The Impacts of Oil Palm on Recent Deforestation and Biodiversity Loss

Abstract

Palm oil is the most widely traded vegetable oil globally, with demand projected to increase substantially in the future. Almost all oil palm grows in areas that were once tropical moist forests, some of them quite recently. The conversion to date, and future expansion, threatens biodiversity and increases greenhouse gas emissions. Today, consumer pressure is pushing companies toward deforestation-free sources of palm oil. To guide interventions aimed at reducing tropical deforestation due to oil palm, we analysed recent expansions and modelled likely future ones. We assessed sample areas to find where oil palm plantations have recently replaced forests in 20 countries, using a combination of high-resolution imagery from Google Earth and Landsat. We then compared these trends to countrywide trends in FAO data for oil palm planted area. Finally, we assessed which forests have high agricultural suitability for future oil palm development, which we refer to as vulnerable forests, and identified critical areas for biodiversity that oil palm expansion threatens. Our analysis reveals regional trends in deforestation associated with oil palm agriculture. In Southeast Asia, 45% of sampled oil palm plantations came from areas that were forests in 1989. For South America, the percentage was 31%. By contrast, in Mesoamerica and Africa, we observed only 2% and 7% of oil palm plantations coming from areas that were forest in 1989. The largest areas of vulnerable forest are in Africa and South America. Vulnerable forests in all four regions of production contain globally high concentrations of mammal and bird species at risk of extinction. However, priority areas for biodiversity conservation differ based on taxa and criteria used. Government regulation and voluntary market interventions can help incentivize the expansion of oil palm plantations in ways that protect biodiversity-rich ecosystems.

Fig 1. World production of palm oil.

(a) Percent of FAO reported total global oil palm harvested area in 2013. (b) Percent changes in FAO reported oil palm harvested area by country from 2003–2013.

Fig 2. Example of deforestation site analysis within an oil palm plantation in Bawat, West Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Each panel represents one sample year, with the deforested area in that year outlined in black and the 2013 oil palm planted area outlined in red. Imagery from Landsat 5 TM (1990, 1997 and 2004) and Landsat 8 (2013).

Fig 3. Annual percent change in forest areas within oil palm plantations by region.

Values are an average of the proportion of sampled 2013 oil palm plantation area classified as forest each year in five countries within each region, weighted by each country’s 2013 FAO-reported oil palm planted area.

Fig 4. Trends of deforestation and oil palm planted area.

Trends of deforestation inside sampled oil palm plantations (solid triangle) and total FAO oil palm planted area for eight countries (open circle). Both trends are relative to 2013 values, thus both reach 100% in 2013. Countries represented are either representative of regional trends or distinct from regional trends for sample countries. (a, b) Mesoamerica, (c, d) Africa, (e, f) South America, (g, h) Southeast Asia.

Fig 5. Vulnerable forest area.

Present (dark green) vulnerable forest area and predicted vulnerable forest area in 2080 (light green). Vulnerable forest is MODIS VCF forest inside GAEZ suitable oil palm land, minus croplands and IUCN category I and II protected areas (orange). Deforested area suitable for oil palm is shown in each region at two times, present (light blue) and projected for 2080 (dark blue).

Fig 6. Percent deforestation versus percent vulnerable forest.

Percent deforestation in sampled oil palm plantations (1989–2013) versus percent vulnerable forest within suitable area for oil palm (2013). Shown for all 20 sample countries. Colours indicate region: Blue-South America, Green-Mesoamerica, Black-Africa, and Red-Asia. Country name abbreviations: BRZ-Brazil, CMR-Cameroon, CRC-Costa Rica, DRC-Democratic Republic of Congo, DRP-Dominican Republic, ECR-Ecuador, GHN-Ghana, GTM-Guatemala, HND-Honduras, IND-Indonesia, IVC-Ivory Coast, MLY-Malaysia, MXC-Mexico, NGR-Nigeria, PNG-Papua New Guinea, PRU-Peru, PHL-Philippines, THL-Thailand, VNZ-Venezuela.

Fig 7. High biodiversity vulnerable forests.

Vulnerable forest areas for (a) mammals and (b) birds within the 10 percent richest global land area for threatened (blue), small-ranged (red), or both (purple) mammal and bird species (Jenkins et al. 2013, Pimm et al. 2014).