166
oil producers might avoid obtaining RSPO certification. Thirdly, and maybe most
importantly, as a management system, the RSPO can guarantee minimum social and
environmental standards of palm oil production but cannot put a cap on palm oil
production capacity. All current scenarios suggest that the demand for palm oil will
grow in the future and there is little doubt that this added demand will be an agent
of deforestation in the region.
On the other hand, it should be kept in mind that oil palm agriculture is a highly
efficient form of vegetable oil production. Palm oil yields can range from 4–5 ton/
ha to 9 ton/ha when using good management practices in favorable growing conditions. Other oil crops have much lower yields (FAO 2017) which means that their
expansion will most likely be a major factor of LUCC elsewhere, possibly degrading ecosystem services and biodiversity.
As already discussed the RSPO certification scheme is an important governance
mechanism that through the improvement of local ecological and social conditions
can have ripple positive effects on local ecosystem services and human well-being.
However, a long-term perspective on the sustainability of the sector needs a regional
or global governance mechanism to address all the possible trade-offs particularly
when considering the increasing demand for palm oil biodiesel and the emergence
of climate change and biodiversity loss as overarching policy agendas.
Some suggestions that can further improve the sustainability of palm oil biodiesel production in Southeast Asia are:
• Starting from a reference year, create a cap on oil palm plantations on forested
land but allowing the establishment of plantations in areas that were formerly
under other uses (e.g., agriculture, pasture, degraded land).
• Improve the efficiency of palm oil production, perhaps by developing new highyield oil palm varieties.
• Promote and improve the efficiency of small-scale biofuel projects (e.g., FAO
2009).
• Promote agroforestry and small-scale palm oil production.
• Create a “certificate of origin” for the biodiesel originating from plantations
located in administrative regions (municipalities) with controlled deforestation.
For example, a farm would get the certificate only if the municipality where it is
located has a small or zero rate of deforestation. This would put peer pressure
over the producers in the municipality.
Finally, it should be mentioned that using stakeholders’ perceptions as a means
of understanding the impacts of oil palm expansion on ecosystem services, human
well-being, and biodiversity implies the reliance on subjective and thus unverifiable
data to infer the actual impacts and their magnitude. On the other hand, it allows for
a relatively quick identification and evaluation of potential impacts which would
have been too time/resource consuming to perform otherwise. Therefore, the results
of our study should not be viewed as an attempt to replace empirical ecosystem
impact assessment. Our results simply aim to understand stakeholders’ values and
priorities in order to (a) identify and (b) quickly assess the main impacts of oil palm
expansion on ecosystem services, human well-being, and biodiversity. Such inforR. Moreno-Peñaranda et al.
oil producers might avoid obtaining RSPO certification. Thirdly, and maybe most
importantly, as a management system, the RSPO can guarantee minimum social and
environmental standards of palm oil production but cannot put a cap on palm oil
production capacity. All current scenarios suggest that the demand for palm oil will
grow in the future and there is little doubt that this added demand will be an agent
of deforestation in the region.
On the other hand, it should be kept in mind that oil palm agriculture is a highly
efficient form of vegetable oil production. Palm oil yields can range from 4–5 ton/
ha to 9 ton/ha when using good management practices in favorable growing conditions. Other oil crops have much lower yields (FAO 2017) which means that their
expansion will most likely be a major factor of LUCC elsewhere, possibly degrading ecosystem services and biodiversity.
As already discussed the RSPO certification scheme is an important governance
mechanism that through the improvement of local ecological and social conditions
can have ripple positive effects on local ecosystem services and human well-being.
However, a long-term perspective on the sustainability of the sector needs a regional
or global governance mechanism to address all the possible trade-offs particularly
when considering the increasing demand for palm oil biodiesel and the emergence
of climate change and biodiversity loss as overarching policy agendas.
Some suggestions that can further improve the sustainability of palm oil biodiesel production in Southeast Asia are:
• Starting from a reference year, create a cap on oil palm plantations on forested
land but allowing the establishment of plantations in areas that were formerly
under other uses (e.g., agriculture, pasture, degraded land).
• Improve the efficiency of palm oil production, perhaps by developing new highyield oil palm varieties.
• Promote and improve the efficiency of small-scale biofuel projects (e.g., FAO
2009).
• Promote agroforestry and small-scale palm oil production.
• Create a “certificate of origin” for the biodiesel originating from plantations
located in administrative regions (municipalities) with controlled deforestation.
For example, a farm would get the certificate only if the municipality where it is
located has a small or zero rate of deforestation. This would put peer pressure
over the producers in the municipality.
Finally, it should be mentioned that using stakeholders’ perceptions as a means
of understanding the impacts of oil palm expansion on ecosystem services, human
well-being, and biodiversity implies the reliance on subjective and thus unverifiable
data to infer the actual impacts and their magnitude. On the other hand, it allows for
a relatively quick identification and evaluation of potential impacts which would
have been too time/resource consuming to perform otherwise. Therefore, the results
of our study should not be viewed as an attempt to replace empirical ecosystem
impact assessment. Our results simply aim to understand stakeholders’ values and
priorities in order to (a) identify and (b) quickly assess the main impacts of oil palm
expansion on ecosystem services, human well-being, and biodiversity. Such inforR. Moreno-Peñaranda et al.