Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia
Abstract
Demand for agricultural commodities is the leading driver of tropical deforestation. Many corporations have pledged to eliminate forest loss from their supply chains by purchasing only certified "sustainable" products. To evaluate whether certification fulfills such pledges, we applied statistical analyses to satellite-based estimates of tree cover loss to infer the causal impact of a third-party certification system on deforestation and fire within Indonesian oil palm plantations. We found that certification significantly reduced deforestation, but not fire or peatland clearance, among participating plantations. Moreover, certification was mostly adopted in older plantations that contained little remaining forest. Broader adoption by oil palm growers is likely needed for certification to have a large impact on total forest area lost to oil palm expansion.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- January 2018
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1704728114
- Bibcode:
- 2018PNAS..115..121C
- Keywords:
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- Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil;
- peatland;
- quasi-experimental methods;
- governance;
- tropical commodity