The Impacts of Oil Palm Agriculture on Colombia's Biodiversity: What We Know and Still Need to Know

Abstract

The inexorable expansion of oil palm plantations has been a major driver of biodiversity loss in the tropics. This is particularly evident in Malaysia and Indonesia, where the majority of the world's oil palm is cultivated. In Latin America oil palm acreage has also been steadily increasing, especially in countries such as Colombia, the largest producer by far. However, information on the biological implications of rapid land conversion to oil palm in the region remains scarce. Here, we review the state of knowledge about the impacts of oil palm on biodiversity in Colombia. We also discuss the conservation strategies that have been implemented in the country, and propose research that we need to develop best management practices. The vast majority of research has focused on biotechnology, soils, biological pest control, carbon stock and reduction of greenhouse gases emission, but research on biodiversity is very scarce, or is not published yet. However, important investment and research on this topic are being developed. The most threatened ecosystems are the savannas in the Orinoquia region, where most of the expansion is predicted. The demands for green markets and certification are slowly encouraging oil palm corporations to mitigate their 'biological footprint'. However, applied research on the possible impacts of oil palm on biodiversity are urgently needed to support conservation efforts in the oil-palm-dominated landscapes of Colombia, along with commitments by the government and companies to adopt the resulting recommendations.Key words: palm oil, deforestation, Llanos, RSPO, biofuels, African palm Resumen La incontrolable expansión del cultivo de palma de aceite en el trópico ha sido una de las principales causas de la pérdida de biodiversidad. Esta situación ha sido particularmente evidente en Malasia e Indonesia, donde se cultiva la mayoría de palma en el mundo. En Latinoamérica el área cultivada con palma de aceite también ha mantenido un crecimiento constante, especialmente en países como Colombia, el mayor productor. Sin embargo, la información sobre las implicaciones biológicas de esta rápida conversión de tierra a palma de aceite es muy escasa. Aquí, revisamos el estado de conocimiento relacionado con el impacto del cultivo de palma de aceite sobre la biodiversidad en Colombia. También discutimos las estrategias de conservación que se han implementado en el país y proponemos el tipo de investigaciones que se deben llevar a cabo para mejorar las prácticas de manejo. La gran mayoría de publicaciones están relacionadas con biotecnología, suelos, control biológico de plagas y reducción de gases de efecto invernadero, pero investigaciones en biodiversidad son muy escasas o no han sido publicadas. Sin embargo, actualmente se desarrollan inversiones importantes e investigaciones en este tema. El ecosistema más amenazado es el de sabana en la región de la Orinoquia, donde se predice la mayor expansión. La demanda de mercados verdes y los esquemas de certificación ha alentado poco a poco a los pro...

People’s Perceptions of the Benefits of Natural Beekeeping and Its Positive Outcomes for Forest Conservation

“…Consequently, we have to acknowledge that it will be difficult to convince large numbers of people in rural areas to undertake beekeeping to generate substantial incomes. This situation is also characteristic of other tropical areas such as Colombia, where demands for green markets and certification are slowly beginning to encourage palm oil cultivation and biodiversity conservation (Pardo Vargas, Laurance, Clements, & Edwards, 2015).…”

Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development

“…The most extensive land use is cattle grazing on natural savannah grasslands. However, agricultural activities such as oil palm cultivation have become lucrative industries in the region in part due to government incentives (Vargas et al 2015), and are foreseen to continue expanding (Castiblanco et al 2013). Five major forms of agriculture likely to influence the future of the region include livestock, palm oil, forestry, rice, and soy (DNP 2014).…”

“…The continued expansion of agricultural activity is driving the pace of Earth's continually changing terrestrial human footprint (Venter et al 2016), and is a fundamental reason for growing calls to conserve those last remaining ecologically intact landscapes, given their increasing importance for biodiversity and ecosystem service provision, and their disproportionately high ecological value in a time of climate change (Martin and Watson 2016, Scheffers et al 2016, Pimm et al 2018, Dinerstein et al 2019. Yet global demands for food, and the economic opportunities that agriculture presents to developing nations mean that many of Earth's remaining intact ecosystems are under significant threat from agricultural expansion (Vargas et al 2015, Morán-Ordóñez et al 2017, Potapov et al 2017, Roucoux et al 2017. This is further exacerbated by the fact that productive arable lands are becoming increasingly scarce, so farmers must continually encroach into intact places (Lambin andMeyfroidt 2011, Bijl et al 2017).…”

Biodiversity impacts of bioenergy production: Microalgae vs. first generation biofuels

“…Replacement of native ecosystems and cropping intensification has been linked to habitat loss and degradation, decreases in richness and abundance of native vertebrates, affecting species of high conservation concern [12, 18,[74][75][76][77][78]. Furthermore, species that make use of biofuel plantations are mostly considered generalists and of low conservation value [15,18,72,[79][80][81][82][83][84].…”

“…For instance, it has been shown that chimpanzees can make use of oil palm plantations, eating young leaves, flowers and fruits when other sources of food are scarce [88]. Populations of large and medium sized felids can make use of oil palm plantations if native forest tracts remain [82]. However, the benefits may be diminished by negative interactions between humans and wildlife where species are perceived as pests, or where they are systematically hunted [89][90][91].…”