Aboveground carbon stocks in oil palm plantations and the threshold for carbon-neutral vegetation conversion on mineral soils

Khasanah, Ni’matul; Noordwijk, Meine van; Ningsih, Harti

doi:10.1080/23311843.2015.1119964

Cited by 40 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The IPOC/ICRAF survey of Indonesian palm oil production in 2010 was designed to estimate greenhouse gas emissions due to palm oil production across the major stratifying production factors in Indonesia (Khasanah et al ., ,b). The three primary stratifiers of the survey were defined at national level as mineral vs. peat soils, plantations directly derived from forest or other land cover types and three levels of the prevalence of oil palm at provincial level (<1%, 1–5% and >5%).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Not all 12 factorial combinations are important in practice, as oil palm on peat has mostly been directly derived from forest. The sampling design followed a stepwise cluster approach, soliciting self‐nomination of companies to involve in learning the method while involving in data collection (Khasanah et al ., , ,b). Candidate companies were asked to describe land history, soil type and the scale of management (plantations, outgrowers, independent smallholders).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(). Khasanah et al ., ,b discussed how life cycle inferences could be made for soil C org and the oil palm biomass, respectively, despite the incomplete data for certain age classes in the various clusters (Table ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The belowground part of biomass is usually considered to be a proportion of aboveground biomass, with land cover-specific data hard to obtain. Data from the survey were used to establish estimates of the time-averaged aboveground C stock of oil palm plantation of around 40 Mg C ha À1 , as described in Khasanah et al (2015b). The time-averaged aboveground C stock of forests and other preceding land cover types were assessed following the rapid carbon stock assessment (RaCSA) methodology and technical manuals (Hairiah et al, 2011).…”

Section: Data Collection and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We will here focus on the relationships between N fertilizer use and the greenhouse gas emissions per unit biofuel use, relative to the fossil fuel use it can substitute for, using oil palm production in Indonesia as case study. Data from 23 plantations across the Indonesian production conditions (Khasanah et al ., , ,b) provided insights into what is currently considered good agronomic practice, as participation in the survey was voluntary. We will provide an algebraic analysis of the problem in generic terms and then review the available quantitative data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Can intensification reduce emission intensity of biofuel through optimized fertilizer use? Theory and the case of oil palm in Indonesia

2016

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Closing yield gaps through higher fertilizer use increases direct greenhouse gas emissions but shares the burden over a larger production volume. Net greenhouse gas (GHG) footprints per unit product under agricultural intensification vary depending on the context, scale and accounting method. Life cycle analysis of footprints includes attributable emissions due to (i) land conversion ('fixed cost'); (ii) external inputs used ('variable cost'); (iii) crop production ('agronomic efficiency'); and (iv) postharvest transport and processing ('proportional' cost). The interplay between fixed and variable costs results in a nuanced opportunity for intermediate levels of intensification to minimize footprints. The fertilizer level that minimizes the footprint may differ from the economic optimum. The optimization problem can be solved algebraically for quadratic crop fertilizer response equations. We applied this theory to data of palm oil production and fertilizer use from 23 plantations across the Indonesian production range. The current EU threshold requiring at least 35% emission saving for biofuel use can never be achieved by palm oil if produced: (i) on peat soils, or (ii) on mineral soils where the C debt due to conversion is larger than 20 Mg C ha À1 , if the footprint is calculated using an emission ratio of N 2 O-N/N fertilizer of 4%. At current fertilizer price levels in Indonesia, the economically optimized N fertilizer rate is 344-394 kg N ha À1 , while the reported mean N fertilizer rate is 141 kg N ha . Sustainable weighting of ecology and economics would require a higher fertilizer/yield price ratio, depending on C debt. Increasing production by higher fertilizer use from current 67% to 80% of attainable yields would not decrease footprints in current production conditions.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Data Collection and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Can intensification reduce emission intensity of biofuel through optimized fertilizer use? Theory and the case of oil palm in Indonesia

2016

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Mangrove Blue Carbon in the Face of Deforestation, Climate Change, and Restoration

Friess

Krauss

Taillardat

et al. 2020

Annual Plant Reviews Online

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Coastal wetlands have disproportionately high carbon densities, known as blue carbon, compared to most terrestrial ecosystems. Mangroves and their blue carbon stocks are at risk globally from Land Use and Land Cover Change (LULCC) activities such as aquaculture, alongside biophysical disturbances such as sea-level rise and cyclones. Global estimates of carbon emissions from mangrove loss have been previously unable to differentiate between the variable impacts of different drivers of loss. This Review discusses the impacts that different LULCC activities and biophysical disturbances have on carbon stocks (biomass and soil) and carbon fluxes (CO 2 and CH 4 ). The dynamics of carbon stocks and fluxes depends on the type of LULCC; aquaculture often results in biomass and soil carbon removal, and some forms of agriculture can substantially increase methane emissions. Natural disturbances

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Carbon Stocks from Peat Swamp Forest and Oil Palm Plantation in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

et al. 2020

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Conserving high carbon density tropical peat forests is one of the most cost-efficient strategies for climate change mitigation at national and global levels. Over past decades, large areas of tropical peat forests have been converted to oil palm plantation in Indonesia resulting in significant carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Here, we quantified the ecosystem carbon stocks in a total of six sites: two primary peat swamp forest sites, one secondary peat swamp forest site, and three young oil palm plantation sites in Tanjung Puting, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. We further determined potential carbon emissions from vegetation change due to peat swamp forest conversion to oil palm plantation. The mean total ecosystem carbon stock of primary and secondary peat swamp forests were 1770 ± 123 Mg C/ha and 533 ± 49 Mg C/ha, respectively. In contrast, the mean carbon stock of oil palm plantations was 759 ± 87 Mg C/ha or 42% of peat swamp forests. The ratio of the aboveground to belowground C stock was highest in secondary forest with an estimated value of 0.48, followed by primary forest at 0.19 and oil palm plantation at 0.04. Using a stock difference approach, we estimated potential carbon emissions from vegetation change resulting from the conversion of primary peat swamp forest to oil palm plantation of 640 ± 114 Mg CO2/ha. Finally, while restoring peatlands is important, avoiding peat conversion is imperative for Indonesia’s climate change mitigation effort.

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Aboveground carbon stocks in oil palm plantations and the threshold for carbon-neutral vegetation conversion on mineral soils

Cited by 40 publications

References 32 publications

Can intensification reduce emission intensity of biofuel through optimized fertilizer use? Theory and the case of oil palm in Indonesia

Can intensification reduce emission intensity of biofuel through optimized fertilizer use? Theory and the case of oil palm in Indonesia

Mangrove Blue Carbon in the Face of Deforestation, Climate Change, and Restoration

Carbon Stocks from Peat Swamp Forest and Oil Palm Plantation in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

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