Pelalawan District, Riau)

Oil palm plantations have positive and negative impacts on the environmental, social and economic aspects of local communities. Through an understanding of the data on environmental, social and economic conditions makes it easier for decision makers in policy. This research uses survey methods and in-depth interviews (state the number of respondents, state in-depth interviews). This study aims to measure the level of economic, social and ecological vulnerability due to oil palm plantations. The data used are primary data and secondary data. Primary data collection through structured and in-depth observation and interviews. Secondary data is obtained from the village office, related government agencies, BPS, books, journals, or data from the internet which contains theories or related research results. The results of this study explain that oil palm expansion that occurs in Terantang Manuk Village is through the PIR-Trans pattern, KKPA, PKS without plantation, buying and selling, grants, and self-help or independent. The environmental impact caused by oil palm expansion is reducing fruit, fish, vegetable and game shellfish and decreasing the quantity of groundwater, especially during the dry season. The economic impact due to the expansion of oil palm plantations has seen an increasingly unified economy between the upper, middle and lower classes. Meanwhile, the resulting social impact is the change in customary norms, the practice of leasing and new conflicts.

Integrating Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques for Accurate Mapping and Analysis of Oil Palm Plantation Distribution in Kelantan: A Case Study

The research conducted in Kelantan focused on analysing the distribution of oil palm plantations using remote sensing data and ArcGIS, a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform. The demand for accurate and up-to-date information on oil palm plantations has been increasing due to advancements in technology and the need for effective management of the environment. The study aimed to compare the distribution of oil palm plantations in 2016 and 2021 by using vegetation analysis techniques such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), and Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI). Remote sensing data from Landsat 8, specifically Bands 5, 4, and 2, were utilized to derive these vegetation indices. Ground-truthing data, obtained through GPS coordinates, were employed to increase the accuracy of the analysis. The expansion of oil palm plantations and non-oil palm areas was assessed using the Supervised Classification Maximum Likelihood method. The distribution data of oil palm plantations is highly sought after by oil palm plantation companies and serves public and private purposes, contributing to environmental monitoring and promoting sustainable practices.

Analysis of NDVI and NDRE Indices Using Satellite Images for Crop Identification at Kelantan

In Malaysia, the expansion of rubber trees, oil palm, and paddy plantations has become widely increased because of economic demands. Crop identification or monitoring is one of these applications since remote sensing provides precise, up-to-date, and cost-effective data on a range of crop kinds at various temporal and geographic resolutions. This study recommended integrating multispectral images, a tree canopy segmentation algorithm, and vegetable indicators to measure the attributes and spectral properties of crops and plants in a Kelantan region. Normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) and normalised difference red edge (NDRE) were obtained from five spectral band images (red, green, blue, infrared (NIR), and red edge 2 (REDGE) that were processed by software into a full image map. NDVI is based on a plant’s characteristic reflection of a mix of visible red and near-infrared (NIR) light. NDVI function is to calculate the percentages of canopy cover, whereas the NDRE index is to assess leaf chlorophyll concentration or nitrogen content. The Red Edge sensors detected fluctuations in chlorophyll content within the leaf and throughout the plant canopy. Based on Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2A data, this study determined the NDVI and NDRE values for the crops in paddy fields, oil palm plantations and rubber tree plantations from different locations in Kelantan. The data was then analysed, the bar graphs and an emerging analysis of the differences between NDVI and NDRE maps for crop identification were used to present the results, respectively.

Minimize oil palm plantation expansion with game theory

Minimize oil palm plantation expansion with game theory

Oil Palm Expansion in Farmers Perspective

Studies on oil palm plantation expansion have been widely conducted and still debatable. This condition is caused by the increase in the oil palm land expansion every year. It cannot be separated from the role of investors/private companies, the state, and smallholders. This paper focuses on the farmer perspective on the oil palm plantations expansion with the purpose of describing the expansion of oil palm plantations from the farmer perspective in economy, income diversification and working time. This study used a qualitative and quantitative approach with the types of data used in this study were secondary data and primary data. The farmers feel the benefit in the economic side, increasing income and welfare levels. On the other hand, the presence of oil palm has led to the diversification of livelihoods in farmer, it makes easy in to borrow formal and non-formal institutions.

Deforestation, plantation-related land cover dynamics and oil palm age-structure change during 1990–2020 in Riau Province, Indonesia

The expansion of plantations, such as oil palm, in Indonesia has caused large-scale deforestation. Loss of tropical forest, in particular peatland forest, is a major ecological and environmental threat as well as a source of atmospheric carbon emissions. Understanding the spatio-temporal dynamics of plantation expansion may illuminate pathways to reduce deforestation while maintaining high yields in existing plantations. Beyond mapping forest conversion to plantations, it is also important to understand post-conversion plantation success and crop age. In the case of oil palm, the typical productive lifespan is 25–30 years before replanting or conversion to other land use becomes necessary. Knowledge about the extent of oil palm in different productive growth stages is important for yield estimation and improving management strategies. This study characterizes the land-cover and land-use changes inherent to oil palm plantation expansion and age-structured oil palm dynamics across Riau, the province with the greatest production of oil palm in Indonesia, using a 30 year time-series of Landsat satellite imagery. From 1990 to 2020, Riau lost 4.63 M ha of forest, while oil palm extent grew six-fold, reaching an estimated 3.52 M ha in 2020. Rapid expansion of oil palm plantations in Riau resulted in the predominance of younger age classes (<10 yr-old) and rapidly increasing yields during 2010–2020. Conversion dynamics changed over time such that, after 2014, the <10 yr age class declined by 14%, whereas the 10–20 yr-old (peak yield stage) and ⩾20 yr-old (decline stage) age classes increased by 11% and 3%, respectively. In 28 years of observation (1992–2020), 41% of oil palm planted between 1990 and 1992 underwent at least one cycle of replanting in Riau.

Spatiotemporal analysis of deforestation patterns and drivers reveals emergent threats to tropical forest landscapes

As deforestation breaches into new tropical frontiers, proactive conservation strategies require a trifecta of information on where deforestation is accelerating (emergent), how drivers of deforestation vary spatiotemporally, and where to focus limited conservation resources in protecting the most integral yet threatened forested landscapes. Here we introduce Emergent Threat Analysis, a process integrating Emerging Hot Spot Analysis of deforestation, visual classification of deforestation outcomes over time, and spatial quantification of contemporary forest condition. We applied Emergent Threat Analysis to tropical Southeast Asia, a global epicentre of biodiversity threatened by deforestation. We found that emergent hot spots (EHS)—a subset of hot spots characterized by strong, recent, and clustered patterns of deforestation—accounted for 26.1% of total forest loss from 1992 to 2018, with deforestation within EHS proceeding at 2.5 times the regional rate of gross loss. Oil palm and rubber plantation expansion were the principal drivers of deforestation within EHS of insular and mainland SE Asia, respectively. Over the study period, oil palm shifted in importance from Sumatra and Sarawak to Papua and Kalimantan, whereas rubber became prominent in Cambodia and Tanintharyi from 2006 to 2015. As of 2019, more than 170 000 km2 of SE Asia’s remaining forest occurred within EHS, of which 21.7% was protected. High and medium-integrity forest constituted 19.2% and 49.1% of remaining EHS forest, respectively, but of these, 35.0% of high-integrity and 23.9% of medium-integrity EHS forest were protected. Because we anticipate that tree plantation expansion will continue to drive deforestation in SE Asia, significantly heightened protection is needed to secure the long-term preservation of high and medium-integrity forest, especially in highly contested forest frontier regions. Finally, as a flexible, integrated process, Emergent Threat Analysis is applicable to deforestation fronts across the global tropics.

Clustering of Palm Oil Production Results with K-Means Algorithm in West Aceh Regency

The area and production of oil palm in West Aceh continues to experience a significant increase, because along with the expansion of oil palm plantations in the local area, it is very influential on employment and improving the economy of the community. This study aims to group the results of oil palm production and planted area by applying the data mining technique method with the K-Means Clustering algorithm. The data used in this study in the form of area and palm oil production results were obtained from the West Aceh catalog (BAPPEDA) and the Central Statistics Agency from 2005 to 2020 in 12 sub-districts of West Aceh Regency. The results of the study showed that the high cluster (cluster 1) contained 1 sub-district, namely Kaway XVI, the medium cluster (cluster 0) there were 7 sub-districts namely Bubon, Johan Pahlawan, Panten Reu, Samatiga, Sungai Mas, Woyla Barat, and Woyla Barat, while the cluster low (cluster 2), there are 4 sub-districts, namely Arongan Lambalek, Meureubo, Pante Ceureumen, and Woyla.

Is Malaysia's "mystery monkey" a hybrid between Nasalis larvatus and Trachypithecus cristatus? An assessment of photographs.

Interspecific hybridization in primates is common but hybridization between distantly related sympatric primate species is rarely observed in the wild. We present evidence for a possible hybridization event between Nasalis larvatus and Trachypithecus cristatus in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, Sabah, through assessment of photographs. We used a set of categorical characters and metric measurements to compare the putative hybrid with the likely parent species. Nonmetric comparison showed that this “mystery monkey” is intermediate in several characters. Measurements of limb proportions on photographs showed that the brachial, humerofemoral, and intermembral indexes are above 100 for N. larvatus and below 100 for T. cristatus on all photographs, whereas the crural index is higher than 100 in both species and the distributions of this index in the two species overlap. Brachial and intermembral indices of the putative hybrid were similar to those of N. larvatus. Crural and humerofemoral indices were closer to the values for T. cristatus than those of N. larvatus. Multiple observers confirmed the occurrence of mixed-species groups in the area, and interspecific mating has been photographed. The putative hybrid is now an adult female and was last photographed in September 2020 with an infant and swollen breast, suggesting lactation. We propose further noninvasive fecal sampling for genetic analyses to confirm the origins of this “mystery monkey.” This case of hybridization may be related to anthropogenic changes to the landscape, whereby expansion of oil palm plantations confines N. larvatus and T. obscurus to narrow riverine forest patches along the Kinabatangan. This observation therefore also may have conservation implications, indicating limited mate access and dispersal opportunities for these threatened primates.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10764-022-00293-z.

Author Correction: Recent expansion of oil palm plantations into carbon-rich forests

Author Correction: Recent expansion of oil palm plantations into carbon-rich forests

Recent expansion of oil palm plantations into carbon-rich forests

Deforestation arising from oil palm expansion in the tropics poses threats to forest ecosystem services. Using high-resolution satellite maps, we show that oil palm expansion into forests in Indonesia and Malaysia during 2001–2015 caused a forest biomass loss of 50.2 ± 21.9 TgC yr−1. Large-scale plantations dominated the expansion area. But the encroachment of oil palm plantations from low to high biomass density forests is particularly obvious for small-scale plantations after 2007. This work provides new data for targeting policies to restrict oil palm encroachment into carbon-rich regions, including into protected areas.

Women’s Grievances and Land Dispossession: Reading Landscapes through Papuan Independent Films

Papuan indigenous women depend on forests and gardens. Through forests, women play an important social-economic role in the community; through gardens, women practice care and reciprocity. Tropical forests, plant species, and animals are also their kin relations (Chao, 2018). Nature and culture are deeply intertwined. However, the role of women is disappearing along with deforestation and the large-scale expansion of oil palm plantations. Selecting independent documentary films mostly produced by Papuan Voices, a community network of indigenous Papuan filmmakers, this article describes women’s frustration at being separated from their lands and their discontent at being considered second-class citizens according to customary law. Women's lowly position in the Papuan patrilineal structure is utilized by the plantation industry to dispossess women from their forests and gardens, and thereby threaten their social-economic roles. This article concludes that land dispossession does not serve as a guarantee for development, but is deeply impoverishing.

Anti-Corporate Activism and Collusion: The Contentious Politics of Palm Oil Expansion in Indonesia

The rapid expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia has generated a large and growing number of protests against palm oil companies over, mainly, access to land. So far, these protests have been mainly studied through scattered case studies, which precludes an understanding and analysis of general patterns. Addressing this challenge, this paper presents the results of the first-ever large-scale collaborative effort to document 150 conflicts between rural Indonesians and palm oil companies in four Indonesian provinces (West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Riau and West Sumatra). With this material this article unpacks trajectories of the anti-corporate activism sparked by the rapid expansion of palm oil plantations, discussing the causes, character of protests, conflict resolution efforts and outcomes of these conflicts. We find that palm oil conflicts generate a particular ‘rightless’ form of collective action: instead of invoking legal provisions or rights, communities often avoid formal institutions while adopting largely accommodative forms of protest aimed at improving their bargaining position vis-à-vis companies. Despite regular and intense protests often directed at local governments, we find that in 68 percent of the studied conflicts communities fail to address their grievances. We argue that this limited success is not just due to the inadequacies of legal frameworks but also to the way in which Indonesia’s informalized state institutions foster collusion between powerholders and palm oil companies. Such collusion has facilitated the repression of protests and undermined the effectiveness of conflict resolution mechanisms.

Local brokerage and international leverage: NGOs and land conflicts in Indonesia

AbstractThe rapid expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia has generated a large and growing number of conflicts between rural communities and palm oil companies over, mainly, access to land. Employing a detailed documentation of 150 such conflicts in four Indonesian provinces, this paper assesses and evaluates how local, national and international NGOs help communities address their grievances. We find that rights‐based activism characterises only a small portion of NGOs working on land conflicts, as a more common strategy revolves around political brokerage. NGOs generally fail to achieve significant impact, with the partial exception of (those connected with) international NGOs.

Deforestation-free land-use change and organic matter-centered management improve the C footprint of oil palm expansion.

In recent decades, mounting evidence has indicated that the expansion of oil palm (OP) plantations at the expense of tropical forest has had a far pernicious effect on ecosystem aspects. While various deforestation‐free strategies have been proposed to enhance OP sustainability, field‐based evidence still need to be consolidated, in particular with respect to savanna regions where OP expansion has recently occurred and that present large area with potential for OP cultivation. Here we show that the common management practice creating within the plantation the so‐called management zones explained nearly five times more variability of soil biogeochemical properties than the savanna land‐use change per se. We also found that clayey‐soil savanna conversion into OP increased total ecosystem C stocks by 40 ± 13 Mg C ha−1 during a full OP cultivation cycle, which was due to the higher OP‐derived C accumulated in the biomass and in the soil as compared to the loss of savanna‐derived C. In addition, application of organic residues in specific management zones enhanced the accumulation of soil organic carbon by up to 1.9 Mg ha−1 year−1 over the full cycle. Within plantation, zones subjected to organic amendments sustained similar soil microbial activity as in neighboring savannas. Our findings represent an empirical proof‐of‐concept that the conversion of non‐forested land in parallel with organic matter‐oriented management strategies can enhance OP agroecosystems C sink capacity while promoting microbe‐mediated soil functioning. Nonetheless, savannas are unique and threatened ecosystems that support a vast biodiversity. Therefore, we suggest to give priority attention to conservation of natural savannas and direct more research toward the impacts of the conversion and subsequent management of degraded savannas.