Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia.

Many major corporations and countries have made commitments to purchase or produce only "sustainable" palm oil, a commodity responsible for substantial tropical forest loss. Sustainability certification is the tool most used to fulfill these procurement policies, and around 20% of global palm oil production was certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2017. However, the effect of certification on deforestation in oil palm plantations remains unclear. Here, we use a comprehensive dataset of RSPO-certified and noncertified oil palm plantations (∼188,000 km2) in Indonesia, the leading producer of palm oil, as well as annual remotely sensed metrics of tree cover loss and fire occurrence, to evaluate the impact of certification on deforestation and fire from 2001 to 2015. While forest loss and fire continued after RSPO certification, certified palm oil was associated with reduced deforestation. Certification lowered deforestation by 33% from a counterfactual of 9.8 to 6.6% y-1 Nevertheless, most plantations contained little residual forest when they received certification. As a result, by 2015, certified areas held less than 1% of forests remaining within Indonesian oil palm plantations. Moreover, certification had no causal impact on forest loss in peatlands or active fire detection rates. Broader adoption of certification in forested regions, strict requirements to avoid all peat, and routine monitoring of clearly defined forest cover loss in certified and RSPO member-held plantations appear necessary if the RSPO is to yield conservation and climate benefits from reductions in tropical deforestation

Analisis Komparatif Sistem Pemasaran Tandan Buah Segar Perkebunan Rakyat Bersertifikasi dan Non-Sertifikasi di Kelurahan Sorek Satu Kecamatan Pangkalan Kuraskabupaten Pelalawan

The supply chain of FFB varies between RSPO-certified scheme smallholders and non-certified independent smallholders. Certification might be the main factors of the variation. The objective of this study are (1) to analyse marketing channels, marketing margin, marketing efficiency,and market structure of FFB; (2) to analyse elasticity of price transmission of certified FFB; (3) to identify constraints in FFB marketing system; and (4) to evaluate the impacts of RSPO certification. The population of this study of RSPO-certified scheme smallholders (KKPA) and non-certified independen smallholders in Pangkalan Kuras District. The sample size are 82 farmers of RSPO-certified smallholders selected randomly and 76 farmers of non-certified smallholders chosen purposively. The study also select several marketing institutions using snowball method. The results show that the marketing channel I of the RSPO-certified smallholders is more efficient than the non-certified smallholders. The marketing chain of the RSPO-certified smallholder is the shortest chain. The market structure of RSPO-certified smallholders is monopsony while the non-certified smallholders tend to be oligopsony. The RSPO certification gives more access to the market with low impact on environment and social life

Transfer of the Asian model of oil palm development: from Indonesia to Cameroon

Agricultural expansion to the detriment of natural forest is a well-known cause and consequence of economic development. Boom crops are exported cash crops developing very quickly in a region, in answer to a high demand on the international market. They may be brought by huge projects generally involving partnerships between governments and agribusiness companies. The livelihoods impacts on local peoples raise concerns among outsiders, who point at the risks of unfairness, manipulation and abuses of the population; examples abound in the oil palm sector in Indonesia, and in rubber development in Southeast China and Laos. Another major concern is the direct consequence of rapid conversion of large areas into plantations, which can have a direct impact on local people's access to land, and can induce the displacement of food crop production, and cause direct or indirect deforestation. Oil palm development in Southeast Asia is the most recent and noteworthy boom crop. Based on literature review, qualitative information gathered during a sharing and learning workshop and speech analysis, and the authors' experience of oil palm development in Indonesia, the paper questions the impacts that a transfer of the Asian model of oil palm development to Cameroon might have. (Résumé d'auteur

An assessment tool and integrated index for sustainable oil palm production

Many prominent sectors of the international agricultural commodities market have been calling upon their stakeholders to define and implement social responsibility and sustainability benchmarks, aiming at product quality and production practices certification. One of these initiatives, the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), is compelling all producing parties (plantations as well as smallholders) to comply with proposed Principles, Criteria and Indicators (PC&I), in an international social responsibility assurance movement. In addition to these PC&I, an integrated sustainability assessment procedure is being sought out in a Cirad / Embrapa / Partners coordinated effort, as a complementary method for the environmental management of oil palm plantations. The aim is to assure both procedural social responsibility (PC&I compliance) and actual environmental and biodiversity conservation in the field. The proposed action to fulfill this objective has been the adaptation of a 'System for Weighted Environmental Impact Assessment in Oil Palm Production' (APOIA-OilPalm). The present document reports on the conceptual basis, the methodological adaptation and the validation field trials carried out for consolidation of the proposed APOIA-OilPalm sustainability index. The experience attained in the development and international negotiation of this proposed sustainability index, dedicated to such an important productive sector such as that of palm oil, can be instrumental for other environmental management and eco-certification initiatives, such as the Roundtables on Responsible Soy, Sustainable Biofuels, and Sustainable Forests; the Better Sugarcane Initiative, among others. (Résumé d'auteur

Modelling as a tool for spatial planning of commodity production: the example of certified oil palm plantations in Central Africa

The Central African region is targeted by agri-business companies as a suitable place to develop large plantations. Most of the existing assessments of available land are based on an a priori definition of availability and without any operational-level rules of sustainability. We intend to estimate the potential for a sustainable development of oil palm plantations in the Republic of Congo, taking into account spatial constraints linked to RSPO certification standard and groundchecked social realities. The analysis builds on an assessment of current land uses and prospects and on spatial analysis. Spatial constraints are combined so as to circumscribe areas suitable for oil palm, available for development, responding to the sustainability criteria of RSPO and adequate to the technical model proposed. This analysis results in an estimation of 10.7 Million ha theoretically suitable for oil palm. From this, 1.4 Mha should be available but the technical model applied limits this area to 1.1 Mha adequate for industrial plantations, and 0.1 Mha adequate for smallholdings. Explicit spatial modelling of sustainable production is possible at national scale. This tool allows to take into account the certification standards in land use planning and to highlight new possible areas of development outside natural forests. (Résumé d'auteur

The keys to reduce environmental impacts of palm oil

Oil palm is largely criticised for its impact on the environment. According to Life Cycle Assessment studies, the agricultural stage proved to be a major contributor to most of the potential environmental impacts, notably global warming, eutrophication and acidification. Focusing on global warming impact, main contributors are land use change and peat cultivation, N-related GHG emissions from fertilisers and residues in the plantation and methane emissions from palm oil mill effluent (POME) treatment. Impact from POME can be drastically reduced if POME is used for composting or if the biogas from anaerobic treatment is captured with electricity recovery. However, the impact from the plantation establishment becomes overwhelming when forests or peatland areas are converted to palm plantations. Oil palm plantations have significantly driven deforestation in Indonesia, together with logging and mining. It remains the most important agricultural driver despite the governmental moratorium and the certification schemes in place since 2011 and 2007; respectively. In order to protect primary forests and peatlands, which is absolutely mandatory to avoid irreversible carbon and biodiversity losses, it is paramount to define a sustainable land planning at national and landscape levels, as well as to implement agroecological practices in the plantations in order to sustainably increase yields and limit further land clearing

RSPO Certification Impacts on Oil Palm Smallholders' Welfare in Jambi Province

World demand for Crude Palm Oil (CPO) consistently increases. On the other hand, CPO market moves slowly probably due to Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification. International trade system requires large CPO producers to have a RSPO Certificate as one of requirements for exporting their product. It is expected that this requirement will also be applied immediately to smallholding oil palm plantations. This paper aims to analyze the benefits of RSPO certification on improving oil-palm smallholders' welfare in Jambi Province. Data collected in this study were analyzed using both descriptive and quantitative methods. Results of the study showed that RSPO certification, in several aspects, significantly improved farmers'' wealth, timely availability of input factors, oil palm yield, processing and marketing, and CSR financial support. It also indicates that oil palm plantation companies tend to give preferential treatment in transaction process with farmers having RSPO certificates