How Do Oil Palm Plantations Affect the Environment?
Around the world, eutrophication of rivers, lakes, streams and oceans is increasingly becoming a prominent environmental concern. Fertilizer nutrients and other chemical compounds are contaminating these water sources after washing away from residential lawns, public gardens and agricultural lands. Once in the watershed, phosphorus, nitrogen and similar nutrients promote abnormally robust growth of algae. When the algae eventually rot, the decomposition process depletes the oxygen supply in the water, causing fish and other organisms to die off, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
As eutrophication gets worse around the world, environmental scientists and farmers are working to improve agricultural practices to reduce nutrient pollution in runoff. One team of scientists from Stanford University decided to focus their research on oil palm plantations in Indonesia. They concluded that this cash crop not only contributes to global warming, but also to the contamination of freshwater, as published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.
The palm oil industry has grown rapidly over the past 20 years. From a subsistence crop in Africa to its establishment as a major global commodity in Southeast Asia, this agro-industry has had tremendous positive impacts, but also dramatic negative consequences. The surface of land suitable for oil palm production is shrinking in Southeast Asia, forcing the palm oil industry to return to Africa, and develop new horizons in Central and South America. This expansion requires a careful examination of the advantages and disadvantages of oil palm development and the identification of more effective ways to maximize benefits while minimizing social and environmental costs. The conservation community cannot afford to sit on the fence with the issues posed by oil palm developments. A strong consensus must be reached on whether the community wants to reject the industry because of its negative impact on ecosystems and wildlife, or if it can accept to co-exist if certain conditions are in place. Based on the industry’s trajectory in Southeast Asia and its negative impact on orangutan populations, it is clear that the palm oil industry is here to stay and that without careful planning that same industry could dramatically affect the long-term survival of great apes. A key strategic objective for great ape conservation will be to seek support from the industry to embed stricter responsible practices for the development of oil palm, which can also be applied to other agricultural commodities. To develop meaningful recommendations for oil palm development, a better understanding of what drove its expansion in Southeast Asia is needed. From there, it is possible to assess the different strategies that exist to reduce the environmental impacts of oil palm, in particular when they affect orangutan populations, the only Asian great ape. Focusing on studies produced on Southeast Asia, this report makes specific recommendations for better land-use planning and plantation management, but also policy support and market-based incentives such as certification. To highlight the potential risks for biodiversity in Africa, a special attention was given to the anticipated effects on the three African great apes: the gorilla, the chimpanzee, and the bonobo. These species inhabit 21 countries in equatorial Africa, but some species and subspecies are confined to small areas, in which case large-scale land conversion could seriously threaten their survival in the wild. For example, the bonobo is only found in the Democratic Republic of Congo and about 99% of its habitat is situated in areas suitable for oil palm cultivation. Looking at different case studies in Cameroon, Nigeria, Liberia and Gabon, where oil palm developments have increased in recent years, this report highlights a range of issues, from legislation surrounding land leases to the local impacts of hunting and loss of great ape habitat. With this insight on the development of the industry in Southeast Asia and Africa, it is imperative that the conservation community and the oil palm industry find common ground on which to collaborate, and works towards the development of a global sustainable palm oil strategy for the benefit of humankind and biodiversity.
The global palm oil (Elaeis guineensis) industry grew from virtually non-existent in the 1960s to the fourth biggest agricultural commodity in the early 2010s (after soy beans, wheat, and prepared foods) and was worth US$42 billion in 2011 (FAO 2015). It is one of the most rapidly expanding crops in the world today (Fitzherbert et al. 2008; Sheil et al. 2009; Wich et al. 2014). In 2012, over 17.1 million hectares of permanent cultivated cropland worldwide consisted of oil palm, compared with 15 million in 2009, and 9.97 million in 2000 (Image 2). Oil palm is now grown in over 40 countries (FAO 2012) and contributes significantly to the global supply of edible oils. In 2013, palm oil accounted for 40% of the 169 million tons of global vegetable and fruit oils produced (RSPO 2014), with predicted global consumption estimated to increase to about 80 million tons by 2020 (Mielke 2013). Of all the palm oil produced globally in 2013, 91% originated from Southeast Asia, with Indonesia and Malaysia contributing 51% and 36% respectively (FAO 2015). Some estimates suggest that as much as half of packaged consumer goods contain palm oil, indicating the great versatility of palm oil, its high yields, and its low production costs. The huge opportunities in terms of socio-economic development for exporting countries represented by this tropical crop and the high global demand explain why this industry is currently expanding further into tropical Africa and Central and South America (FAO 2012; Gilbert 2012). Compared to other vegetable oils such as rapeseed and soya, palm oil consistently achieves the fastest production growth (Carrasco et al. 2014; Fitzherbert et al. 2008) because it has the highest yield by land area of all the vegetable oil crops (Kurki et al. 2014). Another reason why this crop has proved so successful is that two separate oils can be extracted from the fruit -- palm kernel oil (PKO) and crude palm oil (CPO) -- and because up to 87% of its output is produced as oil, as opposed to 20% for soya bean and 40% for rapeseed and sunflower (HCS 2015). Palm oil has also played a significant role in the expansion of the biofuel industry, representing another important demand for the product (Gilbert 2012; Savage 2011). Oil palm plantation development has been exceptionally high in recent years in response to high prices for crude palm oil driven by higher global demand (Sheil et al. 2009). This is expected to lead to a further rapid expansion in palm oil production in years to come (Fry & Fitton 2010). Different countries make different decisions on which vegetable oil to favor (Text Box 1); decisions are influenced by national regulations, public perceptions, local industry demand, and other factors.
It is feared that the further expansion of the palm oil industry will place vital ecosystems at risk of untenable exploitation. Indeed, conventional production methods are highly unsustainable (Laurance et al. 2010; Wilcove & Koh 2010). Large-scale establishment of oil palm negatively impacts natural systems at several levels, such as populations, species, habitats and ecosystems. Oil palm development is a contributing factor to the global biodiversity ‘crisis’ (Laurance 2007; Sodhi et al. 2010). For example, clearance of peatlands and old-growth forests causes serious damage to the environment and releases large quantities of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere (van der Werf et al. 2009). At a species level, oil palm expansion has significant impact on many threatened species and their habitat. One of the best-documented example is the orangutan (Pongo sp.), an arboreal forest-dwelling great ape that depends on the lowland rainforests growing on peat and mineral soils of Sumatra (Pongo abelii) and Borneo (Pongo pygmaeus) (Wich et al. 2012b; Wich et al. 2008). Such a threat to apes is by no means restricted to Southeast Asia and it is feared that African apes will undergo similar habitat loss through oil palm expansion since over 42.3% of the current African great ape distribution overlaps with land suitable for oil palm development (Wich et al. 2014). In many developed countries, the palm oil industry has a largely negative public image. This is reflected by many recent campaigns organized worldwide against the industry. More and more concerns are also raised in producing countries because of the social and environmental damages resulting from the development of this industry. However, in a business developing as rapidly as the palm oil industry, it is difficult for scientists and those interested in sustainable practices to keep up with newly developing standards and procedures in certification bodies such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), how these translate into on-the-ground reality, and what they mean for mitigating the industry’s social and environmental impacts. The resulting lack of up-to-date information helps little to change the image of the industry formed by the public, which is not always well supported by facts. Table 1 shows some discrepancies in public information about the impacts of oil palm and information available from objective scientific studies. Such discrepancies are partly because of the emotive nature of the oil palm debate (Sheil & Meijaard 2010). Furthermore, it can be due to the inherent difficulty of studying industrial-scale processes across large landscapes with highly varying social, legal, political, and environmental characteristics. The issue affects orangutans in Asia, but could also threaten other ape populations in Africa as the industry continues to expand. In some contexts, there is evidence that ape conservation and oil palm development can be reconciled to some extent by minimizing and mitigating negative impacts through improved management practices and better spatial allocation of plantations. The implementation of those measures could determine the future of ape species affected by oil palm development in Asia and Africa.
Where does palm oil appear?
According to the study authors, the palm oil industry is worth billions of dollars. In addition to being used as a cooking oil, this commodity is used in the production of peanut butter, bread, shampoo, shaving cream and other staple items found in the typical grocery store.
One reason why palm oil is drawing so much attention from environmental scientists is that plantations are taking up more land, particularly in Indonesia. The nation is home to the world's third largest rainforest, and it's the producer of half the global supply of palm oil. According to PricewaterhouseCooper Indonesia, the production of crude palm oil in Indonesia increased 182 percent between 2000 and 2010. As for the land itself, PwC projected that the amount of area devoted to oil palm plants would increase from nearly 8 million hectare in 2010 to about 13 million hectare in 2020.
This could be detrimental to the environment for several reasons. Turning diverse rainforest habitats into monocultures mainly devoted to one form of plant life upsets the native ecological balance and reduces the local flora's ability to absorb carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Additionally, pesticides wash away in the runoff, and contaminate the watershed. Fertilizers contribute to nutrient pollution and eutrophication.
Monoculture is as bad as clearcutting
Previously, the Stanford researchers studied the impact of oil palm monoculture on greenhouse gases. To find out how this crop affects the environment, they compared water samples from streams the flowed through plantations to samples from the federally protected Gunung Palung National Park. They discovered that water near the plantations was 4 degrees Celcius warmer than that which flowed through the rainforest. Additionally, the former source had sediment concentrations that were 550 times greater, and levels of oxygen depletion that were bigger during a drought.
"Local communities are deeply concerned about their freshwater sources," study co-author Lisa Curran, a professor of ecological anthropology at Stanford, said in a statement. "Yet the long-term impact of oil palm plantations on freshwater streams has been completely overlooked until now. We hope this work will highlight these issues and bring a voice to rural communities' concerns that directly affect their livelihoods."
"Our findings suggest that converting logged forests and diverse smallholder agricultural lands to oil palm plantations may be almost as harmful to stream ecosystems as clearing intact forests," co-author Kimberly Carlson said in a statement.
To help improve agricultural practices related to the cultivation of oil palms, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and other organizations suggested that natural vegetation be allowed to grow in areas near streams. Additionally, dense road networks should not intersect near waterways. However, Curran and Carlson noted that more protection may be needed.
Further Reading:
UNEP Palm Oil Paradox
*courtesy of https://www.arcusfoundation.org/UNEp Palm Oil paradox.
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Susan Massie, Sales & Marketing Director, Greyhound Chromatography and Allied Chemicals Email: sue@greyhoundchrom.com
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