Danielsen Finn, Beukema Hendrien, Burgess Neil D, Parish Faizal, Brühl Carsten A, Donald Paul F, Murdiyarso Daniel, Phalan Ben, Reijnders Lucas, Struebig Matthew, Fitzherbert Emily B
NORDECO, Skindergade 23-III, Copenhagen DK-1159, Denmark.
Conserv Biol. 2009 Apr;23(2):348-58. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.01096.x. Epub 2008 Nov 18.
The growing demand for biofuels is promoting the expansion of a number of agricultural commodities, including oil palm (Elaeis guineensis). Oil-palm plantations cover over 13 million ha, primarily in Southeast Asia, where they have directly or indirectly replaced tropical rainforest. We explored the impact of the spread of oil-palm plantations on greenhouse gas emission and biodiversity. We assessed changes in carbon stocks with changing land use and compared this with the amount of fossil-fuel carbon emission avoided through its replacement by biofuel carbon. We estimated it would take between 75 and 93 years for the carbon emissions saved through use of biofuel to compensate for the carbon lost through forest conversion, depending on how the forest was cleared. If the original habitat was peatland, carbon balance would take more than 600 years. Conversely, planting oil palms on degraded grassland would lead to a net removal of carbon within 10 years. These estimates have associated uncertainty, but their magnitude and relative proportions seem credible. We carried out a meta-analysis of published faunal studies that compared forest with oil palm. We found that plantations supported species-poor communities containing few forest species. Because no published data on flora were available, we present results from our sampling of plants in oil palm and forest plots in Indonesia. Although the species richness of pteridophytes was higher in plantations, they held few forest species. Trees, lianas, epiphytic orchids, and indigenous palms were wholly absent from oil-palm plantations. The majority of individual plants and animals in oil-palm plantations belonged to a small number of generalist species of low conservation concern. As countries strive to meet obligations to reduce carbon emissions under one international agreement (Kyoto Protocol), they may not only fail to meet their obligations under another (Convention on Biological Diversity) but may actually hasten global climate change. Reducing deforestation is likely to represent a more effective climate-change mitigation strategy than converting forest for biofuel production, and it may help nations meet their international commitments to reduce biodiversity loss.
对生物燃料日益增长的需求正在推动包括油棕（Elaeis guineensis）在内的多种农产品的种植面积扩大。油棕种植园面积超过1300万公顷，主要分布在东南亚，在那里它们直接或间接地取代了热带雨林。我们探究了油棕种植园扩张对温室气体排放和生物多样性的影响。我们评估了土地利用变化时碳储量的变化，并将其与通过生物燃料碳替代化石燃料碳排放所避免的化石燃料碳排放量进行比较。我们估计，根据森林砍伐方式的不同，通过使用生物燃料节省的碳排放量需要75至93年才能补偿因森林转化而损失的碳。如果原始栖息地是泥炭地，碳平衡将需要600多年。相反，在退化的草原上种植油棕将在10年内导致碳的净清除。这些估计存在相关的不确定性，但其量级和相对比例似乎是可信的。我们对已发表的将森林与油棕进行比较的动物研究进行了荟萃分析。我们发现种植园支持物种贫乏的群落，其中几乎没有森林物种。由于没有关于植物群的已发表数据，我们展示了在印度尼西亚油棕和森林地块中植物采样的结果。尽管种植园中蕨类植物的物种丰富度较高，但它们几乎没有森林物种。油棕种植园中完全没有树木、藤本植物、附生兰花和本土棕榈树。油棕种植园中大多数动植物个体属于少数几种保护关注度较低的广适性物种。随着各国努力履行一项国际协议（《京都议定书》）规定的减少碳排放义务，它们可能不仅无法履行另一项协议（《生物多样性公约》）规定的义务，而且实际上可能加速全球气候变化。减少森林砍伐可能是比将森林转化为生物燃料生产更有效的气候变化缓解策略，并且它可能有助于各国履行其减少生物多样性丧失的国际承诺。
