Does oil palm certification create trade-offs between environment and development in Indonesia?
Environmental and social problems triggered by rapid palm oil expansion in the tropics have spurred the proliferation of sustainability certification systems such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). While the RSPO aims to improve the impact of oil palm production on people and environm...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc279 |
| _version_ | 1797747701268348928 |
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| author | Janice Ser Huay Lee Daniela A Miteva Kimberly M Carlson Robert Heilmayr Omar Saif |
| author_facet | Janice Ser Huay Lee Daniela A Miteva Kimberly M Carlson Robert Heilmayr Omar Saif |
| author_sort | Janice Ser Huay Lee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Environmental and social problems triggered by rapid palm oil expansion in the tropics have spurred the proliferation of sustainability certification systems such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). While the RSPO aims to improve the impact of oil palm production on people and environments, its effect on local development, environmental quality, and, especially, potential trade-offs between these outcomes remain unclear. Here, we evaluate whether RSPO certification of large-scale industrial concessions has promoted village development and supported environmental quality in Indonesia, the top global palm oil producer. Using a panel dataset with observations from 11 000 villages in Kalimantan and Sumatra from 2003 to 2014, we apply rigorous quasi-experimental methods to quantify the RSPO’s impacts on village development and environmental outcomes. In the short-run, RSPO contributed to environmental conservation, but had limited development outcomes. On average, relative to villages with non-certified concessions, RSPO certification reduced deforestation and protected primary forests in Sumatra and lowered the incidence of village-reported land pollution in Kalimantan. RSPO certification also increased the number of private educational facilities in Kalimantan, but had no statistically significant impacts on other development indicators. However, the trade-offs and complementarities between conservation and development vary by slope, a proxy for ecosystem fragility and oil palm profitability. On gentler slopes, we generally find complementarities between conservation and development outcomes. In Kalimantan, certification increased the number of private educational facilities and reduced deforestation and the incidence of land pollution on slopes < 2°. In Sumatra, certification retained more primary forests, decreased deforestation and the incidence of water pollution on slopes < 1°, along with a decrease in population density. Higher slopes in both locations were associated with environment and development trade-offs. We highlight the need to better understand the mechanisms behind the impacts of RSPO and emphasized how the outcomes of certification depend on the communities’ bargaining power and the profitability of the land for oil palm production. Thus, we provide insights into understanding these mechanisms behind the impacts of RSPO, which is a prerequisite for improving the design of certification systems and their impacts on the ground. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:54:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0dcc4115d35f48f68d30393e4fd90880 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:54:23Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-0dcc4115d35f48f68d30393e4fd908802023-08-09T14:57:40ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262020-01-01151212406410.1088/1748-9326/abc279Does oil palm certification create trade-offs between environment and development in Indonesia?Janice Ser Huay Lee0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6368-6212Daniela A Miteva1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9123-646XKimberly M Carlson2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-1378Robert Heilmayr3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8980-9639Omar Saif4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0086-6002Asian School of the Environment & Earth Observatory Singapore, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore , Singapore, SingaporeDepartment of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University , Columbus, OH, United States of AmericaDepartment of Environmental Studies, New York University , New York, NY, United States of AmericaDepartment of Environmental Studies, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, CA, United States of AmericaSchool of Geosciences, The University of Edinburgh , Edinburgh, United KingdomEnvironmental and social problems triggered by rapid palm oil expansion in the tropics have spurred the proliferation of sustainability certification systems such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). While the RSPO aims to improve the impact of oil palm production on people and environments, its effect on local development, environmental quality, and, especially, potential trade-offs between these outcomes remain unclear. Here, we evaluate whether RSPO certification of large-scale industrial concessions has promoted village development and supported environmental quality in Indonesia, the top global palm oil producer. Using a panel dataset with observations from 11 000 villages in Kalimantan and Sumatra from 2003 to 2014, we apply rigorous quasi-experimental methods to quantify the RSPO’s impacts on village development and environmental outcomes. In the short-run, RSPO contributed to environmental conservation, but had limited development outcomes. On average, relative to villages with non-certified concessions, RSPO certification reduced deforestation and protected primary forests in Sumatra and lowered the incidence of village-reported land pollution in Kalimantan. RSPO certification also increased the number of private educational facilities in Kalimantan, but had no statistically significant impacts on other development indicators. However, the trade-offs and complementarities between conservation and development vary by slope, a proxy for ecosystem fragility and oil palm profitability. On gentler slopes, we generally find complementarities between conservation and development outcomes. In Kalimantan, certification increased the number of private educational facilities and reduced deforestation and the incidence of land pollution on slopes < 2°. In Sumatra, certification retained more primary forests, decreased deforestation and the incidence of water pollution on slopes < 1°, along with a decrease in population density. Higher slopes in both locations were associated with environment and development trade-offs. We highlight the need to better understand the mechanisms behind the impacts of RSPO and emphasized how the outcomes of certification depend on the communities’ bargaining power and the profitability of the land for oil palm production. Thus, we provide insights into understanding these mechanisms behind the impacts of RSPO, which is a prerequisite for improving the design of certification systems and their impacts on the ground.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc279oil palmimpact evaluationroundtable on sustainable palm oilIndonesiasustainability certificationenvironment-development trade-offs |
| spellingShingle | Janice Ser Huay Lee Daniela A Miteva Kimberly M Carlson Robert Heilmayr Omar Saif Does oil palm certification create trade-offs between environment and development in Indonesia? Environmental Research Letters oil palm impact evaluation roundtable on sustainable palm oil Indonesia sustainability certification environment-development trade-offs |
| title | Does oil palm certification create trade-offs between environment and development in Indonesia? |
| title_full | Does oil palm certification create trade-offs between environment and development in Indonesia? |
| title_fullStr | Does oil palm certification create trade-offs between environment and development in Indonesia? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Does oil palm certification create trade-offs between environment and development in Indonesia? |
| title_short | Does oil palm certification create trade-offs between environment and development in Indonesia? |
| title_sort | does oil palm certification create trade offs between environment and development in indonesia |
| topic | oil palm impact evaluation roundtable on sustainable palm oil Indonesia sustainability certification environment-development trade-offs |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc279 |
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