Oil Palm Expansion Research Articles

Family farming, agribusiness and the state: Building consent around oil palm expansion in post-neoliberal Brazil

This paper analyzes the politics of oil palm expansion and state intervention in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Pará. The Workers' Party (PT) envisioned moving away from previous neoliberal policies by using state support to facilitate the coexistence and synergetic nexus between the state, family farmers and agribusiness, through the Sustainable Oil Palm Production Program (PPSOP) launched in 2010. Using a Gramscian approach, we examine PT's ability to impose its hegemonic project and the contradictions that emerged from its efforts to ease capital accumulation and to support marginalized family farmers to legitimize oil palm expansion. We argue that, in light of the articulations and fragmentation generated in the PPSOP intervention, the PT played a key role in providing a common framework that facilitated oil palm expansion in which all the actors involved could find a response to their claims. While agribusiness moved to participate in PPSOP to legitimatize the monoculture of palm in international markets and to create the material and infrastructural conditions for monocrop expansion, family farmers and popular movements granted support to this intervention based upon concerns for land access and titling, and with the hopes for alternative agricultural activities and job creation to improve their livelihoods. We show, however, that PPSOP intervention works to reinforce large-scale production and exclude family farmers and popular movements by promoting the concentration of land ownership and failing to improve the terms of incorporation of marginalized actors in the oil palm chain.

The disciplining of illegal palm oil plantations in Sumatra

The Indonesian state has issued many regulations to control palm oil expansion, but they have been weakly enforced, resulting in widespread illegal plantations. During the last decade, Indonesian authorities have used force to reduce illegal plantations. This article analyses the drivers behind these actions and questions to what extent they reflect the rise of eco-authoritarianism. By investigating six cases of disciplinary action in Sumatra, we conclude that the Indonesian state is neither practising eco-authoritarianism nor constituting a green state. The disciplinary action, however, has had limited success in environmental terms due to policy incoherence, violent contestation and the sector’s historical context.

Expansion of palm oil (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) in the state of Maranhão and soil water deficit limitations in the Brazilian Amazon

Oil palm is considered the crop with the highest oil production per planted area unit. This condition has driven the Brazilian government to create the Sustainable Oil Palm Production Program. Since 2009, the agroenergy production chain has used oil palm as a viable and profitable crop to recover deforested areas in the Amazon. The aim of this study was to assess hydric conditions able to indicate the potential to expand oil palm crops in the state of Maranhao, even in the Legal Amazon. The climate database used (average and extreme temperature in degrees Celsius; rainfall values; relative humidity, and vapour-pressure deficit). Water deficit values were was obtained by comparing the potential evapotranspiration of oil palm (ETc) to actual rainfall (ER). Water balance was calculated based on available water capacity of 125 mm.month-1. Evapotranspiration was obtained using the methodology according to the climate database available to calculate the evapotranspiration rate in an area planted with oil palm in this study. The water deficit values show no restriction in the soil water replacement between January and June. However, from July to December, the water deficit varies between 200 and 300 mm. The levels showed that, in the areas evaluated, oil palm crops will require irrigation. In this period, yield was estimated at 17 tons ha-1 when the water deficit was considered at 210 mm and 14 tons ha-1 for a deficit of 380 mm. This result reinforces that oil palm production may drop by more than 50% due to water deficits and the crop will greatly impact the economy and the environment if the irrigation strategy is adopted in the areas of Maranhao.

Oil palm monoculture induces drastic erosion of an Amazonian forest mammal fauna.

Oil palm monoculture comprises one of the most financially attractive land-use options in tropical forests, but cropland suitability overlaps the distribution of many highly threatened vertebrate species. We investigated how forest mammals respond to a landscape mosaic, including mature oil palm plantations and primary forest patches in Eastern Amazonia. Using both line-transect censuses (LTC) and camera-trapping (CT), we quantified the general patterns of mammal community structure and attempted to identify both species life-history traits and the environmental and spatial covariates that govern species intolerance to oil palm monoculture. Considering mammal species richness, abundance, and species composition, oil palm plantations were consistently depauperate compared to the adjacent primary forest, but responses differed between functional groups. The degree of forest habitat dependency was a leading trait, determining compositional dissimilarities across habitats. Considering both the LTC and CT data, distance from the forest-plantation interface had a significant effect on mammal assemblages within each habitat type. Approximately 87% of all species detected within oil palm were never farther than 1300 m from the forest edge. Our study clearly reinforces the notion that conventional oil palm plantations are extremely hostile to native tropical forest biodiversity, which does not bode well given prospects for oil palm expansion in both aging and new Amazonian deforestation frontiers.

Oil palm expansion in Cameroon: Insights into sustainability opportunities and challenges in Africa

Oil palm production expanded 1.2 million hectares in sub-Saharan Africa since 1990, with expansion accelerating in several heavily forested countries since 2000. Despite a narrative of expansion driven by multinational corporations, we provide evidence of a dynamic non-industrial oil palm production sector linked to a burgeoning informal milling enterprise. Surveys were conducted with oil palm farmers in Cameroon (n = 546), the third largest palm oil producer on the continent with the greatest amount of deforestation due to recent expansion, to determine who is expanding into forest. Seventy-three percent of survey respondents reported clearing forest, the magnitude of which was explained by differences in milling strategies and supply chain integration. Large-scale, non-industrial producers played a disproportionate role in deforestation, many of which were engaged in informal supply chains through the use of non-industrial mills. Farms associated with more clearing tended to use high-yielding seedlings. Even the highest yielding farms, however, averaged only 7.7 tons fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) ha−1 yr−1, well below the potential 20 tons FFBs ha−1 yr−1 yield for Cameroon. We also found a strong relationship between deforestation and land claims. Most farms claimed ownership of their land, although only 5% had official land titles. Conservation challenges in the region arise from land tenure laws that incentivize forest clearing. This study sheds light on the role of informal supply chains in deforestation and highlights the need for strict implementation and enforcement of land use zoning policies.

Expansion of oil palm and other cash crops causes an increase of the land surface temperature in the Jambi province in Indonesia

Abstract. Indonesia is currently one of the regions with the highest transformation rate of land surface worldwide related to the expansion of oil palm plantations and other cash crops replacing forests on large scales. Land cover changes, which modify land surface properties, have a direct effect on the land surface temperature (LST), a key driver for many ecological functions. Despite the large historic land transformation in Indonesia toward oil palm and other cash crops and governmental plans for future expansion, this is the first study so far to quantify the impacts of land transformation on the LST in Indonesia. We analyze LST from the thermal band of a Landsat image and produce a high-resolution surface temperature map (30 m) for the lowlands of the Jambi province in Sumatra (Indonesia), a region which suffered large land transformation towards oil palm and other cash crops over the past decades. The comparison of LST, albedo, normalized differenced vegetation index (NDVI) and evapotranspiration (ET) between seven different land cover types (forest, urban areas, clear-cut land, young and mature oil palm plantations, acacia and rubber plantations) shows that forests have lower surface temperatures than the other land cover types, indicating a local warming effect after forest conversion. LST differences were up to 10.1 ± 2.6 °C (mean ± SD) between forest and clear-cut land. The differences in surface temperatures are explained by an evaporative cooling effect, which offsets the albedo warming effect. Our analysis of the LST trend of the past 16 years based on MODIS data shows that the average daytime surface temperature in the Jambi province increased by 1.05 °C, which followed the trend of observed land cover changes and exceeded the effects of climate warming. This study provides evidence that the expansion of oil palm plantations and other cash crops leads to changes in biophysical variables, warming the land surface and thus enhancing the increase of the air temperature because of climate change.

Land, development and contract farming on the Guatemalan oil palm frontier

Integration of smallholder agriculture into oil palm production schemes has been advocated as a strategy for rural poverty reduction in the global South, including Guatemala, where the crop had been promoted through a contentious government programme. This study, set in Guatemala’s northern lowlands, challenges the official narrative that smallholder oil palm cultivation catalyses rural development and deters peasant land sales. Results indicate that oil palm expansion is accelerating land sales and provides minimal benefits, namely non-inclusive and precarious jobs. The host community is becoming increasingly susceptible to global market volatility, as oil palm puts pressure on subsistence farming and eliminates other livelihood options.

The effects of rural development policy on land rights distribution and land use scenarios: The case of oil palm in the Peruvian Amazon

Decades of development history show that rural agricultural policies and government support for specific en vogue crops can seriously alter land rights, land tenure regimes and land use strategies for local people in tropical forests. Today, oil palm is such a crop, and it is an emergent commodity that is proliferating in the Peruvian Amazon. This paper asks: How is government interest in promoting oil palm development affecting property rights formalization for smallholders in the Peruvian Amazon region of Ucayali, and what are the socio-ecological implications? While there are strong theoretical reasons that expect these phenomena to be related, the precise nature of their interaction has not been rigorously examined in Peru. The study analyses data from a large household survey, and three years of participant observation work in those villages to unpack how these factors interact. The paper presents descriptive results comparing smallholder claims to their formal rights, and finds a large discrepancy between de facto and de jure land ownership scenarios – especially with relation to old-growth forest fragments. Furthermore, whilst our statistical model testing qualifies our hypothesis about the link between oil palm and land right in the region at both the household and village levels, it is not a direct causal relationship. The empirical results suggest a more complex nuanced picture of how migration, oil palm expansion and development are more broadly linked to land use change in the region. We conclude with policy recommendations that could facilitate improved forest conservation in the area, and a more equitable distribution of land rights to smallholders.

Fire activity in Borneo driven by industrial land conversion and drought during El Niño periods, 1982–2010

Tropical rainforests, naturally resistant to fire when intact, are increasingly vulnerable to burning due to ongoing forest perturbation and, possibly, climatic changes. Industrial-scale forest degradation and conversion are increasing fire occurrence, and interactions with climate anomalies such as El Nino induced droughts can magnify the extent and severity of fire activity. The influences of these factors on fire frequency in tropical forests has not been widely studied at large spatio-temporal scales at which feedbacks between fire reoccurrence and forest degradation may develop. Linkages between fire activity, industrial land use, and El Nino rainfall deficits are acute in Borneo, where the greatest tropical fire events in recorded history have apparently occurred in recent decades. Here we investigate how fire frequency in Borneo has been influenced by industrial-scale agricultural development and logging during El Nino periods by integrating long-term satellite observations between 1982 and 2010 – a period encompassing the onset, development, and consolidation of its Borneo’s industrial forestry and agricultural operations as well as the full diversity of El Nino events. We record changes in fire frequency over this period by deriving the longest and most comprehensive spatio-temporal record of fire activity across Borneo using AVHRR Global Area Coverage (GAC) satellite data. Monthly fire frequency was derived from these data and modelled at 0.04° resolution via a random-forest model, which explained 56% of the monthly variation as a function of oil palm and timber plantation extent and proximity, logging intensity and proximity, human settlement, climate, forest and peatland condition, and time, observed using Landsat and similar satellite data. Oil-palm extent increased fire frequency until covering 20% of a grid cell, signalling the significant influence of early stages of plantation establishment. Heighted fire frequency was particularly acute within 10 km of oil palm, where both expanding plantation and smallholder agriculture are believed to be contributing factors. Fire frequency increased abruptly and dramatically when rainfall fell below 200 mm month-1, especially as landscape perturbation increased (indicated by vegetation index data). Logging intensity had a negligible influence on fire frequency, including on peatlands, suggesting a more complex response of logged forest to burning than appreciated. Over time, the epicentres of high-frequency fires expanded from East Kalimantan (1980’s) to Central and West Kalimantan (1990’s), coincidentally but apparently slightly preceding oil-palm expansion, and high-frequency fires then waned in East Kalimantan and occurred only in Central and West Kalimantan (2000’s). After accounting for land-cover changes and climate, our model under-estimates observed fire frequency during ca. 1990–2002 and over-estimates it thereafter, suggesting that a multi-decadal shift to industrial forest conversion and forest landscapes may have diminished the propensity for high-frequency fires in much of this globally significant tropical region since ca. 2000.

PZ Wilmar and palm oil expansion to West Africa

Synopsis In 2014, PZ Wilmar announced a new oil palm business worth $650 million in Cross River State, which would aggressively expand Nigeria’s palm oil production. In July 2015, a year after the plan was announced, a report jointly released by Friends of the Earth US and Environmental Rights Action Nigeria alleged that Wilmar was not complying with Nigerian laws, and accused them of human rights violations, environmental destruction, fraud, and land grabbing. The multifaceted nature of the “Cross River State crisis” permits “close-ups” from different vantage points to analyze the economic, environmental, social, and governance implications of palm oil expansion from a corporate sustainability perspective. Research methodology The case was researched utilizing secondary data, all materials are readily available to the public. There is no disguise of any actual person or entity and no relationship between the authors and the organizations or individuals mentioned in the case. Relevant courses and levels The case is best used at graduate level. It is very well suited for a MBA-level sustainability, business and society, or corporate social responsibility, or business ethics courses. Theoretical bases The case is grounded on the stakeholder theory, yet offering a fresh perspective, leveraging on the uniqueness of the Nigerian context. The authors argue that, while the assessment of the stakeholder salience of environmental groups operating in Nigeria might be different vis-à-vis other countries with sounder institutional environments, the normative question on whether the company should address these claims persists. The authors also draw from the social movements literature and bring forth the idea that the characteristics of the Nigerian context may jeopardize the prospects of success of adversarial tactics such as the issuing of lawsuits and extensive media exposure, which have been deemed effective elsewhere.

Managing fire risk during drought: the influence of certification and El Niño on fire-driven forest conversion for oil palm in Southeast Asia

Abstract. Indonesia and Malaysia have emerged as leading producers of palm oil in the past several decades, expanding production through the conversion of tropical forests to industrial plantations. Efforts to produce sustainable palm oil, including certification by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), include guidelines designed to reduce the environmental impact of palm oil production. Fire-driven deforestation is prohibited by law in both countries and a stipulation of RSPO certification, yet the degree of environmental compliance is unclear, especially during El Niño events when drought conditions increase fire risk. Here, we used time series of satellite data to estimate the spatial and temporal patterns of fire-driven deforestation on and around oil palm plantations. In Indonesia, fire-driven deforestation accounted for one-quarter of total forest losses on both certified and noncertified plantations. After the first plantations in Indonesia received RSPO certification in 2009, forest loss and fire-driven deforestation declined on certified plantations but did not stop altogether. Oil palm expansion in Malaysia rarely involved fire; only 5 % of forest loss on certified plantations had coincident active fire detections. Interannual variability in fire detections was strongly influenced by El Niño and the timing of certification. Fire activity during the 2002, 2004, and 2006 El Niño events was similar among oil palm plantations in Indonesia that would later become certified, noncertified plantations, and surrounding areas. However, total fire activity was 75 % and 66 % lower on certified plantations than noncertified plantations during the 2009 and 2015 El Niño events, respectively. The decline in fire activity on certified plantations, including during drought periods, highlights the potential for RSPO certification to safeguard carbon stocks in peatlands and remaining forests in accordance with legislation banning fires. However, aligning certification standards with satellite monitoring capabilities will be critical to realize sustainable palm oil production and meet industry commitments to zero deforestation.

Impacts of oil palm expansion on avian biodiversity in a Neotropical natural savanna

The consequences of converting tropical rainforest to oil palm are well-documented, but the impacts of oil palm conversion on natural savanna landscapes remain little-known. Natural savannas in South America have been identified as fertile grounds for future oil palm expansion, partly due to perceived low biodiversity impacts relative to forest systems. We quantify the impacts of oil palm conversion for bird communities inhabiting natural savannas in the Colombian Llanos. Bird species richness and abundance were significantly reduced at sampling points in oil palm relative to adjacent natural savannas, with marked concomitant shifts in community composition. Aquatic, forest and grassland specialists all showed significantly lower abundances in oil palm habitat relative to savanna, as did migratory species and carnivorous/insectivorous dietary guilds. In both habitats, point-level species richness and total bird abundance increased with proximity to remnant forest patches. Within savanna, total bird abundance also decreased with proximity to adjacent oil palm, though species richness was not significantly affected. Within oil palm, point-level abundance increased with proximity to savanna, suggesting that communities in both habitats may be impacted by reciprocal edge or spill-over effects. Point-level abundance in oil palm also increased significantly with the presence of an invasive vine ‘kudzu’, a species introduced in some plantations as a soil protection measure, although species richness was not affected. Our work underlines the need for careful monitoring of further large-scale agro-industrial conversion in the Llanos. In particular, we suggest greater efforts to direct oil palm expansion towards already degraded lands (e.g. improved grassland areas currently used for intensive cattle grazing) to ensure remaining natural savannas are spared.

Understanding the expansion of energy crops beyond the global biofuel boom: evidence from oil palm expansion in Colombia

BackgroundThe global palm oil market experienced a remarkable boom since the year 2000. Since palm oil can be used for biodiesel production, the global expansion of oil palm cultivation has been associated with the global biofuel boom. Biofuel policies—especially those adopted in the European Union (EU)—have been blamed for the socio-environmental impacts of oil palm expansion. We explore how the global biofuel boom interacts with national geographies and social-economic and political processes to produce country-specific trajectories of biofuel crops expansion. We analyse the expansion of oil palm cultivation in Colombia between 2000 and 2010 from a political ecology perspective.MethodsThe analysis is based on a framework that positions expansion of commodity frontiers within the ‘space-of-flows’ and the ‘space-of-place’. Through this approach, we identify the markets and geographies that define the country-specific trajectories of expansion of oil palm in Colombia, and their connections with general patterns of land control. The empirical analysis is based on primary data collected during fieldwork, and on an extensive review of secondary data about the palm oil sector and the socio-environmental effects of oil palm expansion in the country.ResultsThe contemporary oil palm expansion in Colombia was not specifically influenced by the international biofuel market. Expansion was characterized by an increasing production of palm oil for biodiesel, to supply a policy-driven national biofuel market controlled by national palm oil producers. The evidence shows that this oil palm expansion proceeded through a variety of land control practices that constitute forms of ‘accumulation by dispossession’ and ‘assimilation’. These are embedded in contextual factors that include the agrarian history of Colombia, the armed conflict, and government policies.ConclusionsOur study shows that the ways in which expansion of biofuel crops unfold in each producing country depend not only on the global biofuel market. They are also shaped by the country-specific geographies and political economies. Therefore, research and policies on the global expansion of energy crops should account for the complex and interrelated factors that mediate the specific ways in which the global demand for biofuels creates biofuel crop booms at country level.

Differential livelihood impacts of oil palm expansion in Indonesia

In this article, the impacts of oil palm adoption on livelihoods of smallholder farm households are analyzed. The study builds on survey data from Sumatra, Indonesia. Treatment-effects and endogenous switching regression models suggest that smallholder households benefit from oil palm adoption on average. Part of the benefit stems from the fact that oil palm requires less labor than rubber, the main alternative crop. This allows oil palm adopters to allocate more labor to off-farm activities and/or to expand their farmland. For households with a low land-to-labor ratio, rubber is typically a more lucrative crop than oil palm. Depending on various social and institutional factors, households’ access to land, labor, and capital varies, contributing to impact heterogeneity. Welfare gains associated with oil palm are more pronounced among households that have formal land titles and access to additional land to expand their farm size during the process of adoption.

The return of the plantation? Historical and contemporary trends in the relation between plantations and smallholdings in Southeast Asia

Following the 2007–2008 surge in international land deals, many analysts have portrayed this moment of agrarian history as a manifestation of the re-emergence of large-scale capitalist farming. However, official national-scale figures concerning key cash crops in Malaysia and Indonesia rather show the growing importance of smallholders. Although these figures must be read with caution, they nevertheless point to a contradiction. This incites us to revisit the debate on the relation between large and small farms using two important sectors, rubber and palm oil, two major plantation crops increasingly cultivated by smallholders. Then, with regard to the cultivation of rubber in Malaysia and Indonesia, we provide a historical perspective on the institutional and economic contexts in which smallholders have managed to cultivate a growing share of plantation crops. For comparative purposes, we attend to the more recent expansion of oil palm in the region, and to how it has led to the emergence of an important population of smallholders, despite policies biased in favor of large-scale plantations. For both crops, we are paying particular attention to national agricultural policies and their impact on the development of smallholder plantation crop production, and to how they influence the respective weight of large and small farms.

Neotropical moth assemblages degrade due to oil palm expansion

Oil palm is one of the most rapidly expanding crops throughout the tropics, yet little is known about its impacts on Neotropical invertebrate biodiversity. Responses of insect assemblages to land conversion may substantially vary among taxa. We assessed geometrid and arctiine moth assemblages in a Costa Rican human dominated landscape, where oil palm plantations are now the second most common land cover. Moths were sampled during 6 months with automatic traps in the interior and margin of old-growth forests, young secondary forests and oil palm plantations in a 30 km2 area. Our results show that richness and diversity of both taxa were severely reduced in oil palm compared to all other habitats. Geometrid abundance was highest in forest interiors and lowest in oil palm, while arctiine numbers did not differ between habitats. Dominance was highest in oil palm plantations, where one arctiine species and one geometrid species accounted for over 40% of total abundance in each of their respective taxa. Species composition was distinct in oil palm and forest interior sites, and depicted a gradient of habitat disturbance in ordination space that was strongly related to vegetation diversity and structure. This study demonstrates that oil palm plantations are not a suitable habitat for these moth taxa. Whilst some arctiine species seem adapted to disturbed habitats, geometrids were more dependent on old-growth forests, showing higher bioindicator potential. In the face of accelerated oil palm expansion, conservation strategies should focus on protecting old-growth forest remnants, as well as increasing species diversity and structural complexity of degraded habitats.

Violence and visibility in oil palm and sugarcane conflicts: the case of Polochic Valley, Guatemala

ABSTRACTOver the last two decades, the expansion of oil palm and sugarcane plantations in the Polochic Valley (Guatemala) has exacerbated the historical struggle of Maya-Q’eqchi’ peoples for land rights. Based on a mixed-methods approach, I examine the dynamics of the conflict between 1998 and 2014, focusing on the visibility, manifestation and intensity of violence and the role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and peasant organizations in opposition to oil palm and sugarcane plantations. I show that the evolution of the conflict can be explained by changes in the strength of organizations' alliances due to tensions and lack of coordination, as well as the fear of state repression and the funding context of these organizations. These results allow me to discuss how violence, the role of these organizations and the dynamics of related events have influenced the visibility of the conflict associated with the expansion of oil palm and sugarcane plantations in the Polochic.

Intergenerational displacement in Indonesia’s oil palm plantation zone

This contribution examines the intergenerational effects of oil palm expansion in Indonesia at two scales. First, I use a broad brush and selected examples from different parts of Indonesia to highlight the long-term, intergenerational dynamics of displacement from the land, and the linked problem of displacement from opportunities to find decent work. In the second part I draw on primary data from my research in a plantation zone in West Kalimantan to examine intergenerational dynamics in households and communities tucked around the borders of plantations, where access to residual pockets of land is the key to secure to secure and prosperous futures.

Changes in Family Production Systems upon the Implementation of Palm Oil in Eastern Amazon

Neste artigo, analisam-se as mudanças nos sistemas de produção familiares ao longo de suas trajetórias produtivas, enfatizando-se as transformações ocorridas em função da implantação da dendeicultura nesses sistemas na Amazônia Oriental. A pesquisa foi realizada no Nordeste Paraense (principal área de expansão de dendezais), onde foram aplicados 162 questionários junto a agricultores familiares integrados às agroindústrias de dendê. Realizou-se também análise retrospectiva em 10 estabelecimentos agrícolas. Como principais resultados, obteve-se a identificação de cinco tipos de sistemas de produção, combinando-se a cultura do dendê com atividades como o cultivo de anuais, sistemas agroflorestais (SAF), pimenta do reino e a criação de bovinos. Na análise de trajetória, a tipologia revelou três grupos de trajetórias: 1) trajetória das anuais e com tendência à especialização no cultivo do dendezeiro; 2) trajetória das perenes (destaque para a pimenta do reino e frutíferas em SAF) e dendê e; 3) trajetória da pecuária e dendê. O que diferenciam as trajetórias são as estratégias desenvolvidas por cada família para garantir sua reprodução social por meio da agricultura. Conclui-se que a implantação da dendeicultura provocou transformações na estrutura, organização e trajetória dos sistemas de produção, mas as mudanças não são apenas práticas. Ocorreram, também, mudanças no campo simbólico, pois o sistema de integração representa, para os agricultores familiares, a “modernidade”, por dispor de todo um aparato financeiro e tecnológico o qual culturas tradicionais na região, como a atividade da mandioca, não possuem. Assim, para os agricultores, observou-se que a dendeicultura representa a principal alternativa para o desenvolvimento.

Land control dynamics and social-ecological transformations in upland Philippines

Recent scholarship on land grabs has begun exploring the complexity of local dynamics of land control, with emphasis on the concepts of access and exclusion and the social processes that influence these two. In this paper, I emphasize that a nuanced examination of broader social-ecological transformations would enrich our understanding of land control and exclusion. Drawing from field research in the Philippine province of Palawan, this paper examines how the combined effects of the practices of conservation enclosures, the uneven land accumulation brought about by oil palm expansion, and the use of legitimizing upland discourses all contribute to social-ecological transformations in swidden and the exclusion of indigenous smallholders from benefiting from integral forms of swidden agriculture. These practices of land control and the associated social-ecological transformations are not just interconnected, but also characterized by feedback mechanisms. The more smallholders decide to alter (or abandon) swidden practices, participate in oil palm contract farming, and/or sell their land to oil palm growers, the greater the tendency for land to accumulate among migrant settlers and absentee landowners. This, in turn, may lead to further reduction in the availability of fallow land and exclusion of more indigenous smallholders over time.