Palm Oil’s assault on tropical biodiversityTropical rainforests house 80 percent of the world’s known terrestrial organisms.1 Today, these forests are falling at unprecedented rates, fueled particularly by the rapid growth of the palm oil industry. Due to palm oil’s desirable qualities such as high yield and low trans-fat content, demand for the substance has increased significantly – global production of palm oil totaled roughly 50 million metric tons in 2012, having more than doubled since 2000.2 Plantations of oil palm trees – the tree that produces the palm oil fruit – cover 16.4 million hectares of land across the tropics,3 and are a leading cause of deforestation, which in turn is driving climate change as well as the massive loss of species.4 The expansion of the palm oil industry is currently one of the single greatest threats to biodiversity, with species loss already occurring on a large scale, and further losses projected to occur across the tropics.5 When a monoculture oil palm plantation replaces existing native vegetation, the result is essentially a green desert.6 Many animals are no longer able to survive without this diversity of plant materials, including plant-eating animals as well as the carnivores that prey on herbivores. Moreover, habitat fragmentation from forest clearance reduces mobility and connectivity between populations, while increasing the length of forest edge exposed to destructive effects such as desiccation, fire and wind.7 Deforesting land to establish networks of roads and tracks has an indirect, negative effect on species populations by granting easier opportunities for poaching, bush-meat hunting and wildlife trafficking.8 Burning logged-over forests to clear land for plantations is also a prevalent practice that accelerates loss and fragmentation of wildlife habitats in addition to killing sedentary animals. World production of palm oil is expected to increase by 32 percent to almost 60 million tons by 2020.9 In light of these predictions, Southeast Asian, African, Central and South American forested lands – all with prodigious palm oil production potential – will be at tremendous risk of deforestation and associated biodiversity impacts.

Vanishing habitats Southeast Asia Indonesia and Malaysia together account for 85 percent of global palm oil production. Between 1990 and 2005, oil palm area in Indonesia increased to 6.1 million hectares; an estimated 1.7-3 million hectares of forest were lost to oil palm during this period.10 Annually, land roughly the size of Rhode Island is deforested in the country, concentrated primarily in the islands of Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo, which are home to 96 percent of all Indonesian oil palm plantations.11 Indonesia currently has the highest deforestation rate in the world, a title formerly held by Brazil. With no signs of slowing, Indonesia has committed to doubling the current production of palm oil to 40 million tons per year and expanding plantations by an additional 4 million hectares by 2020.12 In Malaysia, the area devoted to oil palm amounted to 5.3 million hectares as of 2010, constituting 14 percent of its total land area.13 It is estimated that at least one million hectares of forest were cleared for the purpose of producing palm oil between 1990 and 2005. Most recently, expansion of oil palm plantations has been focused in the states of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo.

PALM OIL’S ASSAULT ON TROPICAL BIODIVERSITY

Photo: Aerial view of the Sungai Tutoh river near Gunung Mulu National Park in Malaysia. Credit: Dino Geromella / Shutterstock.com

FACTSHEET

In Indonesia and Malaysia, new plantations are often developed on newly-cleared rainforest and peat-swamp forests in lieu of degraded or disused agricultural land since the cost to prepare degraded land for oil palm often exceeds the cost to clear new land.14 This is because recently cleared forests require less fertilizer; as an added incentive, logging and selling valuable trees can generate supplementary revenue for companies. 15 To biodiversity hotspots such as these two nations, whose forests collectively represent at least 10 percent of the world’s remaining tropical forests, these large-scale developments come both directly and indirectly at the expense of wildlife populations.16 Resulting land degradation and habitat loss endanger species dependent on these specific ecosystems for survival, including the Sumatran orangutan, elephant and tiger, all of which are critically endangered according to the IUCN Red List. A report by the World Bank pronounces that Indonesia is “almost certainly undergoing a species extinction spasm of planetary proportions.”17 Malaysia faces a similar predicament with 16 percent of their land mammal species threatened.

In recent years, certain animals have become synonymous with palm oil’s deleterious effects, receiving notable attention for their rapidly diminishing populations. Critically endangered, the population of Sumatran Orangutans in the wild has diminished to an estimated 6,600 individuals.18 The Sumatran Orangutan is almost strictly arboreal, dwelling in tropical forest canopies for the entirety of their lifespan. Once widespread inhabitants of all of Indonesia, they are now only found in two northern provinces of Indonesia, North Sumatra and Aceh. It is the only Great Ape, other than humans, to be found outside Africa and could potentially be the first Great Ape species to become extinct in the wild. It has been estimated that the species has experienced an 80 percent decline ipopulation over the past 75 years.19

The Sumatran orangutan plays a vital ecosystem role as “gardener of the forest,” aiding in the forest regeneration process by dispersing seeds over a large area. Their disappearance therefore may trigger effects that resonate throughout the rainforest ecosystem. Since orangutans are known to breed more slowly than other primates – females typically give birth only once every 7-8 years – their ability to recover from habitat disturbance is exceedingly limited. Thus, the threat of oil palm expansion, road construction and poaching is even more pronounced. Increased inbreeding due to habitat fragmentation is also a concern. Currently, the Leuser Ecosystem, one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, remains the strongest refuge for this species, supporting 75 percent of the remaining population. The Bornean orangutan, which differs slightly in appearance, is also endangered, and its populations have declined by at least 50 percent over the last 60 years. Smaller than its African counterpart, the Asian elephant encompasses three subspecies: Indian, Sumatran and Sri Lankan. A significant cultural icon in Asia, Asian elephants are estimated to have declined by at least 50 percent over the past 60-75 years.20 Formerly found from West Asia into parts of India, Indonesia and China, they are now extinct in West Asia, Java and most of China – ultimately

Home to 12% of all mammal species, 16% of all reptile and amphibian species, and 17% of all bird species, Indonesia also boasts the highest

number of threatened mammal species with 147 species – or 32% of their total mammal species.

(Orangutan.org)

Female sumatran orangutan. Credit: Greg Hume via CC BY-SA 3.0.

Indian elephant in Bandipur National Park. Credit: Yathin S. Krishnappa via CC BY-SA 3.0.

limited to 15 percent of their original range. In Sumatra, Asian elephants populations are highly fragmented as a result of habitat loss from the development of roads, plantations and human settlements. Since human and Asian elephant habitats have historically overlapped, Asian elephants experience a high degree of interaction with humans, which many times culminates in violent conflicts. Several wild elephants have wandered onto agricultural fields, to which farmers have responded by killing them.21 Other threats include being poached for their meat, skin and tusks, highly desirable commodities in the Asian market. The Sumatran elephant subspecies in particular is notably critically endangered, losing more than 69 percent of its potential habitat within the last 25 years. Currently, 85 percent of their remaining habitat is unprotected and will most likely be converted for agricultural or other purposes. The Sumatran tiger is the smallest of five remaining tiger subspecies, reduced from eight by recent extinctions. The species currently inhabits patches of the forests on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. From a population numbering 1,000 in 1978, the population of critically endangered Sumatran tigers now totals fewer than 400. Their low population density, as well as low recruitment rates (few offspring survive to breed) and prey depletion are powerful driving forces behind dwindling populations. Thus large conservation areas are needed to ensure the survival of viable tiger populations.

Habitat destruction also propels tigers to hunt for food in areas such as human settlements thereby exposing them to conflict with humans. Illegal trade of tiger parts is still accountable for the majority of Sumatran tiger deaths. From 1998-2002 at least 51 tigers per year were killed, with 76 percent for purposes of trade and 15 percent out of human-tiger conflict.22 

The smallest of the rhinoceroses, the Sumatran rhino is the only Asian rhino with two horns. The species is classified as critically endangered as more than 80 percent of their population has been eliminated within the past 60 years and as of now, fewer than 250 mature individuals remain.23 Previous inhabitants in the Himalayas through China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, Sumatran rhinos now are found in largest density in Sumatra. The largest single population of Sumatran rhinos lives in Bukit Selatan National Park, Sumatra, where conversion of forests into agricultural land continues.24 All Sumatran rhino subgroups are recorded to have fewer than 75 individuals, which increases the risk of genetic loss and accumulation of harmful mutations. This predisposes rhino populations to extinction due to natural disasters, diseases and inbreeding. Compounded with habitat loss, the rising demand for rhino horns – believed to have cancer-remedying properties – renders them very vulnerable to poaching. Though the use of rhino horn in traditional medicine is prohibited in most countries, it still persists in many areas in China and Taiwan.

AfricaAs the lands most suitable for palm oil dwindle in Southeast Asia, global agricultural companies are turning to Africa, palm oil’s continent of origin, as the next frontier. Approximately 71 percent of African oil palm is produced in Nigeria, with other emergent producers being Ghana, Guinea, Coˆte d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.25 Though Africa’s current production of palm oil significantly lags behind that of Southeast Asia in terms of global output, this is expected to change as considerable areas of land in sub-Saharan Africa have been sold to foreign corporations to feed global demands. Specifically, an additional 1.5 million hectares have been approved for future development in Liberia, Cameroon and Gabon alone.26

A Sumatran tiger at Melbourne Zoo, Australia. Credit: Nichollas Harrison via CC BY-SA 3.0.

Adult Sumatran rhino with juvenile. Credit: Flickr/wAlanb via CC BY 2.0

Due to climate and infrastructural limitations, yield in Africa is substantially lower than in Southeast Asia at this stage. To compensate for this, companies will likely need to use more land to match the high yields of Indonesia and Malaysia. Large-scale development of the palm oil industry in Africa is viewed as a great development opportunity to several African countries, with prospects of increasing employment and improving infrastructure.27 However, in Nigeria, reports of palm oil development in Cross River State by Wilmar International, Asia’s largest agribusiness group, indicate that ongoing land grabbing is thus far accomplishing little to bolster GDP or provide stable local employment.28 With time, intensified development will likely spur biodiversity loss comparable to that already underway in Southeast Asia, especially in countries such as Nigeria, Liberia, Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea where large ape populations exist.29 Currently, 60 percent of Africa’s palm oil concessions overlap with great ape habitats.30 One of the most expansive palm oil projects in Africa is currently underway in Cameroon by the U.S. company Herakles Farms. Planned for about 20,000 hectares of southwest Cameroon, the Herakles plantation lies in the heart of some of Africa’s biodiverse landscapes that are home to many threatened species and is in the midst of an area that serves as a corridor for their migration.31 The project has been met with immense opposition from locals as it will disrupt subsistence agriculture that nearby communities rely on and push endangered species further towards extinction. Large animals, particularly gorillas and chimpanzees, are the most vulnerable to pressure from forest fragmentation, degradation or conversion owing to a combination of factors including low reproductive rates and life history.32 Plantation expansion will most significantly affect West and Central African Apes, namely the Western gorilla and Chimpanzee.

The Western gorilla encompasses two subspecies: the Western Lowland gorilla and Cross River gorilla. Found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Nigeria, and Republic of Congo. They are being driven to extinction by rampant commercial hunting and diseases, namely Ebola. Within the past 60-70 years, their population has reduced over 80 percent. Habitat loss and bush-meat hunting are other burgeoning threats to gorilla populations.

As an added obstacle to their conservation, gorillas exhibit very low reproductive rates, indicating they are especially susceptible to habitat disturbances and even low levels of hunting can cause population decline.33 As a great proportion of great ape habitat overlaps with current and potential oil palm concessions, the growth of Africa’s oil palm industry will likely lead to significant biodiversity losses comparable to those in Southeast Asia, starting with the Western gorilla.34

The Cross River gorilla, once thought to be extinct, can be found in the highland forests on the border of Cameroon and Nigeria. With an estimated total population of 250-300 individuals left in the wild, this subspecies is considered critically endangered and recognized as the most threatened ape in Africa.35 Since the Cameroon-Nigeria border region constitutes a critical biodiversity hotspot, ensuring the survival of Cross River gorillas will constitute significant steps towards preserving the region’s biological wealth.

The Chimpanzee family includes the common chimpanzee as well as the bonobo. Palm oil’s expansion into Africa has continued to inflict devastating effects on chimps in Western and Central Africa, where deforestation has unequivocally eliminated 80 percent of the region’s original forest extent.36 They are now endangered as a result of habitat loss and slash and burn agriculture practices, in addition to intense

Western gorilla. Credit: Shutterstock.

Chimpanzee mother with her son riding on her back. Credit: Shutterstock.

poaching and infectious diseases. Similar to the Western gorilla, chimpanzees are common targets of bush-meat poaching made easier by deforestation; their heads, hands and feet are highly sought after in illicit Asian markets.

Chimpanzees play an integral ecological role by dispersing seeds throughout the forest and facilitating forest regeneration. Despite a great capacity for adaptation, chimpanzees have slow birth rates that increase their susceptibility to habitat loss. Thus, setting aside protected areas for these animals will be of utmost importance in the upcoming years.

Central & South AmericaWithin the last 10 years, palm oil production has more than doubled in Central and South America.37 In Latin America, 12 countries cultivate commercial palm oil – most notably Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Honduras and Guatemala – accounting for nearly 6 percent of global annual production.38 Colombia currently stands as the South American leader in palm oil production (and fourth largest producer worldwide), followed by Ecuador and Honduras, although total harvested areas of oil palm in Latin America are still dwarfed by those in Indonesia and Malaysia. Oil palm is a relatively new transplant to this region, but it has become an increasingly lucrative crop mainly because of its value to the biodiesel industry.

Encouraged largely by government incentives, palm oil plantations are growing rapidly in Brazil, and at great risk of deforestation is the carbon- and species-rich ecosystem that is the Amazon rainforest, 60 percent of which lies in Brazil. The entire region contains half of the world’s tropical forests, along with at least 10 percent of the world’s known biodiversity.39 Roughly half of the Amazon basin (230 million hectares) is potentially suitable for oil palm growth based on appropriate soil and climate conditions. If this potential were to be fully realized, Brazil could singlehandedly surpass the current production of Asia. 40 And since a majority of the land suitable for palm oil cultivation still remains under forest cover, the potential deforestation could be devastating. Brazil’s new Forest Code, approved in 2012, is an attempt to prevent that potential from being realized by limiting the amount of forest that cleared within an area.41 Despite this apparent pledge, restrictions on deforestation have proven to be difficult to enforce as forest clearing in the Brazilian Amazon was 63 percent higher in 2014 compared to 2013.42

Becoming increasingly relevant in Latin America is the concept of “extinction debt” – the term used to describe how organisms may not immediately disappear following habitat loss or degradation; but that the extinction of a species can occur gradually over extended periods of time, accruing an “extinction debt” that will eventually be realized.43 The

Brazilian Amazon is estimated to experience one of the most severe vertebrate extinction debts. Despite the clearance of over 81 million hectares of forests in the Brazilian Amazon in recent decades, local extinctions in the past 40 years have been relatively minimal, but will likely rapidly accrue over the coming decades. In a study by Wearn, Reuman & Ewers (2012), using deforestation patterns from 1970 to 2008, model estimates of future extinction levels predict that 80 to 90 percent of extinctions that are still to come from historical habitat loss.44

Black-headed spider monkeys are New World monkeys that dwell in tropical forests of South and Central America. Found in Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Panama, spider monkeys spend a great deal of their time foraging and traveling in the upper canopies of the forest. As an arboreal species, deforestation is a critical threat to this spider monkey. The black-headed spider monkey is critically endangered, having experienced an 80 percent reduction in population size within 45 years.45 In Colombia, approximately 30 percent of their habitat has been lost in the last 10 years, largely due to habitat loss and fragmentation driven by deforestation.

ConclusionAgricultural ecosystems have become the dominant landscapes on earth, encroaching on wildlife habitats and driving widespread species loss that is predicted to intensify in the upcoming decades. One of the key measures that can be taken to prevent the wholesale loss of the tropical forest biodiversity is a strict limit to the ongoing expansion of the palm oil industry. Individuals and investment firms play a key role in financing the expansion of the palm oil sector, and have the power to rein in the destruction through Deforestation-Free, Land Grab-Free Investment policies and practices.

Black-headed spider monkey. Credit: Shutterstock.

Endnotes1. Climate and Land Use Alliance. http://www.climateandlandusealliance.org/uploads/PDFs/Disrupting_Global_Commodity.pdf 2. Union of Concerned Scientists. Palm Oil and Global Warming. http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/global_warming/palm-oil-and-global- warming.pdf 3. Union of Concerned Scientists. Palm Oil and Global Warming. 4. Gasparatos, Alexandros & Willis, Katherine J. Biodiversity in the Green Economy. 5. Fitzherbert, E et al. (2008). How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity? Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 23(10) 538-545. 6. http://www.foei.org/press/archive-by-subject/forests-and-biodiversity-press/international-day-against-monoculture-tree-plantations7 7. Fitzherbert, E et al. (2008). How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity? Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 23(10) 538-545. 8. http://www.unep.org/vitalforest/Report/VFG-13-Forest-animals-threatened-by-habitat-loss-and-poaching.pdf 9. http://worldgrowth.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/WG_Indonesian_Palm_Oil_Benefits_Report-2_11.pdf 10. Fitzherbert, E et al. (2008). How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity? Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 23(10) 538-545.

11. Carlson, Kimberly M. et al (2012). Carbon emissions from forest conversion by Kalimantan oil palm plantations. Nature Climate Change. http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1702.html 12. United Nations Development Programme. http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2015/03/11/indonesia-government-addresses-deforestation-challenges-in-its-aim-to-double-palm-oil-production-by-2020.html 13. Hamzah, K et al. Malaysia Land-Use Change in the Oil Palm Sector. http://rt9.rspo.org/pres/pcfinals/pc3/PC3.2_Prof_KT_Joseph.pdf 14. Center for Science in the Public Interest. Cruel Oil: How palm oil harms health, rainforest & wildlife. http://www.cspinet.org/palm/PalmOilReport.pdf 15. Worldwatch Institute. Biofuels for Transport: Global Potential and Implications for Sustainable Energy and Agriculture. 16. http://orangutan.org/rainforest/rainforest-facts/ 17. Center for Science in the Public Interest. Cruel Oil: How palm oil harms health, rainforest & wildlife. 18. http://www.orangutans-sos.org/orangutans/crisis 19. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/39780/0 20. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/7140/0 21. World Wildlife Fund. http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/elephants/asian_elephants/ 22. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/15966/0 23. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/6553/0 24. World Wildlife Fund. http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/rhinoceros/asian_rhinos/sumatran_rhinoceros/ 25. Meijaard, E. & Sheil, D (2013). Oil-Palm Plantations in the Context of Biodiversity Conservation. Levin S.A. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, second edition. 5, 600-612 26. http://www.sustainablepalmoil.org/palm-oil-by-region/africa/ 27. http://www.sustainablepalmoil.org/palm-oil-by-region/africa/ 28. Friends of the Earth. Palm Oil Land Grab in Nigeria: Wilmar International in Cross River State. 29. Wich, S et al. (2014). Will Oil Palm’s Homecoming Spell Doom for Africa’s Great Apes? Current Biology. 24(14) 1659-1663. http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(14)00680-0 30. Wich, S et al. (2014). Will Oil Palm’s Homecoming Spell Doom for Africa’s Great Apes? Current Biology. 24(14) 1659-1663. 31. The Oakland Institute. Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa. http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/Land_deal_brief_herakles.pdf 32. Society for Conservation Biology. Position Statement on the Threat from Industrial Oil Palm Expansion to Equatorial Forests in Africa. http://conbio.org/images/content_policy/SCB_Africa_Section_Position_Statement_Oil_Palm_Expansion_2015_01_27.pdf

33. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/9404/0

34. Wich, S et al. (2014). Will Oil Palm’s Homecoming Spell Doom for Africa’s Great Apes? Current Biology. 24(14) 1659-1663.35. Ayotunde, E. O. & Ada F.B. (2013). Conservation of Biodiversity in Central Cross Rivers State, Nigeria: The Role of Indigenous Communities. Research Journal of Fisheries and Hydrobiology. 8(2) 20-26. 36. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/15933/0 37. http://www.sustainablepalmoil.org/palm-oil-by-region/central-south-america/ 38. http://www.rspo.org/consumers/debate/blog/deforestation-and-palm-oil-cultivation-in-latin-america 39. World Wildlife Fund. http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/ 40. Meijaard, E. & Sheil, D (2013). Oil-Palm Plantations in the Context of Biodiversity Conservation. Levin S.A. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, second edition, Volume 5, pp. 600-612 41. Woods Hole Research Center. Untangling Brazil’s controversial new forest code. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140424143735.htm 42. Mongabay. Brazil confirms rising deforestation in the Amazon. http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0313-brazil-deforestation.html 43. Kuussaari, M et al. (2009). Extinction debt: a challenge for biodiversity conservation. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 24(10) 564-571. 44. Wearn, O et al. (2012). Extinction Debt and Windows of Conservation Opportunity in the Brazilian Amazon. Science. 337(6091) 228-232. 45. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/135446/0