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

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1813
Author(s):  
Robert Beyer ◽  
Tim Rademacher

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.

2011 ◽  
Vol 367 ◽  
pp. 739-743
Author(s):  
C.O. Ilechie ◽  
A.O. Akii Ibhadode ◽  
B.O. Abikoye

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.


MODUS ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
Felix Wisnu Isdaryadi

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.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Beyer ◽  
América P. Durán ◽  
Tim T. Rademacher ◽  
Philip Martin ◽  
Catherine Tayleur ◽  
...  

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 886 (1) ◽  
pp. 012073
Author(s):  
Naswar ◽  
Maskun ◽  
Achmad ◽  
Hasbi Assidiq ◽  
Siti Nurhaliza Bachril ◽  
...  

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-27
Author(s):  
Ira Puspita Sari ◽  
Robi Wahyu

Increased production of agricultural products is needed to maintain and improve the farm household's economy. Along with the increasing diversity of types of agriculture, especially agricultural oil palm and rubber crops. The diversity of farmers' ways to increase agricultural income by planting oil palm and rubber leaves farmers unfocused on one type of crop to be planted, some even switching from rubber to palm oil crops or vice versa. With the increase and utilization of the produce many farmers are hesitant to plant their land with oil palm or with rubber. To overcome the doubts in the community there needs to be a model with simulated results obtained with area, planting time, the same capital and produce different results. The expected result is to determine the ratio of production between oil palm and rubber.  


Author(s):  
Amarlo Banania ◽  
Edwin N. Quiros ◽  
Jose Gabriel E. Mercado

Abstract Continuous demand for energy in order to provide to an ever-increasing global population calls for use of or integration of other alternative sources of fuel other than fossil fuels. Many countries all over the world use vegetable oils blended with neat diesel as alternative and using these biofuels can help alleviate lessen the emissions releases on the environment as well as the country’s dependency on fossil fuels. In the Philippines Coconut Methyl Ester (CME) is the primary vegetable oil used, however in this study we used four other vegetable oils which are RCO (Refined Corn Oil), RPO (Refine Palm Oil), JFO (Jahtropa Filtered Oil) and JME (Jathropa Methyl Ester) in order to investigate the possibility of their use in diesel engines. A 6.3 kW single-cylinder, four stroke cycle, direct injection engine was used for the study. This kind of engine is typically used in the Philippines for different purposes such as backup power for households, for boats, pumps and for agriculture use. The specific fuel consumption of the biodiesel blends compared to neat diesel fuel ranged from −15% to 15% with RCO and JME having higher SFC and JFO and RPO having lower SFC. Fuel conversion efficiency of the varied from −12% to 12% with JFO and RPO having higher efficiency and RCO and JME having lower efficiency. The power of the varied from −7% to 6% with RPO having lower power output, JFO having higher power output and JME and RCO having similar power output to neat diesel fuel. At full load condasition Neat Diesel Fuel blended with 15% Refined Palm Oil showed the greatest improvement in SFC while Neat Diesel Fuel blended with 10% Jathropa Filtered Oil showed the best power output.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sakti Hutabarat ◽  
Maja Slingerland ◽  
Liesbeth Dries

Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil, and its smallholder oil palm plantations involve more than 2.3 million farmers. The rapid expansion of the oil palm area, and resulting negative environmental and social impacts, has increased the demand for sustainability certification for palm oil products. This study investigates whether different types of smallholders face different barriers in complying with certification standards. The study uses survey data from 829 smallholders in Riau, Sumatra. First, an assessment is made of the gap between current management practices and practices required by Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil standards for different types of smallholders. Second, the article explores explanations for the gap between current and required practices. Finally, an investigation is made of the different starting points of different types of smallholders. Results indicate that the diversity between smallholders affects their prospects for certification. To date, this diversity in smallholders has not been taken into account in the application of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil standards. This can help to explain the limited success of smallholder certifications in Indonesia.


HABITAT ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-92
Author(s):  
Resti Destiarni ◽  
Ahmad Jamil

The importance of palm oil as Indonesia's main export commodity from the non-oil and gas sector makes a study about the price integration of crude oil and vegetable oils is conducted. The time-series data is used are monthly data from 2002:2 to 2019:4. Using the Vector Correction Model (VECM), this study aimed to analyze the price integration among Log of Crude Oil Price (LCOP), Palm Oil Price (LPOP), Soybean Oil Price (LSOP), Sun Flower Oil Price (LSFOP) and Rapeseed Oil Price (LROP). Augmented-Dickey Fuller (ADF) stationary test results show that the time series for those data are stationary at first difference. Using the Pearson Correlation test among price data indicates that there is a high positive correlation among those price data. It reveals a high degree of short-run integration among oil price data. Based on the Johansen cointegration test, the result reveals the presence of long-run relationships among determinants. Knowing presence of cointegration among the data, a bivariate cointegration test was conducted in this study. The test showed that LCOP did not have long-run relationship with vegetable oil prices. The Engel Granger Causality test revealed that generally, LPOP have influence on the movement both LCOP and other vegetable oil prices.


Food Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (S6) ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
S.N. Sulin ◽  
M.N. Mokhtar ◽  
M.A.P. Mohammed ◽  
A.S. Baharuddin

The issue of food safety is a major concern in the oil palm industry as it will affect national income. 3-MCPD and GE are contaminants formed during the refining of palm oil, mainly in the deodorization step. Palm oil was reported to contain one of the highest levels of these contaminants amongst all vegetable oils. Both 3-MCPD and GE are characterized as a possible risk to human health. This review aimed to provide a comprehensive summary of the 3-MCPD and GE precursors and mitigation strategies to minimize the 3-MCPD and GE formation. Therefore, the oil palm industry should address these issues and find ways to comply with food laws, acts, regulations, and standards enforced by local and international authorities.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1285
Author(s):  
Wan Shafrina Wan Mohd Jaafar ◽  
Nor Fitrah Syazwani Said ◽  
Khairul Nizam Abdul Maulud ◽  
Royston Uning ◽  
Mohd Talib Latif ◽  
...  

The palm oil industry is one of the major producers of vegetable oil in the tropics. Palm oil is used extensively for the manufacture of a wide variety of products and its production is increasing by around 9% every year, prompted largely by the expanding biofuel markets. The rise in annual demand for biofuels and vegetable oil from importer countries has caused a dramatic increase in the conversion of forests and peatlands into oil palm plantations in Malaysia. This study assessed the area of forests and peatlands converted into oil palm plantations from 1990 to 2018 in the states of Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysia, and estimated the resulting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. To do so, we analyzed multitemporal 30-m resolution Landsat-5 and Landsat-8 images using a hybrid method that combined automatic image processing and manual analyses. We found that over the 28-year period, forest cover declined by 12.6% and 16.3%, and the peatland area declined by 20.5% and 19.1% in Sarawak and Sabah, respectively. In 2018, we found that these changes resulted in CO2 emissions of 0.01577 and 0.00086 Gt CO2-C yr−1, as compared to an annual forest CO2 uptake of 0.26464 and 0.15007 Gt CO2-C yr−1, in Sarawak and Sabah, respectively. Our assessment highlights that carbon impacts extend beyond lost standing stocks, and result in substantial direct emissions from the oil palm plantations themselves, with 2018 oil palm plantations in our study area emitting up to 4% of CO2 uptake by remaining forests. Limiting future climate change impacts requires enhanced economic incentives for land uses that neither convert standing forests nor result in substantial CO2 emissions.


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