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Pashkevich MD, Marshall CAM, Freeman B, Reiss-Woolever VJ, Caliman JP, Drewer J, Heath B, Hendren MT, Saputra A, Stone J, Timperley JH, Draper W, Gbarway A, Geninyan B, Goll B, Guahn M, Gweh AN, Hadfield P, Jah MT, Jayswen S, Jones T, Kandie S, Koffa D, Korb J, Koon N, Manewah B, Medrano LM, Palmeirim AF, Pett B, Rocha R, Swope-Nyantee E, Tue J, Tuolee J, Van Dessel P, Vincent A, Weah R, Widodo R, Yennego AJ, Yonmah J, Turner EC. The socioecological benefits and consequences of oil palm cultivation in its native range: The Sustainable Oil Palm in West Africa (SOPWA) Project. Sci Total Environ 2024; 926:171850. [PMID: 38521255 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Revised: 03/19/2024] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/25/2024]
Abstract
Agriculture is expanding rapidly across the tropics. While cultivation can boost socioeconomic conditions and food security, it also threatens native ecosystems. Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), which is grown pantropically, is the most productive vegetable oil crop worldwide. The impacts of oil palm cultivation have been studied extensively in Southeast Asia and - to a lesser extent - in Latin America but, in comparison, very little is known about its impacts in Africa: oil palm's native range, and where cultivation is expanding rapidly. In this paper, we introduce a large-scale research programme - the Sustainable Oil Palm in West Africa (SOPWA) Project - that is evaluating the relative ecological impacts of oil palm cultivation under traditional (i.e., by local people) and industrial (i.e., by a large-scale corporation) management in Liberia. Our paper is twofold in focus. First, we use systematic mapping to appraise the literature on oil palm research in an African context, assessing the geographic and disciplinary focus of existing research. We found 757 publications occurring in 36 African countries. Studies tended to focus on the impacts of palm oil consumption on human health and wellbeing. We found no research that has evaluated the whole-ecosystem (i.e., multiple taxa and ecosystem functions) impacts of oil palm cultivation in Africa, a knowledge gap which the SOPWA Project directly addresses. Second, we describe the SOPWA Project's study design and-using canopy cover, ground vegetation cover, and soil temperature data as a case study-demonstrate its utility for assessing differences between areas of rainforest and oil palm agriculture. We outline the socioecological data collected by the SOPWA Project to date and describe the potential for future research, to encourage new collaborations and additional similar projects of its kind in West Africa. Increased research in Africa is needed urgently to understand the combined ecological and sociocultural impacts of oil palm and other agriculture in this unique region. This will help to ensure long-term sustainability of the oil palm industry-and, indeed, all tropical agricultural activity-in Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael D Pashkevich
- Insect Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom; Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Latokartanonkaari 9, 00790 Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Cicely A M Marshall
- Forest Ecology and Conservation Group, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom
| | - Benedictus Freeman
- William R. Tolbert, Jr. College of Agriculture and Forestry, Fendall Campus, University of Liberia, Montserrado County, Liberia
| | - Valentine J Reiss-Woolever
- Insect Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom
| | - Jean-Pierre Caliman
- Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology Research Institute (SMARTRI), Jalan Teuku Umar 19, Pekanbaru, 28112, Riau, Indonesia
| | - Julia Drewer
- UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, EH26 0QB, United Kingdom
| | - Becky Heath
- Insect Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew T Hendren
- School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
| | - Ari Saputra
- Golden Veroleum Liberia, 17(th) St, Monrovia, Liberia
| | - Jake Stone
- Insect Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom
| | - Jonathan H Timperley
- Insect Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom
| | - William Draper
- William R. Tolbert, Jr. College of Agriculture and Forestry, Fendall Campus, University of Liberia, Montserrado County, Liberia
| | - Abednego Gbarway
- Forestry Development Authority of the Government of Liberia, Whein Town, Mount Barclay, Liberia
| | - Bility Geninyan
- Forestry Development Authority of the Government of Liberia, Whein Town, Mount Barclay, Liberia
| | - Blamah Goll
- Forestry Development Authority of the Government of Liberia, Whein Town, Mount Barclay, Liberia
| | - Marshall Guahn
- William R. Tolbert, Jr. College of Agriculture and Forestry, Fendall Campus, University of Liberia, Montserrado County, Liberia
| | - Andrew N Gweh
- William R. Tolbert, Jr. College of Agriculture and Forestry, Fendall Campus, University of Liberia, Montserrado County, Liberia
| | - Peter Hadfield
- Ecology Solutions Ltd, Unit 4 Cokenach Estate, Royston, SG8 8DL, United Kingdom
| | - Morris T Jah
- Forestry Development Authority of the Government of Liberia, Whein Town, Mount Barclay, Liberia
| | | | - Tiecanna Jones
- Graduate School of Environmental Studies and Climate Change, University of Liberia, Capitol Hill, Monrovia, Liberia
| | | | | | - Judith Korb
- Evolutionary Biology & Ecology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg D-79104, Germany
| | | | | | | | - Ana F Palmeirim
- CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal; BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
| | - Brogan Pett
- SpiDiverse, Biodiversity Inventory for Conservation (BINCO), 3380 Walmersumstraat, Glabbeek, Belgium; Centre for Ecology and Conservation, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Cornwall, UK
| | - Ricardo Rocha
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3SZ, UK
| | | | | | | | | | - Abraham Vincent
- Forestry Development Authority of the Government of Liberia, Whein Town, Mount Barclay, Liberia
| | - Romeo Weah
- Forestry Development Authority of the Government of Liberia, Whein Town, Mount Barclay, Liberia
| | - Rudy Widodo
- Golden Veroleum Liberia, 17(th) St, Monrovia, Liberia
| | - Alfred J Yennego
- William R. Tolbert, Jr. College of Agriculture and Forestry, Fendall Campus, University of Liberia, Montserrado County, Liberia
| | - Jerry Yonmah
- Forestry Development Authority of the Government of Liberia, Whein Town, Mount Barclay, Liberia
| | - Edgar C Turner
- Insect Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom
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