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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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/146164 |
| _version_ | 1811695889251565568 |
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| author | Lee, Janice Ser Huay Miteva, Daniela A. Carlson, Kimberly M. Heilmayr, Robert Saif, Omar |
| author2 | Asian School of the Environment |
| author_facet | Asian School of the Environment Lee, Janice Ser Huay Miteva, Daniela A. Carlson, Kimberly M. Heilmayr, Robert Saif, Omar |
| author_sort | Lee, Janice Ser Huay |
| collection | NTU |
| 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 | 2024-10-01T07:30:38Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/146164 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:30:38Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1461642023-02-28T16:41:58Z Does oil palm certification create trade-offs between environment and development in Indonesia? Lee, Janice Ser Huay Miteva, Daniela A. Carlson, Kimberly M. Heilmayr, Robert Saif, Omar Asian School of the Environment Earth Observatory of Singapore Science::Geology Oil Palm Impact Evaluation 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. Ministry of Education (MOE) Published version JSHL acknowledges funding from the Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund Tier 1 RG145/19. OS acknowledges support of a NERC Doctoral Training Partnership grant (NE/S007407/1). KMC was supported by the NASA New (Early Career) Investigator Program in Earth Science (NNX16AI20G). 2021-01-28T08:12:09Z 2021-01-28T08:12:09Z 2020 Journal Article Lee, J. S. H., Miteva, D. A., Carlson, K. M., Heilmayr, R., & Saif, O. (2020). Does oil palm certification create trade-offs between environment and development in Indonesia? Environmental Research Letters, 15(12), 124064-. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abc279 1748-9326 0000-0001-6368-6212 0000-0002-9123-646X 0000-0003-2162-1378 0000-0001-8980-9639 0000-0002-0086-6002 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/146164 10.1088/1748-9326/abc279 2-s2.0-85098150620 12 15 en RG145/19 Environmental Research Letters © 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Science::Geology Oil Palm Impact Evaluation Lee, Janice Ser Huay Miteva, Daniela A. Carlson, Kimberly M. Heilmayr, Robert Saif, Omar Does oil palm certification create trade-offs between environment and development in Indonesia? |
| 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 | Science::Geology Oil Palm Impact Evaluation |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/146164 |
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