Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, United States; Biological Institute, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russian Federation.
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, United States.
Sci Total Environ. 2019 Feb 20;652:48-51. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.222. Epub 2018 Oct 16.
The globalization of the palm oil trade poses a menace to the ecosystem integrity of Southeast Asia. In this short communication, we briefly discuss why palm oil certifications may have failed as an effective means to halt forest degradation and biodiversity loss. From a comparison of multiple new datasets, we analysed recent tree loss in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea, and discovered that, from 2001 to 2016, about 40% of the area located in certified concessions suffered from habitat degradation, deforestation, fires, or other tree damages. Certified concessions have been subject to more tree removals than non-certified ones. We also detect significant tree loss before and after the start of certification schemes. Beyond non-governmental organisations' concern that Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG) certifications allow ongoing clearance of any forest not identified as of high conservation values (HCV) or high carbon stock (HCS), we suggest an alarming and previously overlooked situation, such as that current "sustainable palm oil" is often associated with recent habitat degradation and forest loss. In other words, certified palm oil production may not be so sustainable.
棕榈油贸易的全球化对东南亚的生态系统完整性构成了威胁。在这篇简短的交流中，我们简要讨论了棕榈油认证为何可能未能成为阻止森林退化和生物多样性丧失的有效手段。通过比较多个新数据集，我们分析了印度尼西亚、马来西亚和巴布亚新几内亚最近的树木减少情况，发现从 2001 年到 2016 年，约有 40%的认证特许权地区遭受了栖息地退化、森林砍伐、火灾或其他树木损害。认证特许权地区的树木砍伐量超过了非认证特许权地区。我们还在认证计划开始前后检测到了显著的树木减少。除了非政府组织关注的可持续棕榈油圆桌会议 (RSPO) 和棕榈油创新集团 (POIG) 认证允许持续清除任何未被确定为高保护价值 (HCV) 或高碳储量 (HCS) 的森林之外，我们还提出了一个令人震惊且以前被忽视的情况，例如当前的“可持续棕榈油”通常与最近的栖息地退化和森林丧失有关。换句话说，经过认证的棕榈油生产可能并不那么可持续。
