The environmental impacts of palm oil and its alternatives

The destruction of ecosystems for vegetable oil production represents a major cause of global biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions 1. Over the last two decades, oil palm, in particular, has caused societal concern due to its high impacts on biodiverse and carbon-dense tropical rainforests 2–8, leading to calls to source vegetable oils from alternative oil-producing crops. However, given the high yields of oil palm, how does that damage compare with other oil crops that require more land? Here, we estimate the carbon and biodiversity footprints, per unit of oil produced, of the world’s five major vegetable oil crops. We find that oil palm has the lowest carbon loss and species richness loss per-tonne-oil, but has a larger impact on range-restricted species than sunflower and rapeseed. We go on to identify global areas for oil crop expansion that will minimise future carbon and biodiversity impacts, and argue that closing current yield gaps and optimising the location of future growing areas will be much more effective at reducing future environmental impacts of global vegetable oil production than substituting any one crop for another.

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Species Richness and Carbon Footprints of Vegetable Oils: Can High Yields Outweigh Palm Oil’s Environmental Impact?

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13041813 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 1813

Author(s):

Robert Beyer ◽

Tim Rademacher

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Vegetable Oil ◽

Vegetable Oils ◽

Palm Oil ◽

Oil Palm ◽

Management Practices ◽

Carbon Footprints ◽

Oil Crops ◽

Environmental Footprints ◽

High Yields

Palm oil has been widely criticised for its high environmental impacts, leading to calls to replace it with alternative vegetable oils in food and cosmetic products. However, substituting palm oil would be environmentally beneficial only if the environmental footprint per litre oil were lower than those of alternative vegetable oils. Whether this is the case is not obvious, given the high oil yields of oil palm of up to 10 times those of alternative crops. Here, we combine global agricultural and environmental datasets to show that, among the world’s seven major vegetable oil crops (oil palm, soybean, rapeseed, sunflower, groundnut, coconut, olive), oil palm has the lowest average species richness and carbon footprint associated with an annual production of one litre of vegetable oil. For each crop, these yield-adjusted footprints differ substantially between major producer countries, which we find to be largely the result of differences in crop management. Closing agricultural yield gaps of oil crops through improved management practices would significantly reduce the environmental footprints per oil yield. This would minimise the need for further land conversion to oil cropland and indeed could increase production to such an extent that a significant area of oil croplands could be ecologically restored.

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Design and Development of an Integrated Small-Scale Oil Palm Fruit Processing Mill

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.367.739 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 367 ◽

pp. 739-743

Author(s):

C.O. Ilechie ◽

A.O. Akii Ibhadode ◽

B.O. Abikoye

Keyword(s):

Vegetable Oil ◽

Palm Oil ◽

Oil Palm ◽

Palm Kernel ◽

Poor Quality ◽

Small Scale ◽

Palm Fruit ◽

Fully Integrated ◽

Oil Crops ◽

Fruit Processing

The oil palm (elaeis guneensis) is a very important economic crop in West Africa where it is native. The fruit bunch contains 23 to 30% oil and is the highest yielding of all vegetable oil crops. Palm oil is the second most important vegetable oil in world consumption and the first to be commercialized internationally. Africa and indeed Nigerian was the world’s highest producer of palm oil prior to 1961. Today, Nigeria is the fourth largest producer after Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. One of the main reasons given for this fall is lack of efficient mechanized processing equipment for the small-scale producers who produce over 80% of the country’s palm oil. Their methods of production are labour intensive, batch, tedious, inefficient, and produce poor quality oil, have low throughput, unable to extract palm kernel alongside palm oil and so productivity is low and products (palm oil and palm kernel) lack competitiveness. This work has developed a mechanized oil palm fruit processing mill with six fully integrated systems for extracting good quality palm oil and palm kernel, while utilizing process wastes as the main source of heat energy. Each system/unit is expected to operate at the best quoted system efficiency. Tests are ongoing to determine and confirm these efficiencies.

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Sustainability

10.5772/intechopen.100156 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dickson Osei Darkwah ◽

Meilina Ong-Abdullah

Keyword(s):

Oil Palm ◽

Precision Agriculture ◽

Large Scale ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Scale Production ◽

Oil Crops ◽

Sustainability Strategies ◽

Large Scale Production ◽

Agriculture Sustainability ◽

Negative Impacts

The oil palm (Elaies guineensis Jacq) is the largest produced and highly traded vegetable oil globally yet has the lowest cost of production and significantly higher productivity compared to other oil crops. The crop has the potential of alleviating poverty for smallholders and lifting the economies of countries with large scale production notably, Malaysia and Indonesia and currently on high demand for use as biofuel feedstock. Irrespective of these advantages of the oil palm, there is a global concern on the devastating impact of the crop on the environment and ecosystem during plantation developments and expansions. Deforestation, biodiversity loss, water and air pollution and toxic compounds from palm oil mill effluents (POME) are some of the negative impacts of the oil palm. For the industry to be more beneficial and impactful globally, sustainability strategies becomes urgent need. Sustainability strategies such as increasing the yield of oil palm, precision agriculture, sustainability certification, support for smallholders and circular economy have been put across to curtail the negative impacts of oil palm expansion.

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THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BUSINESS ETHICS IN THE PALM OIL INDUSTRY

MODUS ◽

10.24002/modus.v27i2.556 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 183

Author(s):

Felix Wisnu Isdaryadi

Keyword(s):

Business Ethics ◽

Vegetable Oil ◽

Palm Oil ◽

Oil Palm ◽

Oil Industry ◽

Social Consequences ◽

Oil Crops ◽

Rapid Economic Growth ◽

Long Run ◽

The World

Abstract Palm oil is the most produced vegetable oil in the world today-approximately 37 million metric tons, andis entirely GMO-free. Oil palm produces up to 10 times more oil per hectare than soybean, rapeseed or sunfower. Although oil palm is a more sustainable source of vegetable oil than other oil crops, there is concern that the growing demand of palm oil for food and bio fuel could lead to rapid and ill-managed expansion of palm oil production and result in serious environmental and social consequences. It is vital that the production and use of palm oil must be done in a sustainable manner based on economic, social and environmental viability. It becomes clear that these actions are benefcial on one hand, but, on the other hand, might be harmful in the long run. The palm oil industry may result in rapid economic growth. However, it could also degrade the environment, whichin turn could lead to public health problems in the longer term, decreasethe productivity and harm the economy.Keywords: palm oil industry, business ethics, environment, economy.

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Market-mediated responses confound policies to limit deforestation from oil palm expansion in Malaysia and Indonesia

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1903476116 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 116 (38) ◽

pp. 19193-19199 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Farzad Taheripour ◽

Thomas W. Hertel ◽

Navin Ramankutty

Keyword(s):

Palm Oil ◽

Oil Palm ◽

Oil Production ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Agricultural Commodity ◽

Real Wages ◽

Environmental Consequences ◽

Consumer Prices ◽

Factor Markets ◽

Forest Lands

The global demand for palm oil has grown rapidly over the past several decades. Much of the output expansion has occurred in carbon- and biodiversity-rich forest lands of Malaysia and Indonesia (M&I), contributing to record levels of terrestrial carbon emissions and biodiversity loss. This has led to a variety of voluntary and mandatory regulatory actions, as well as calls for limits on palm oil imports from M&I. This paper offers a comprehensive, global assessment of the economic and environmental consequences of alternative policies aimed at limiting deforestation from oil palm expansion in M&I. It highlights the challenges of limiting forest and biodiversity loss in the presence of market-mediated spillovers into related oilseed and agricultural commodity and factor markets, both in M&I and overseas. Indeed, limiting palm oil production or consumption is unlikely to halt deforestation in M&I in the absence of active forest conservation incentives. Policies aimed at restricting palm oil production in M&I also have broader consequences for the economy, including significant impacts on consumer prices, real wages, and welfare, that vary among different global regions. A crucial distinction is whether the initiative is undertaken domestically, in which case the M&I region could benefit, or by major palm oil importers, in which case M&I loses income. Nonetheless, all policies considered here pass the social welfare test of global carbon dioxide mitigation benefits exceeding their costs.

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Challenges for Life Cycle Assessment Of Palm Oil Production System

Indonesian Journal of Life Cycle Assessment and Sustainability ◽

10.52394/ijolcas.v1i2.28 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Heinz Stichnothe ◽

Cécile Bessou

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Palm Oil ◽

Oil Palm ◽

Production Systems ◽

Oil Production ◽

Farm Income ◽

Oil Palm Plantation

Growing demand for palm oil is driven by increasing human population, income growth as well as biodiesel stimulation programs. Covering an area of over ten million ha in Indonesia, palm oil production is also one of the most important sources of crop residues while processing generates large amounts of wastewater. Cultivation and processing of this crop are considered as potentially large sources of emissions. Improving environmental impacts of the palm oil production can help to reduce existing emissions while increasing yield and generating surplus energy and farm income. However, area expansion for oil palm plantation is perceived as closely linked to illegal logging, deforestation and diminishing biodiversity. Apart from ensuring sustainable land use change, the use of residues is the most important criterion in ensuring sustainable palm oil. It is important to note that there are trade-offs (e.g. between maximizing bio energy production, reducing environmental impacts other than greenhouse gases (GHG), and sustaining soil fertility). Nitrogen (N) losses in palm oil production systems are a major environmental and economic issue. Unfortunately, there is little comprehensive knowledge on how to calculate N-budgets in oil palm plantation in order to optimize fertilization, taking into account N-leaching and N-gaseous emissions. Land use, soil-carbon, N-emissions and biodiversity are key aspects of life cycle assessment (LCA) of palm oil production systems and they pose a number of methodological questions.

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Protection of biodiversity in concession of sustainable palm oil

IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science ◽

10.1088/1755-1315/886/1/012073 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 886 (1) ◽

pp. 012073

Author(s):

Naswar ◽

Maskun ◽

Achmad ◽

Hasbi Assidiq ◽

Siti Nurhaliza Bachril ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vegetable Oil ◽

Palm Oil ◽

Oil Palm ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Legal Framework ◽

Carbon Stocks ◽

World Population ◽

High Carbon ◽

Positive Law ◽

Oil Crops

Abstract The increasing population growth is in line with the increasing world demand for vegetable oil. In 2050, the world population is projected to reach 9.8 billion people. With this population, the world’s vegetable oil needs reach 310 million tons. Total vegetable oil production in 2018 was only 200.8 million tons. The oil crops biologically have a potential to produce vegetable oil much more than with other plants in the same area of land. It means that it is economically more efficient than others. However, an unavoidable fact is that the expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia has encroached on forest areas, destroying biodiversity, and threatening environmental sustainability. Of the 9.1 million hectares of deforestation occurred in 2001 to 2016, 2.1 million hectares or 23% of the national deforestation turned to oil palm. In addition, of the 16.8 million hectares of Indonesian palm oil cover, 3.4 million hectares or 20.2% of oil palms are in forest areas. This article aims to diagnose the norms of biodiversity protection with the approach of protecting high conservation value areas and high carbon stocks in oil palm plantation concessions. Normatively referring to the concept of sustainable palm oil plantations, companies are obliged to protect areas that have high biodiversity values and high carbon stocks in their concession areas and are prohibited from being converted. This norm is very important to protect biodiversity in oil palm concessions. Unfortunately, Indonesia’s positive law does not yet have an optimal legal framework to protect this area, so it is necessary to strengthen specific norms and policies to protect biodiversity in sustainable palm oil plantation concessions.

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Sistem Pakar Mendeteksi Penyakit Tanaman Kelapa Sawit Menggunakan Metode Forward Chaining

Prosiding Seminar Nasional Riset Information Science (SENARIS) ◽

10.30645/senaris.v1i0.50 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 444

Author(s):

Dimas Satria ◽

Poningsih Poningsih ◽

Widodo Saputra

Keyword(s):

Expert System ◽

Programming Languages ◽

Palm Oil ◽

Oil Palm ◽

Oil Production ◽

Plant Diseases ◽

Accurate Information ◽

Forward Chaining ◽

Web Programming ◽

Level Of Confidence

The purpose of this paper is to create an expert system to detect oil palm plant diseases in order to help farmers / companies in providing accurate information about the diseases of oil palm plants and how to overcome them and to help reduce the risk of decreasing palm oil production. This system is designed to mimic the expertise of an expert who is able to detect diseases that attack oil palm plants. The method used is forward chaining that is starting from a set of data and proving a fact by describing the level of confidence and uncertainty found in a hypothesis. The results of this study are to diagnose diseases of oil palm plants and their computerization using web programming languages.

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