ABSTRACT
The African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis, Jacq.) is the highest-producing oil crop, with a mere 6% of cultivable lands planted with oil palm yielding one-third of the global vegetable oil market share (FAO, 2015). However, the combination of a strong demographic pressure and increased per capita income in developing countries (chiefly in Asian countries such as China and India) puts a strain on the demand for edible oils, with its consumption predicted to nearly double by 2050 (Corley, 2009; Murphy, 2014). Palm oil production, on the other hand, is constrained by growing international concerns over the negative impacts of plantations on both the environment and human communities. Changes in land use from high conservation value, high carbon stock primary forests or peatlands to oil palm plantations are paralleled by a drop in both biodiversity and carbon sequestration, together with a rise in greenhouse gases emissions. Under the impulse of both state-owned holdings and private companies, the implantation or expansion of large oil palm plantations sometimes occurs at the expense of local populations and cases of illegal land appropriation were reported, especially in Africa (Koh and Wilcove, 2007; Rival and Levang, 2014; Wich et al., 2014). The relative stalling of plantations growth that ensues is becoming a pregnant problem in the two main oil palm producing countries, Indonesia and Malaysia, which together account for nearly 90% of the world’s supply of palm oil and which rely on this commodity for their economic growth.
