Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia

2017/12/11 by Kimberly M. Carlson, Robert Heilmayr, Holly K. Gibbs +6 · 5 citations
Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Oil Palm Production and Sustainability #Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management #Agricultural and Environmental Management

paper · pdf · doi:10.1073/pnas.1704728114

openalex publication_date 2017/12/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

Significance 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.

Citations

• High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change
• Slowing Amazon deforestation through public policy and interventions in beef and soy supply chains
• Carbon emissions from forest conversion by Kalimantan oil palm plantations
• Trading forests: land-use change and carbon emissions embodied in production and exports of forest-risk commodities
• Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation

Cited by

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• The environmental impacts of palm oil in context
• Eighty-six EU policy options for reducing imported deforestation
• Landscapes that work for biodiversity and people
• Palm oil [wikipedia]