Change in carbon stocks arising from land-use conversion to oil palm plantations
A science-for-policy paper for the Oil palm Research-Policy Partnership Network

Lead author: Dr Jennifer Lucey, University of York, UK Jennifer.lucey@york.ac.uk
Contributing authors: Prof Jane Hill, University of York; Dr Peter van der Meer, Alterra Wageningen; Dr Glen Reynolds, SEARRP; Prof Fahmuddin Agus, Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development

Comments kindly provided by Caspar Verwer, MSc, IUCN NL and Dr Arina Schrier, Wetlands International

May 2014

The project was funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Scope of the report
The aim of this report is to synthesize current scientific information to help policy makers make decisions about land conversion to oil palm plantations. This report compares the carbon stocks (CS) of oil palm plantations with other land cover types to determine the change in stored carbon which will arise from converting these different land covers to oil palm plantations.

The report focuses on CS comparisons of different land cover types, and does not include other important values such as biodiversity, ecosystem goods and services (such as soil and water protection), food security (i.e. in the case of converting crop land), social and economic values or indirect land use change. Carbon stocks are not necessarily a good indicator of other values, and all these values should be considered alongside the evidence presented in this report when making decisions about land conversion.

The report focuses specifically on Malaysia and Indonesia. Many of the findings may also be broadly applicable to other regions, but land cover types may differ substantially in characteristics and carbon content, especially for Africa and Central/South America. Additional evidence should be obtained to inform policy decisions in these regions.
Carbon emissions from other aspects of land clearing and palm oil production, such as fossil fuel use or mill effluent emissions, are not considered in the report, but may be significant. Therefore, conversion of land cover types with similar CS to oil palm plantations may not equate to carbon neutral conversion, and companies should also address these other emissions to improve the carbon footprint of their plantations (see Chase et al. 2012).

Potential for carbon offsetting and compensatory mechanisms are not addressed in this report, but could be a useful tool in policy decisions. There may be benefits to converting some land with a slightly higher CS if increased protection and rehabilitation of land elsewhere could give greater overall carbon benefits. Other important values such as biodiversity and rural/smallholder livelihoods might also be considered in this context.

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