Carbon emissions from forest conversion by Kalimantan oil palm plantations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used land cover classification combined with carbon flux estimates to develop high-resolution estimates of carbon flux from Kalimantan plantations for the period 1990-2010.
Abstract: Indonesia accounts for a large proportion of the oil palm plantation expansion occurring globally. However, Indonesia’s mixed forests (and associated carbon stocks) complicate estimation of the contribution of oil palm agriculture to global carbon budgets. Remotely sensed land-cover classification combined with carbon flux estimates are now used to develop high-resolution estimates of carbon flux from Kalimantan plantations for the period 1990–2010.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: It is found that a relatively small set of places and actions could provide enough new calories to meet the basic needs for more than 3 billion people, address many environmental impacts with global consequences, and focus food waste reduction on the commodities with the greatest impact on food security.
Abstract: Achieving sustainable global food security is one of humanity's contemporary challenges. Here we present an analysis identifying key "global leverage points" that offer the best opportunities to improve both global food security and environmental sustainability. We find that a relatively small set of places and actions could provide enough new calories to meet the basic needs for more than 3 billion people, address many environmental impacts with global consequences, and focus food waste reduction on the commodities with the greatest impact on food security. These leverage points in the global food system can help guide how nongovernmental organizations, foundations, governments, citizens' groups, and businesses prioritize actions.
580 citations
TL;DR: To guide interventions aimed at reducing tropical deforestation due to oil palm, recent expansions are analysed and likely future ones are modelled, and critical areas for biodiversity that oil palm expansion threatens are identified.
Abstract: Palm oil is the most widely traded vegetable oil globally, with demand projected to increase substantially in the future. Almost all oil palm grows in areas that were once tropical moist forests, some of them quite recently. The conversion to date, and future expansion, threatens biodiversity and increases greenhouse gas emissions. Today, consumer pressure is pushing companies toward deforestation-free sources of palm oil. To guide interventions aimed at reducing tropical deforestation due to oil palm, we analysed recent expansions and modelled likely future ones. We assessed sample areas to find where oil palm plantations have recently replaced forests in 20 countries, using a combination of high-resolution imagery from Google Earth and Landsat. We then compared these trends to countrywide trends in FAO data for oil palm planted area. Finally, we assessed which forests have high agricultural suitability for future oil palm development, which we refer to as vulnerable forests, and identified critical areas for biodiversity that oil palm expansion threatens. Our analysis reveals regional trends in deforestation associated with oil palm agriculture. In Southeast Asia, 45% of sampled oil palm plantations came from areas that were forests in 1989. For South America, the percentage was 31%. By contrast, in Mesoamerica and Africa, we observed only 2% and 7% of oil palm plantations coming from areas that were forest in 1989. The largest areas of vulnerable forest are in Africa and South America. Vulnerable forests in all four regions of production contain globally high concentrations of mammal and bird species at risk of extinction. However, priority areas for biodiversity conservation differ based on taxa and criteria used. Government regulation and voluntary market interventions can help incentivize the expansion of oil palm plantations in ways that protect biodiversity-rich ecosystems.
484 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that preventing agricultural conversion of logged forests is essential to conserving the biodiversity of this region and that conservation payments commensurate with combined returns from logging and subsequent agricultural production may be required to secure long-term forest protection.
Abstract: In 2004, Navjot Sodhi and colleagues warned that logging and agricultural conversion of Southeast Asia's forests were leading to a biodiversity disaster. We evaluate this prediction against subsequent research and conclude that most of the fauna of the region can persist in logged forests. Conversely, conversion of primary or logged forests to plantation crops, such as oil palm, causes tremendous biodiversity loss. This loss is exacerbated by increased fire frequency. Therefore, we conclude that preventing agricultural conversion of logged forests is essential to conserving the biodiversity of this region. Our analysis also suggests that, because Southeast Asian forests are tightly tied to global commodity markets, conservation payments commensurate with combined returns from logging and subsequent agricultural production may be required to secure long-term forest protection.
401 citations
TL;DR: This review explores multiple components of the food‐energy‐water nexus and highlights possible approaches that could be used to meet food and energy security with the limited renewable water resources of the planet.
Abstract: Water availability is a major factor constraining humanity's ability to meet the future food and energy needs of a growing and increasingly affluent human population. Water plays an important role ...
392 citations
TL;DR: PEATMAP as discussed by the authors is a GIS shapefile dataset that shows a distribution of peatlands that covers the entire world. It was produced by combining the most high quality available peatland map from a wide variety of sources that describe peat land distributions at global, regional and national levels.
Abstract: PEATMAP is a GIS shapefile dataset shows a distribution of peatlands that covers the entire world. It was produced by combining the most high quality available peatland map from a wide variety of sources that describe peatland distributions at global, regional and national levels. The following sequence of comparisons to discriminate between overlapping data sources were used: (1) Relevance. The most important criterion was that source data are able to identify peatlands faithfully and to distinguish them from other land cover types, especially non-peat forming wetlands. (2) Spatial resolution. In areas where two or more overlapping data sources were indistinguishable in terms of their relevance to peatlands, the dataset with the finest spatial resolution was selected. (3) Age. In any areas where two or more overlapping datasets were indistinguishable based on both their apparent relevance to peatlands and their spatial resolution, the data product that had been most recently updated was selected. Recently updated products commonly contain much older source data, the period over which the latest revision source data were collected as the primary measure of the age of a dataset.
390 citations
References
More filters
TL;DR: It is estimated that between 0.81 and 2.57 Gt of carbon were released to the atmosphere in 1997 as a result of burning peat and vegetation in Indonesia, equivalent to 13–40% of the mean annual global carbon emissions from fossil fuels, and contributed greatly to the largest annual increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration detected since records began in 1957.
Abstract: Tropical peatlands are one of the largest near-surface reserves of terrestrial organic carbon, and hence their stability has important implications for climate change1,2,3. In their natural state, lowland tropical peatlands support a luxuriant growth of peat swamp forest overlying peat deposits up to 20 metres thick4,5. Persistent environmental change—in particular, drainage and forest clearing—threatens their stability2, and makes them susceptible to fire6. This was demonstrated by the occurrence of widespread fires throughout the forested peatlands of Indonesia7,8,9,10 during the 1997 El Nino event. Here, using satellite images of a 2.5 million hectare study area in Central Kalimantan, Borneo, from before and after the 1997 fires, we calculate that 32% (0.79 Mha) of the area had burned, of which peatland accounted for 91.5% (0.73 Mha). Using ground measurements of the burn depth of peat, we estimate that 0.19–0.23 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon were released to the atmosphere through peat combustion, with a further 0.05 Gt released from burning of the overlying vegetation. Extrapolating these estimates to Indonesia as a whole, we estimate that between 0.81 and 2.57 Gt of carbon were released to the atmosphere in 1997 as a result of burning peat and vegetation in Indonesia. This is equivalent to 13–40% of the mean annual global carbon emissions from fossil fuels, and contributed greatly to the largest annual increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration detected since records began in 1957 (ref. 1).
1,731 citations
TL;DR: This study analyzes the rich, pan-tropical database of classified Landsat scenes created by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations to examine pathways of agricultural expansion across the major tropical forest regions in the 1980s and 1990s and highlights the future land conversions that probably will be needed to meet mounting demand for agricultural products.
Abstract: Global demand for agricultural products such as food, feed, and fuel is now a major driver of cropland and pasture expansion across much of the developing world. Whether these new agricultural lands replace forests, degraded forests, or grasslands greatly influences the environmental consequences of expansion. Although the general pattern is known, there still is no definitive quantification of these land-cover changes. Here we analyze the rich, pan-tropical database of classified Landsat scenes created by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations to examine pathways of agricultural expansion across the major tropical forest regions in the 1980s and 1990s and use this information to highlight the future land conversions that probably will be needed to meet mounting demand for agricultural products. Across the tropics, we find that between 1980 and 2000 more than 55% of new agricultural land came at the expense of intact forests, and another 28% came from disturbed forests. This study underscores the potential consequences of unabated agricultural expansion for forest conservation and carbon emissions.
1,493 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided the most detailed estimate of the carbon density of vegetation and associated carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation for ecosystems across the tropics across the world, including tropical rainforests.
Abstract: Deforestation contributes 6–17% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. However, much uncertainty in the calculation of deforestation emissions stems from the inadequacy of forest carbon-density and deforestation data. Now an analysis provides the most-detailed estimate so far of the carbon density of vegetation and the associated carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation for ecosystems across the tropics.
1,428 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, after fossil fuel combustion, is revised downwards, but tropical peatlands emerge as a notable carbon dioxide source.
Abstract: Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, after fossil fuel combustion. Following a budget reanalysis, the contribution from deforestation is revised downwards, but tropical peatlands emerge as a notable carbon dioxide source.
1,304 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used available information on tropical peatland area and thickness and calculate peat volume and carbon content in order to determine their best estimates and ranges of variation.
Abstract: Accurate inventory of tropical peatland is important in order to (a) determine the magnitude of the carbon pool; (b) estimate the scale of transfers of peat-derived greenhouse gases to the atmosphere resulting from land use change; and (c) support carbon emissions reduction policies. We review available information on tropical peatland area and thickness and calculate peat volume and carbon content in order to determine their best estimates and ranges of variation. Our best estimate of tropical peatland area is 441 025 km2 (?11% of global peatland area) of which 247 778 km2 (56%) is in Southeast Asia. We estimate the volume of tropical peat to be 1758 Gm3 (?18–25% of global peat volume) with 1359 Gm3 in Southeast Asia (77% of all tropical peat). This new assessment reveals a larger tropical peatland carbon pool than previous estimates, with a best estimate of 88.6 Gt (range 81.7–91.9 Gt) equal to 15–19% of the global peat carbon pool. Of this, 68.5 Gt (77%) is in Southeast Asia, equal to 11–14% of global peat carbon. A single country, Indonesia, has the largest share of tropical peat carbon (57.4 Gt, 65%), followed by Malaysia (9.1 Gt, 10%). These data are used to provide revised estimates for Indonesian and Malaysian forest soil carbon pools of 77 and 15 Gt, respectively, and total forest carbon pools (biomass plus soil) of 97 and 19 Gt. Peat carbon contributes 60% to the total forest soil carbon pool in Malaysia and 74% in Indonesia. These results emphasize the prominent global and regional roles played by the tropical peat carbon pool and the importance of including this pool in national and regional assessments of terrestrial carbon stocks and the prediction of peat-derived greenhouse gas emissions.
1,103 citations