An assessment of high carbon stock and high conservation value approaches to sustainable oil palm cultivation in Gabon
Abstract
© 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd. Industrial-scale oil palm cultivation is rapidly expanding
in Gabon, where it has the potential to drive economic growth, but also threatens
forest, biodiversity and carbon resources. The Gabonese government is promoting an
ambitious agricultural expansion strategy, while simultaneously committing to minimize
negative environmental impacts of oil palm agriculture. This study estimates the extent
and location of suitable land for oil palm cultivation in Gabon, based on an analysis
of recent trends in plantation permitting. We use the resulting suitability map to
evaluate two proposed approaches to minimizing negative environmental impacts: a High
Carbon Stock (HCS) approach, which emphasizes forest protection and climate change
mitigation, and a High Conservation Value (HCV) approach, which focuses on safeguarding
biodiversity and ecosystems. We quantify the forest area, carbon stock, and biodiversity
resources protected under each approach, using newly developed maps of priority species
distributions and forest biomass for Gabon. We find 2.7-3.9 Mha of suitable or moderately
suitable land that avoid HCS areas, 4.4 million hectares (Mha) that avoid HCV areas,
and 1.2-1.7 Mha that avoid both. This suggests that Gabon's oil palm production target
could likely be met without compromising important ecosystem services, if appropriate
safeguards are put in place. Our analysis improves understanding of suitability for
oil palm in Gabon, determines how conservation strategies align with national targets
for oil palm production, and informs national land use planning.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/15859Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1088/1748-9326/aa5437Publication Info
Austin, KG; Lee, ME; Clark, C; Forester, BR; Urban, DL; White, L; ... Poulsen, JR (2017). An assessment of high carbon stock and high conservation value approaches to sustainable
oil palm cultivation in Gabon. Environmental Research Letters, 12(1). 10.1088/1748-9326/aa5437. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/15859.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Prasad S. Kasibhatla
Professor in the Division of Environmental Sciences and Policy
The overarching theme of my research is to develop a fundamental and quantitative
understanding of the factors that determine the chemical composition of the atmosphere.
I am particularly interested in delineating natural and anthropogenic impacts on the
chemical composition of the atmosphere, and in exploring the potential for these impacts
to affect natural ecosystems. My research involves the use of numerical models in
conjunction with remote and insitu measurements of atmospheric composition
John Poulsen
Associate Professor of Tropical Ecology
John Poulsen is an ecologist with broad interests in the maintenance and regeneration
of tropical forests and conservation of biodiversity. His research has focused on
the effects of anthropogenic disturbance, such as logging and hunting, on forest structure
and diversity, abundance of tropical animals, and ecological processes. He has conducted
most of his research in Central Africa, where he has also worked as a conservation
manager, directing projects to sustainably manage natural resources i
Dean L. Urban
Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences and Policy
My interest in landscape ecology focuses on the agents and implications of pattern
in forested landscapes. Increasingly, my research is in what has been termed "theoretical
applied ecology," developing new analytic approaches to applications of immediate
practical concern such as conservation planning. A hallmark of my Lab is the integration
of field studies, spatial analysis, and simulation modeling in extrapolating our fine-scale
empirical understanding of environmental issues to the
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