Synergies for improving oil palm production and forest conservation in floodplain landscapes

Nicola K Abram; Panteleimon Xofis; Joseph Tzanopoulos; Douglas C MacMillan; Marc Ancrenaz; Robin Chung; Lucy Peter; Robert Ong; Isabelle Lackman; Benoit Goossens; Laurentius Ambu; Andrew T Knight

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0095388

Synergies for improving oil palm production and forest conservation in floodplain landscapes

PLoS One. 2014 Jun 2;9(6):e95388. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095388. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom; HUTAN/Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Programme, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia; Living Landscape Alliance, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom; Borneo Futures initiative, People and Nature Consulting International, Jakarta, Indonesia.
² Technological Education Institute of Kavala, Department of Forestry and Management of Natural Environment, Drama, Greece.
³ Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom.
⁴ HUTAN/Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Programme, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia; Borneo Futures initiative, People and Nature Consulting International, Jakarta, Indonesia; North England Zoological Society, Chester, Cheshire, United Kingdom.
⁵ C H Williams Talhar and Wong (Sabah) Sdn Bhd, Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia.
⁶ Danau Girang Field Centre, c/o Sabah Wildlife Department, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
⁷ Forest Research Centre, Sabah Forestry Department, Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia.
⁸ HUTAN/Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Programme, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
⁹ Danau Girang Field Centre, c/o Sabah Wildlife Department, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia; Organisms and Environment Division, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom; Sabah Wildlife Department, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
¹⁰ Sabah Wildlife Department, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
¹¹ Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Ascot, Berkshire, United Kingdom; Department of Botany, Nelson Mandela Metrropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Abstract

Lowland tropical forests are increasingly threatened with conversion to oil palm as global demand and high profit drives crop expansion throughout the world's tropical regions. Yet, landscapes are not homogeneous and regional constraints dictate land suitability for this crop. We conducted a regional study to investigate spatial and economic components of forest conversion to oil palm within a tropical floodplain in the Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The Kinabatangan ecosystem harbours significant biodiversity with globally threatened species but has suffered forest loss and fragmentation. We mapped the oil palm and forested landscapes (using object-based-image analysis, classification and regression tree analysis and on-screen digitising of high-resolution imagery) and undertook economic modelling. Within the study region (520,269 ha), 250,617 ha is cultivated with oil palm with 77% having high Net-Present-Value (NPV) estimates ($413/ha-yr-$637/ha-yr); but 20.5% is under-producing. In fact 6.3% (15,810 ha) of oil palm is commercially redundant (with negative NPV of $-299/ha-yr-$-65/ha-yr) due to palm mortality from flood inundation. These areas would have been important riparian or flooded forest types. Moreover, 30,173 ha of unprotected forest remain and despite its value for connectivity and biodiversity 64% is allocated for future oil palm. However, we estimate that at minimum 54% of these forests are unsuitable for this crop due to inundation events. If conversion to oil palm occurs, we predict a further 16,207 ha will become commercially redundant. This means that over 32,000 ha of forest within the floodplain would have been converted for little or no financial gain yet with significant cost to the ecosystem. Our findings have globally relevant implications for similar floodplain landscapes undergoing forest transformation to agriculture such as oil palm. Understanding landscape level constraints to this crop, and transferring these into policy and practice, may provide conservation and economic opportunities within these seemingly high opportunity cost landscapes.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Arecaceae / growth & development
Arecaceae / metabolism*
Conservation of Natural Resources* / economics
Floods*
Forests*
Geography
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Malaysia
Models, Theoretical
Palm Oil
Plant Oils / economics
Plant Oils / metabolism*

Substances

Plant Oils
Palm Oil

Grants and funding

NKA thanks RICS Research Trust, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Great Ape Fund and the Arcus Foundation for financial support; Planet Action and Trimble for providing satellite imagery and the Definiens eCognition License. ATK acknowledges support from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London, UK, and ARC Centre of Excellence in Environmental Decisions, University of Queensland, Australia. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.