Agriculture and Environment: Palm Oil
Introduction
There are several effective strategies to reduce the problems caused by oil palm plantations.
Given the rate of expansion of the industry and its impact on key ecosystems and species, it is important to make a concerted effort to engage the industry and independent researchers to identify and adopt cost-effective strategies to reduce the overall impact of the industry.
In need of a collective effort!In all likelihood successful strategies will need to address many different issues and the concerns of a wide range of stakeholders. The decision-makers regarding the expansion of oil palm plantations include both company and government personnel. Increasingly, regional governments control permitting and concession agreements.
Taking all stakeholders into confidence
The viability of proposed oil palm operations is, of course, also influenced by other players such as buyers, lenders, investors, and even local communities. Successful strategies to influence the establishment of oil palm plantations should understand the constraints of each of these players.
Choosing appropriate expansion sites
Most damage from oil palm plantations results from where they are located. If expansion can be limited to appropriate sites, many of the problems common to the industry could be eliminated.
An important conservation strategy for oil palm will be to assist with the development of industry investment screens that would encourage investments in more sustainable palm oil businesses (e.g., those that incorporate some of the better management practices). This is important because expanding and running palm oil businesses requires considerable capital. For example, all major Dutch banks have oil palm investments in Indonesia.
Plantations that are well-sited and have adopted practices that increase their efficiency, reduce their input use, reduce their waste, and create valuable by-products from waste are less risky investments.
Smarter operations management
Approaching investors about ways to reduce their risks could be a useful point of departure. The same risk-reducing rationale would be of interest to those who insure palm oil companies. Poorly managed operations are more likely to have conflicts with neighbours, or increased liability as a result of flooding or fires.
Working with palm oil buyers
Another effective conservation strategy will be to work with large-scale, sympathetic vegetable oil purchasers to employ the same type of BMP-based screens as have been developed for investors and insurers as conditions for their purchases. These screens could become conditions of letter-of-credit purchase orders.
Taking lead - Unilever, Migros, and Ecover
This approach would signal to producers that buyers are interested in purchasing palm oil, but only that which is produced in a more sustainable way. Unilever, Migros, and Ecover are companies that have already expressed interest in this approach and are trying to do it by themselves. It would be less expensive and more credible if a wider range of stakeholders developed appropriate BMP-based screens for general use.
