Promoting landscape heterogeneity to improve the biodiversity benefits of certified palm oil production: Evidence from Peninsular Malaysia
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In: Global Ecology and Conservation, Vol. 3, 01.01.2015, p. 553-561.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Promoting landscape heterogeneity to improve the biodiversity benefits of certified palm oil production
T2 - Evidence from Peninsular Malaysia
AU - Azhar, Badrul
AU - Saadun, Norzanalia
AU - Puan, Chong Leong
AU - Kamarudin, Norizah
AU - Aziz, Najjib
AU - Nurhidayu, Siti
AU - Fischer, Joern
N1 - Funding Information: We thank M.S. Yahya for assisting this research in the field and for providing computer technical support in data analysis. This study was not supported by any research grants, but authors used existing resources available from Universiti Putra Malaysia to conduct this research. Publisher Copyright: © 2015 The Authors.
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is responsible for the certification of palm oil producers that comply with sustainability standards. However, it is not known whether RSPO-certified plantations are effective in maintaining biodiversity. Focusing on Peninsular Malaysia, we show that both RSPO-certified plantations and uncertified large-scale plantations are characterized by very low levels of landscape heterogeneity. By contrast, heterogeneity measures were many times higher in palm oil producing smallholdings, despite their lack of RSPO certification. The low heterogeneity of large-scale oil palm plantations, including those certified by the RSPO, is likely to severely limit their value for biodiversity conservation. Uncertified smallholdings, in contrast, are much more heterogeneous and therefore hold substantially greater promise for the integration of palm oil production and biodiversity conservation than large-scale plantations. With oil palm agriculture further expanding, certification schemes should mandate producers to improve biodiversity conservation through landscape management that promotes greater landscape heterogeneity.
AB - The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is responsible for the certification of palm oil producers that comply with sustainability standards. However, it is not known whether RSPO-certified plantations are effective in maintaining biodiversity. Focusing on Peninsular Malaysia, we show that both RSPO-certified plantations and uncertified large-scale plantations are characterized by very low levels of landscape heterogeneity. By contrast, heterogeneity measures were many times higher in palm oil producing smallholdings, despite their lack of RSPO certification. The low heterogeneity of large-scale oil palm plantations, including those certified by the RSPO, is likely to severely limit their value for biodiversity conservation. Uncertified smallholdings, in contrast, are much more heterogeneous and therefore hold substantially greater promise for the integration of palm oil production and biodiversity conservation than large-scale plantations. With oil palm agriculture further expanding, certification schemes should mandate producers to improve biodiversity conservation through landscape management that promotes greater landscape heterogeneity.
KW - Biodiversity
KW - Landscape heterogeneity
KW - Oil palm
KW - Plantations
KW - RSPO
KW - Smallholdings
KW - Sustainability Science
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84923633090&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.gecco.2015.02.009
DO - 10.1016/j.gecco.2015.02.009
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:84923633090
VL - 3
SP - 553
EP - 561
JO - Global Ecology and Conservation
JF - Global Ecology and Conservation
ER -