Human alteration of the global environment has triggered the sixth major extinction event in the history of life and caused widespread changes in the global distribution of organisms. These changes in biodiversity alter ecosystem processes and change the resilience of ecosystems to environmental change. This has profound consequences for services that humans derive from ecosystems. The large ecological and societal consequences of changing biodiversity should be minimized to preserve options for future solutions to global environmental problems.

Consequences of changing biodiversity

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

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Biofuel Plantations on Forested Lands : Double Jeopardy for Biodiversity and Climate

Exploring land use changes and the role of palm oil production in Indonesia and Malaysia

How much palm oil do we need

Influence of slash-and-burn farming practices on fallow succession and land degradation in the rainforest region of Madagascar

The rehabilitation or intensified use of Imperata grasslands will require a much better understanding of their area, distribution, and characteristics We generated estimates of the area of Imperata grasslands in tropical Asia, and suggested a typology of Imperata grasslands that may be useful to define the pathways toward appropriate land use intensification We conclude that the area of Imperata grasslands in Asia is about 35 million ha This about 4% of the total land area The countries with the largest area of Imperata grasslands are Indonesia (85 million ha) and India (80 million ha) Those with the largest proportion of their surface area covered with Imperata are Sri Lanka (23%), the Philippines (17%), and Vietnam (9%) Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, and Bangladesh evidently all have similar proportions of their land area infested with Imperata (about 3 to 4%) Malaysia (< 1%), Cambodia (1%), and the southern part of China (2%) have but a minor proportion of their total land area in Imperata The species was found widely distributed on the full range of soil orders It occupied both fertile (eg some of the Inceptisols and Andisols) and infertile soils (Ultisols and Oxisols) across a wide range of climates and elevations Imperata lands fall into four mapping scale-related categories: Mega-grasslands, itmacro-grasslands, meso-grasslands, and micro-grasslands The mega-grasslands are often referred to as ‘sheet Imperata’ They are the large contiguous areas of Imperata that would appear on small-scale maps of say 1:1,000,000 We propose that this basic typology be supplemented with a number of additional components that have a key influence on intensification pathways: land quality, market access, and the source of power for tillage The typology was applied in a case study of Indonesian villages in the vicinity of Imperata grasslands We propose an international initiative to map and derive a more complete and uniform picture of the area of the Imperata grasslands This should include selected studies to understand conditions at the local level These are critical to build the appreciation of change agents for the indigenous systems of resource exploitation, and how they relate to local needs, values and constraints

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M. Soekardi

Papers

The Imperata grasslands of tropical Asia: area, distribution, and typology