A Political Ecology of Oil Palm in the Peruvian Amazon

Peru’s Amazon region is one of the newest fronts in a growing national and international interest in oil palm production. State legislation and market incentives have accelerated the growth of the industry by promoting large-scale investment and land acquisition. Based on an examination of the opposing discourses of available environmentalist and developmentalist videos and texts, I trace environmental conflict created by the establishment of a large-scale plantation in the Caynarachi-Shanusi Valley, on the San Martin-Loreto border. In addition, while area farmers make up a small fraction of land converted to oil palm, they represent a significant force in the future of oil palm development in the Peruvian Amazon, as the supposed benefactors of development, but also as keepers of diverse cropping systems and forest resources. As such, environmentalist and developmentalist discourses either over-simplify, or ignore smallholder oil palm development. Using ethnographic methods, this study examines the social and environmental perceptions of smallholders, community members, and activists in the region regarding the legacy of oil palm plantation establishment, and the changing economic, social and ecological realities of smallholders, both internal and external to the oil palm economy