(MY- ID) Palm oil industry mulls efforts to save Orang Utans

[Guest guest]

*http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1003-hance_colloquium.html

*Palm oil industry pledges wildlife corridors to save orangutans

**Jeremy Hance*

http://news.mongabay.com/news-index/jeremy_hance1.html

 

October 03, 2009

 

In an unlikely—and perhaps tenuous—alliance, conservationists and the palm

oil industry met this week to draw up plans to save Asia's last great ape,

the orangutan. As if to underscore the colloquium's importance, delegates on

arriving in the Malaysian State of Sabah found the capital covered in a thick

and strange fog caused by the burning of rainforests and peat lands in

neighboring Kalimantan.

 

After two days of intensive meetings the colloquium adopted a resolution

which included the acquisition of land for creating wildlife buffer zones of

at least 100 meters along all major rivers, in addition to corridors for

connecting forests. Researchers said such corridors were essential if

orangutans were to have a future in Sabah.

 

 

Young orangutan in Sabah. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. " This has to be the way

the way forward to restore or allow reversion of forests along riverbanks, "

John Payne with WWF-Malaysia said.

 

If the corridors, both connecting forests and alongside rivers, are

implemented this will prove a huge success for conservationists and a vital

step forward in saving the last remaining—and still declining—populations of

orangutans in Malaysia. Such action would also represent a seismic shift in

the palm oil industry's quest to repair a long-battered reputation due to

large-scale deforestation in Malaysia and Indonesia.

 

Sponsored by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), the Bornean Conservation

Trust, and the local conservation organization HUTAN, the meeting provided a

rare venue for government officials to have drinks with primatologists, and

palm oil entrepreneurs to share a meal with conservationists.

 

*The call for conservationists and palm oil industry to work together*

 

At times frustrations between the palm oil industry and environmentalists

rose to the surface as when a member of Greenpeace SEAsia told the crowd

that neither his organization nor he, himself, could approve of any

deforestation. However, most of the meeting was conciliatory as members from

all sides strove to find common ground.

 

 

Palm oil plantation in Malaysia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. " This colloquium

throws a challenge to all concerned stakeholders in the palm oil industry,

primatologists and ecologists included, on finding ways to develop the palm

oil industry in a symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationship with the

environment, " the chairman of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), Dato'

Lee Yeow Chor, told the audience.

 

" I'd like to call for companies and NGOs and palm oil to get close together,

get off your high horses about what should not be done […] but try to find

some middle ground for where we can constructively move forward, " said Erik

Meijaard with the Nature Conservancy, Indonesia. Meijaard works with a

population of orangutans that has continued to survive despite part of the

habitat being a paper plantation

 

Wildlife veterinarian and researcher, Marc Ancrenaz led the call for

cooperation: " It's high time to stop polarizing this debate. The oil palm

industry is going to stay, there's no point in fighting against

development. " He added " we need to look for a solution " to save orangutans.

 

*Orangutans caught in a sea of plantations *

 

Ancrenaz and the local organization HUTAN, of which he is a co-founder, was

one of the major driving forces behind the meeting. Recent aerial surveys,

funded in part by the palm oil industry, discovered orangutans living in

small forest patches hemmed in on all sides by plantations. According to

Ancrenaz, they are probably transient individuals looking for new territory.

 

 

Orangutans face many hazards in oil palm plantations. Workers have been

known to kill the apes because they can damage the pricey crop, as well

orangutans may starve to death due to lack of food sources.

 

 

Orangutans in Kalimantan. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. " Oil palm plantations

looks like forest, seem like forest, but they are not forest, " Ancrenaz told

the delegation. Studies have shown that biodiversity falls by 80 percent

when forest is converted into oil palm plantation. The industry currently

covers 1.4 million hectares of Sabah alone, over 18 percent of the state's

total land.

 

Chairman of MPOC, Dato' Lee Yeow Chor, agreed that orangutans need help.

" There is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of the State Government and

the Malaysian palm oil industry to find the ideal balance in meeting and

achieving the needs of the people while ensuring healthy co-existence with

the orangutans, " he said.

 

*A new palm oil industry?*

 

During the colloquium oil palm delegates appeared to vacillate between

conciliatory acknowledgement of environmental problems and passionately

defending their industry from any criticism.

 

Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, the Minister of Plantation Industries and

Commodities, called allegations by NGOs " vastly unfounded " , saying that

" palm oil is […] singled out as one of the primary causes of deforestation,

depletion of biodiversity, and the displacement of endangered species such

as the orangutan […] I wish to stress that all these allegations are

unjustified " .

 

However, a study in Conservation Letters found that 55-59 percent of palm

oil plantations in Malaysia built between 1990 and 2009 occurred on forested

land. In all it has been estimated that in Sabah alone forest cover declined

by nearly 90 percent from 1975-1995, likely due to both logging and oil

palm.

 

 

Palm oil plantation and rainforest in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by: Rhett A.

Butler.Other industry speakers touted the benefits of palm oil. As the

world's highest yielding oil crop, oil palm has yields that vastly

outperform corn, soy, or rapeseed, providing more food per hectare by ten to

twenty times as much. It also has a better carbon balance than rapeseed or

soy, but only if not grown over forests or peat land.

 

The CEO of MPOC, Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Yusof Basiron argued that oil palm was

responsible for poverty alleviation in the region. However, one local

conservationist said that plantation workers—who are largely immigrant

Indonesians in Sabah—are paid so little they are practically forced to hunt

in the forests for meat. Although meant for deer their snares sometimes

catch and mortally wound Bornean elephants, sunbears, and even the elusive

Bornean rhino, one of the most endangered mammals in the world.

 

There is no doubt, however, that the oil palm industry has brought a lot of

revenue to the region. In 2008 oil palm brought in 64.8 billion RM in

exports (around 18.7 billion US dollars) for all of Malaysia and in Sabah a

sizeable portion of the state's revenue comes from taxes levied on oil palm

plantations.

 

Despite the bullish arguments from some in the palm oil industry, many

industry speakers appeared wearied by the constant attacks from

environmental organizations for deforestation, biodiversity loss, and carbon

emissions.

 

" I'm not claiming any success here, " Basiron said of whether or not palm oil

industry should be called 'responsible' or 'sustainably managed', adding

that " this is something we can debate " . Regarding deforestation, Basiron

said the palm oil industry " can take some of the blame, but not all of it. "

 

But Basiron added palm oil was necessary to feed the world, saying " it's not

our fault the population is increasing. " He said there was pressure to

produce even more palm oil for global consumption: approximately 10 percent

of palm oil is used for nonfood products, such as soaps and cosmetics.

 

 

Oil palm seed. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.MPOC Chairman Chor admitted that

" biodiversity and wildlife protection has been one issue where the oil palm

industry finds itself in unfamiliar territory; after all we are planters,

who do what we do best—to increase yield while adhering to the regulations

of the country, "

 

The increasing pressure on the oil palm industry to address environmental

issues appeared to be having an effect, as the industry's spokespeople

stated repeatedly that they were open to implementing new conservation

measures and supporting, including with financial backing, new initiatives.

 

" The industry wants to be part of the efforts that not only show concern for

the environment, but in fact actually take an active part in its

conservation, " Chor said.

 

Such criticism has only become louder recently. This year advertisements in

England which touted palm oil as 'sustainable' were banned by British

Advertising Standards Association for making misleading claims. Several

western companies have begun dropping palm oil altogether, including LUSH

cosmetics and Cadbury New Zealand. But perhaps the biggest move came from

the World Bank when it suspended lending to palm oil companies last month

due to concerns about environmental and social issues.

 

These many recent actions may be one reason why the palm oil industry was

keen to say it was fully behind any efforts to aid the orangutan, even if it

meant losing significant chunks of land by government acquisition.

 

" I will support the effort to provide a corridor, even to acquire land

compulsorily because this is in order to make our agriculture and tourism

industry sustainable, " Dompock, the Minister of the Plantation Industry and

Commodities, pledged to members of the press.

 

*A new day?*

 

Not everyone was convinced by the palm oil industry's speeches.

 

" My very cynical view of the whole event is another publicity stunt for MPOC

[the Malaysian Palm Oil Council], " one anonymous conservationist said before

the meeting commenced. " I just really doubt that there's an ounce of

sincerity in the organization " .

 

 

Orangutan in Borneo. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.They were not alone: many

expressed concern that the palm oil industry would say one thing, but do

another. In fact, a lot of participants invited from the palm oil industry

were no-shows and most of those that did appear ducked out early, missing

the sessions where detailed plans were drawn up. The ones that stayed,

however, were instrumental in writing the document agreed on by the entire

assembly.

 

Despite the absence of many in the industry, locally the meeting was seen as

a success before it even finished. On the morning of the second day, the

Borneo Post published an article that covered the front page announcing that

government officials were supporting the acquisition of land for wildlife

corridors. That afternoon, following hours of deliberation, Datuk Masidi

Manjun, Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Environment, accepted the

assembly's recommendations and promised to move quickly on them.

 

By the meeting's end the fog had lifted around Sabah allowing one to see,

for the first time, the forested hills cradling the capital. At the same

time, participants spoke of feeling cautious optimism that a new day was

dawning for conservation efforts in South East Asia.

 

Only time will tell if the palm oil industry will stand by its pledges and

give the plans to create wildlife corridors their full backing, allowing

local government agencies to go ahead without obstruction. If they do, the

meeting could prove the beginning of a new and more cordial relationship

between conservationists and the palm oil industry, if not then it will be

another speech-filled assembly where pledges and promises ultimately fall

flat.

 

 

 

 

* Comments

(1)<http://comments.mongabay.com/pages/news.mongabay.com/2009/1003-hance_colloqu\

ium.html>

*

 

 

*Related articles*

 

*Could agroforestry solve the biodiversity crisis and address poverty?, an

interview with Shonil

Bhagwat<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0924-hance_bhagwat.html>

*

 

(09/24/2009) With the world facing a variety of crises: climate change, food

shortages, extreme poverty, and biodiversity loss, researchers are looking

at ways to address more than one issue at once by revolutionizing sectors of

society. One of the ideas is a transformation of agricultural practices from

intensive chemical-dependent crops to mixing agriculture and forest, while

relying on organic methods. The latter is known as agroforestry or land

sharing—balancing the crop yields with biodiversity. Shonil Bhagwat, of MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management at the School

of Geography and the Environment, Oxford, believes this philosophy could

help the world tackle some of its biggest problems.

 

 

*Palm oil both a leading threat to orangutans and a key source of jobs in

Sumatra <http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0924-orangutans.html>*

 

(09/24/2009) Of the world's two species of orangutan, a great ape that

shares 96 percent of man's genetic makeup, the Sumatran orangutan is

considerably more endangered than its cousin in Borneo. Today there are

believed to be fewer than 7,000 Sumatran orangutans in the wild, a

consequence of the wildlife trade, hunting, and accelerating destruction of

their native forest habitat by loggers, small-scale farmers, and

agribusiness. Gunung Leuser National Park in North Sumatra is one of the

last strongholds for the species, serving as a refuge among paper pulp

concessions and rubber and oil palm plantations. While orangutans are

relatively well protected in areas around tourist centers, they are affected

by poorly regulated interactions with tourists, which have increased the

risk of disease and resulted in high mortality rates among infants near

tourist centers like Bukit Lawang. Further, orangutans that range outside

the park or live in remote areas or on its margins face conflicts with

developers, including loggers, who may or may not know about the existence

of the park, and plantation workers, who may kill any orangutans they

encounter in the fields. Working to improve the fate of orangutans that find

their way into plantations and unprotected community areas is the Orangutan

Information Center (OIC), a local NGO that collaborates with the Sumatran

Orangutan Society (SOS).

 

 

*Britain bans palm oil ad campaign<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0909-mpoc.html>

*

 

(09/09/2009) Britain's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), a group that

regulates advertisements, has again banned " misleading " ads by the palm oil

industry, reports the Guardian. ASA ruled that a campaign run by the

Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) makes dubious claims, including that palm

oil is the " only product able to sustainably and efficiently meet a larger

portion of the world's increasing demand for oil crop-based consumer goods,

foodstuffs and biofuels. " The ad said criticism over " rampant deforestation

and unsound environmental practices " were part of " protectionist agendas "

not based on scientific fact. ASA held the ad breached several of its

advertising standards codes, including " substantiation, " " truthfulness, " and

" environmental claims. " In rebuking the MPOC, the ASA said that the merits

of new eco-certification scheme promoted by the palm oil industry is " still

the subject of debate " and that the ad's attacks on detractors implied that

all criticisms of the palm oil industry " were without a valid or scientific

basis. "

 

 

*World Bank's IFC suspends lending to palm oil

companies<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0909-palm_oil_ifc.html>

*

 

(09/09/2009) The World Bank has agreed to suspend International Finance

Corporation (IFC) funding of the oil palm sector pending the development of

safeguards to ensure that lending doesn't cause social or environmental

harm, according to a letter by World Bank President Robert Zoellick to NGOs.

A recent internal audit found that IFC funding of the Wilmar Group, a

plantation developer, violated the IFC's own procedures, allowing commercial

concerns to trump environmental and social standards. The findings were

championed by environmental and indigenous rights' groups who have

criticized World Bank support for industrial oil palm development which they

say has driven large-scale destruction of forests in Indonesia, boosting

greenhouse gas emissions, endangering rare and charismatic species of

wildlife, including the orangutan, and displacing forest communities.

 

 

*46 rescued orangutans returned to the wild by helicopter in

Borneo<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0905-orangutans.html>

*

 

(09/05/2009) The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) has

successfully released 46 orangutans back into the wild. The orangutans had

been rescued from forest fragments and housed for months at the Nyaru

Menteng Rescue and Reintroduction Project in Central Kalimantan until

suitable — and secure — habitat was located. The release site is a section

of rainforest in the upper Barito region of Central Kalimantan, within the

Heart of Borneo.

 

 

*20,000 orangutans killed or poached in 10 years without a single

prosecution <http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0824-orangutans.html>*

 

(08/24/2009) At least 20,000 orangutans have been killed or captured for the

illegal pet trade in the past ten years in Indonesia without a single

prosecution, according to a report published by Nature Alert and the Centre

for Orangutan Protection, groups that campaign on behalf of orangutans.

 

 

*Rehabilitation not enough to solve orangutan crisis in

Indonesia<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0820-orangutans.html>

*

 

(08/20/2009) A baby orangutan ambles across the grass at the Borneo

Orangutan Survival Foundation’s Nyaru Menteng rehabilitation center in

Central Kalimantan, in the heart of Indonesian Borneo. The ape pauses, picks

up a stick and makes his way over to a plastic log, lined with small holes.

Breaking the stick in two, he pokes one end into a hole in an effort to

extract honey that has been deposited by a conservation worker. His

expression shows the tool’s use has been fruitful. But he is not alone. To

his right another orangutan has turned half a coconut shell into a helmet,

two others wrestle on the lawn, and another youngster scales a papaya tree.

There are dozens of orangutans, all of which are about the same age. Just

outside the compound, dozens of younger orangutans are getting climbing

lessons from the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) staff, while

still younger orangutans are being fed milk from bottles in a nearby

nursery. Still more orangutans—teenagers and adults—can be found on

“Orangutan Island” beyond the center’s main grounds. Meanwhile several

recently wild orangutans sit in cages. This is a waiting game. BOS hopes to

eventually release all of these orangutans back into their natural

habitat—the majestic rainforests and swampy peatlands of Central Kalimantan,

on the island of Borneo. But for many, this is a fate that may never be

realized.

 

 

*World Bank violated environmental rules in lending to palm oil companies,

finds internal audit<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0817-world_bank_ifc.html>

*

 

(08/18/2009) A coalition of indigenous rights' organizations and green

groups is calling on the World Bank's International Finance Corporation

(IFC) to suspend lending to oil palm plantation developers over revelations

by its own internal auditors that the loan-making entity failed to follow

its own procedures for protecting against social and environmental abuses.

 

 

*Cadbury dumps palm oil after consumer

protests<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0817-cadbury_nz.html>

*

 

(08/17/2009) Cadbury New Zealand, responding to widespread consumer

protests, will stop adding palm oil to its milk chocolate products, reports

the *New Zealand Herald*. The candy-maker substituted palm oil and other

vegetable fat for cocoa butter earlier this year. The company cited cost

savings for the decision, but the move triggered outcry from environmental

groups who blame palm oil production for destruction of rainforests across

Indonesia and Malaysia, key habitat for orangutans and other endangered

species. Concerns that Cadbury chocolate could be imperiling orangutans led

the Auckland Zoo and others to ban Cadbury products. Meanwhile consumers

swamped the company with letters and petitions protesting its use of palm

oil.

 

 

*Issues around palm oil development prove complex,

controversial<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0812-palm_oil.html>

*

 

(08/12/2009) A new report from published by the Center for International

Forestry Research (CIFOR) highlights the benefits — and controversies — of

large-scale expansion of oil palm agriculture in Southeast Asia. The review,

titled " The impacts and opportunities of oil palm in Southeast Asia: What do

we know and what do we need to know? " , notes that while oil palm is a highly

productive and profitable crop, there are serious concerns about its

environmental and social impact when established on disputed land or in

place of tropical forests and peatlands.

 

 

*LUSH cosmetics launches campaign against palm

oil<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0810-lush_palm_oil.html>

*

 

(08/10/2009) LUSH Cosmetics, a leading cosmetics-maker, will no longer use

palm oil due to environmental concerns over its production. LUSH, which is

now selling a palm oil-free soap, has launched a two-pronged campaign to

make consumers aware of the impacts of palm cultivation on tropical forests

and encourage other consumer-products companies, including Procter & Gamble,

Unilever and Nestle, to reformulate their products using alternatives to

palm oil.

 

 

*Limit palm oil development to lands that store less than 40 tons of

carbon/ha - study <http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0806-palm_oil.html>*

 

(08/06/2009) A new study finds oil palm plantations store less carbon than

previously believed, suggesting that palm oil produced through the

conversion of tropical forests carries a substantial carbon debt.

 

 

*Palm oil companies trade plantation concessions for carbon credits from

forest conservation <http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0721-palm_oil_redd.html>*

 

(07/22/2009) Indonesian palm oil producers are eying forest conservation

projects as a way to supplement earnings via the nascent carbon market,

reports Reuters.

 

 

*China to support greener palm

oil<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0715-china_palm_oil.html>

*

 

(07/15/2009) China-based producers and users of palm oil said they will

provide more support for sustainable palm oil, reports WWF. The move could

boost efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of the world's most

productive oilseed.

 

 

*Auckland Zoo bans Cadbury chocolate due to palm oil

content<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0712-auckland_zoo_palm_oil.html>

*

 

(07/12/2009) Auckland Zoo has pulled Cadbury chocolates from its shops and

restaurants following the candy maker's decision to start adding palm oil to

its chocolates, reports the Sunday Star Times. The zoo is also removing

other products that contain palm oil, due to concerns that its production is

driving rainforest destruction across Southeast Asia, putting orangutans and

other species at risk. Cadbury said it made the change to palm oil for

economic reasons. Palm oil, described as " vegetable fat " on its packaging,

is cheaper than cocoa butter.

 

 

*Multinational corporation continues destruction of orangutan habitat in

Indonesia <http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0709-jardines.html>*

 

(07/09/2009) A coalition of environmental groups stepped up efforts to stop

Astra Agro Lestari (AAL), an Indonesian palm oil company, from continuing to

clear orangutan habitat in Aceh province, Indonesia.

 

 

*Failure to support greener palm oil may lead industry to abandon

environmental measures <http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0708-palm_oil.html>*

 

(07/08/2009) Consumer apathy towards eco-certified palm oil have undermined

efforts to improve the environmental performance of the industry, a top

industry official told Reuters.

 

 

*Malaysian palm oil chief claims oil palm plantations help

orangutans<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0617-orangutans.html>

*

 

(06/18/2009) Dr. Yusof Basiron, CEO of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, the

government-backed marketing arm of the Malaysian palm oil industry, claims

on his

blog<http://www.ceopalmoil.com/de-linking-ngos-concerns-over-deforestation-and-p\

alm-oil/>that

endangered orangutans benefit from living in proximity to oil palm

plantations. Environmentalists scoff at the notion, maintaining that oil

palm expansion is one of the greatest threats to orangutans.

 

 

*Peatlands conversion for oil palm a 'monumental mistake' for Indonesia's

long-term prosperity,

sustainability<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0604-indonesia_peatlands.html>

*

 

(06/04/2009) Indonesia's decision earlier this year to allow conversion of

up to 2 million hectares of peatlands for oil palm plantations is " a

monumental mistake " for the country’s long-term economic prosperity and

sustainability, argues an editorial published in the June issue of Frontiers

in Ecology and the Environment.

 

 

*Orangutan guerrillas fight palm oil in

Borneo<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0601-orangutan_guerilla_interview_cop.html>

*

 

(06/01/2009) Despite worldwide attention and concern, prime orangutan

habitat across Sumatra and Borneo continues to be destroyed by loggers and

palm oil developers, resulting in the death of up to 3,000 orangutans per

year (of a population less than 50,000). Conservation groups like Borneo

Orangutan Survival report rescuing record numbers of infant orangutans from

oil palm plantations, which are now a far bigger source of orphaned

orangutans than the illicit pet trade. The volume of orangutans entering

care centers is such that these facilities are running out of room for

rescued apes, with translocated individuals sometimes waiting several months

until suitable forest is found for reintroduction. Even then they aren't

safe; in recent months loggers have started clearing two important

reintroduction sites (forests near Bukit Tigapuluh National Park in Sumatra

and Mawas in Central Kalimantan). Meanwhile across half a dozen

rehabilitation centers in Malaysia and Indonesia, more than 1,000 baby

orangutans—their mothers killed by oil palm plantation workers or in the

process of forest clearing—are being trained by humans for hopeful

reintroduction into the wild, assuming secure habitat can be found. Dismayed

by the rising orangutan toll, a grassroots organization in Central

Kalimantan is fighting back. Led by Hardi Baktiantoro, the Center for

Orangutan Protection (COP) has mounted a guerrilla-style campaign against

companies that are destroying orangutan habitat in Kalimantan, the

Indonesian part of Borneo.

 

 

*Orangutan population in Borneo park plunges 90% in 5

years<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0517-orangutans_kutai.html>

*

 

(05/16/2009) The population of orangutans in Indonesia's Kutai National Park

has plunged by 90 percent in the past five years due to large-scale

deforestation promoted by local authorities, reports The Centre for

Orangutan Protection (COP), an Indonesian environmental group.

 

 

*Consumers show no interest in eco-certified palm oil; WWF threatens naming

and shaming campaign<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0513-palm_oil_wwf_rspo.html>

*

 

(05/13/2009) Lack of interest in eco-certified palm oil among buyers

threatens to undermine efforts to improve the environmental performance of

the industry, reports the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

 

 

*Environmental campaign blocks palm oil project in Cote d' Ivoire

wetland<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0425-cote_d_ivoire_palm_oil.html>

*

 

(04/25/2009) Environmentalists have thwarted plans to establish an oil palm

plantation in the Tanoe forest wetlands of southern Cote d' Ivoire (Ivory

Coast), reports AFP.

 

 

*Can carbon credits from REDD compete with palm oil?

<http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0330-palm_oil_vs_redd.html>*

 

(03/30/2009) Reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) is

increasingly seen as a compelling way to conserve tropical forests while

simultaneously helping mitigate climate change, preserving biodiversity, and

providing sustainable livelihoods for rural people. But to become a reality

REDD still faces a number of challenges, not least of which is economic

competition from other forms of land use. In Indonesia and Malaysia, the

biggest competitor is likely oil palm, which is presently one of the most

profitable forms of land use. Oil palm is also spreading to other tropical

forest areas including the Brazilian Amazon.