2023
DOI: 10.1038/s41893-022-01049-6
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Enhancing the ecological value of oil palm agriculture through set-asides

Abstract: Agricultural expansion is the primary driver of ecological degradation across the tropics. Set-asides—uncultivated parts of agricultural landscapes, often on steep slopes and alongside rivers—may alleviate environmental impacts but can reduce the area cultivated. Here we model an approach to configuring set-asides aimed at optimizing ecological outcomes (biodiversity, above-ground carbon storage and nutrient cycling) without reducing net cultivation area. We compare set-asides in an oil palm landscape where al… Show more

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Cited by 11 publications
(4 citation statements)
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“…Therefore, while conserving remaining old growth forests is important, protecting degraded logged forest may also contribute to maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. This validates an increasing focus within tropical agricultural systems of maintaining forest in sensitive areas within plantations, such as steep slopes and river margins (e.g., as highlighted by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) ( 36 )), where it can support biodiversity ( 37 ) and ecosystem processes ( 38 ). The reduction in some taxa, such as birds and ectomycorrhizal fungi, and some ecosystem functions, such as mycelial production, within oil palm also has implications for crop management, and could affect nutrient cycling and predator control.…”
Section: Main Textsupporting
confidence: 69%
“…Therefore, while conserving remaining old growth forests is important, protecting degraded logged forest may also contribute to maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. This validates an increasing focus within tropical agricultural systems of maintaining forest in sensitive areas within plantations, such as steep slopes and river margins (e.g., as highlighted by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) ( 36 )), where it can support biodiversity ( 37 ) and ecosystem processes ( 38 ). The reduction in some taxa, such as birds and ectomycorrhizal fungi, and some ecosystem functions, such as mycelial production, within oil palm also has implications for crop management, and could affect nutrient cycling and predator control.…”
Section: Main Textsupporting
confidence: 69%
“…The authors postulated that the bid to increase knowledge and awareness of SPO might have highlighted the issue’s complexity, as well as the lack of an ideal solution, leading consumers to perceive increased difficulty in identifying and locating SPO products ( 20 ). There are many reasons why SPO products might be perceived as less available, including the use of tiny fonts in ingredient lists on product labels, an ecolabel that is not well-recognized ( 25 ), and the reluctance by manufacturers to use an ecolabel (or any other means to indicate the presence of SPO) due to negative public perceptions around palm oil in general ( 14 , 38 ), even though research indicates that consumers may not actively seek to avoid ecolabels ( 50 ). Instead, palm oil (sustainable or otherwise) tends to be a hidden ingredient, referred to simply as “vegetable oil,” or under other technical terms, of which there are more than 200 ( 59 ) – all of which make it challenging for consumers to accurately identify palm oil products.…”
Section: Drivers and Barriers To Purchasing Spomentioning
confidence: 99%
“…With respect to palm oil, campaigns have proposed two primary courses of action for consumers – either boycott palm oil altogether, or ensure that one’s purchases contain sustainable palm oil (SPO), although the latter is favored for several reasons. Boycotting palm oil would not only have an adverse effect on rural farmers and the economies of developing producer countries, but would also likely just shift crop-related deforestation to another oil with lower yields ( 1 , 4 , 14 , 15 ). Most experts agree that promoting SPO is the way forward ( 16 , 17 ), specifically by consumers placing pressure on manufacturers to source SPO for their products, among other suggestions like investing in companies that exclusively source SPO and purchasing only SPO products ( 16 ).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The impact of oil palm monocultures on local biodiversity may vary depending on the taxonomic group targeted (Danielsen et al 2009). For birds, butter ies, reptiles, small mammals, bats, ants, and aquatic invertebrates, species richness was usually lower in oil palm plantations compared to forests ( Bicknell et al 2023). However, the increase of non-forest species abundance in plantations leads to a low compositional similarity with forests, even though they present the same number of species (Fitzherbert et al 2008; Danielsen et al 2009).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%