Is Oil Palm the Next Emerging Threat to the Amazon?

By R. Butler, W. Laurance. 2009

172 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The Amazon Basin appears poised to experience rapid expansion of oil palm agriculture. Nearly half of Amazonia is suitable for oil palm cultivation, and Malaysian corporations are now moving into the region to establish new plantations while the Brazilian government is considering a law that would count oil palm as “forest” towards a landowner's forest reserve requirement. Strong economic incentives for a major Amazonian oil palm industry are likely, given growing global demands for edible oils, oil-based products, and biofuel feedstocks. We have two main concerns. First, oil palm plantations are ecologically depauperate, supporting little forest-dependent wildlife. Second, we disbelieve political and corporate statements suggesting that oil palm plantations will be concentrated on previously deforested lands in Amazonia. In reality, oil palm producers strongly favor clearing primary forest for plantations because they can reap immediate profits from timber production. These profits subsidize the costs of plantation establishment and maintenance for the initial 3-5 years until the oil palm plantations become profitable. Hence, oil palm agriculture could soon emerge as a major new threat to the Amazonian environment.

Subfields: Ecology, Economics and Econometrics, Global and Planetary Change

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c9a5499d7153906692e24748743088ce7764cb66

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Citations in the corpus

Hegemonic transitions and global shifts in social metabolism: Implications for resource-rich countries. Introduction to the special section (2012, background): “…of oil palm cultivation often takes place into areas previously covered by either natural ecosystems or traditional mono-crops, such as banana, setting the conditions for different types of conflicts and social resistance (Suyanto, 2007; Butler and Laurance, 2009; Pye, 2010; Rist et al., 2010).”
Rising Global Interest in Farmland: Can It Yield Sustainable and Equitable Benefits? (2011, background): “Southeast Asia: Tropical deforestation with diverse social impacts Oil palm is regarded as one of the most profitable land uses in the humid tropics (Butler and Laurance 2009).”
Oil Palm Adoption, Household Welfare, and Nutrition Among Smallholder Farmers in Indonesia (2017, background): “While the environmental consequences of associated land use changes have received considerable research focus (Carrasco et al., 2014; Margono et al., 2014; Koh and Lee, 2012; Wilcove and Koh, 2010; Buttler and Laurence, 2009; Danielsen et al., 2009), empirical studies on its socio-economic implicati”
Land property rights, agricultural intensification, and deforestation in Indonesia (2018, background): “In Indonesia, small farms as well as large logging and agribusiness companies contribute to deforestation (Rudel et al., 2009a; Cacho et al., 2014).”
The livelihood impacts of oil palm: smallholders in Indonesia (2010, background): “The rapid and massive expansion of oil palm in the tropics, as well as other biofuels, has led to concern over impacts on natural habitats, biodiversity and the global climate (Fargione et al. 2008; James 2008; Koh and Ghazoul 2008; Butler and Laurance 2009).”
Impacts of oil palm plantations on changes in environmental heterogeneity and Heteroptera (Gerromorpha and Nepomorpha) diversity (2017, background): “However, even where PPAs are maintained in accordance with the legislation, there are regions where aquatic ecosystems and their biodiversity in the Amazon basin are at risk of impacts due to the establishment of oil palm plantations (Butler and Laurance 2009; Cunha et al. 2015).”
Characterizing commercial oil palm expansion in Latin America: land use change and trade (2017, background): “Despite the fact that most of this forested area is suitable for cultivating oil palm [17], cattle pastures remain the most significant source of new oil palm plantings across LAC.”
High-yield oil palm expansion spares land at the expense of forests in the Peruvian Amazon (2011, background): “Oil palm expansion has already led to the conversion of extensive areas of tropical forests, particularly in Southeast Asia [11] and is an emerging peril to the conservation of Amazon forests [12].”
Indirect land-use changes can overcome carbon savings from biofuels in Brazil (2010, background): “Even though oil palm is strongly associated with deforestation in Southeast Asia (31), the Brazilian palm oil production is still small and could be expanded into nonforest sites, assisted by improved governance in the Amazon region (32, 33).”