Tropical agricultural production, conservation and carbon sequesteration conflicts: oil palm expansion in South East Asia

Agricultural expansion remains one of the leading causes of deforestation, biodiversity losses and environmental degradation across the world, especially in the tropics (Angelsen et al., 1999 and Norris, 2008). From 1961 to 1993, the world population increased by 80% (Goklany, 1998). Due to the rapidly expanding human populations large increases in the supply of agricultural products are required, which may lead to the transformation of many landscapes (including biodiversity-rich tropical rainforests) to agricultural landscapes (Ewers et al., 2009). The quest for further land for agricultural production has already caused significant habitat loss and fragmentation, posing substantial threats to the world’s biodiversity, forests and ecosystems (Goklany, 1998). According to Matson and Vitousek (2006), many involved in conservation believe that the twin goals of increasing agricultural production and conservation are fundamentally incompatible. Indeed representatives of developing countries (where the tropical forests and majority of the world’s biodiversity reside) argue that their developmental needs are partially met by deforestation, since it provides arable land and timber export revenues (Leplay et al., 2010). Further, agricultural revenues accrued from cultivating plantation crops, such as timber, palm and coffee, are significant drivers of deforestation in many parts of the tropics (Kaimowitz and Angelsen, 1998)