Positive and Negative Impacts of Oil Palm Expansion in Indonesia

As the scale and the importance of oil palm expansion which has been creating environmental problems, but also creating economic benefits for Indonesian people become increasingly evident, as too does the need for a sound sustainable basis for future actions. This book provides a new pathway to sustain pristine forest and peatlands while maintaning economic benefits from oil palm cultivation. The study elaborate the issues, taking into accounts the challanges of economic issues, inequality of development between Java and outher islands of Indonesia, employent and the poverty reduction objective, as well as government target to reduce GHG emissions. As smallholders achieve less then 50% of the yield obtained by large estates, creating a development system that improve productivity would provide the key to poverty reduction and saving remaining forest and peatlands. In some cases large plantation and smallholdings have developed partnership that have reduces interest in opening remnant forest, to scale up such success, large plantations need to adopt key sustainable development principle. Such parnership could improve the progress of implementing standards P&C of RSPO, ISPO, HCS+.