Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Ordway, Elsa M
• Naylor, Rosamond L
• Nkongho, Raymond N
• Lambin, Eric F

Titel

Oil palm expansion and deforestation in Southwest Cameroon associated with proliferation of informal mills

Ist Teil von

• Nature communications, 2019-01, Vol.10 (1), p.114-11, Article 114

Ort / Verlag

England: Nature Publishing Group

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Oil palm expansion resulted in 2 million hectares (Mha) of forest loss globally in 2000-2010. Despite accounting for 24% (4.5 Mha) of the world's total oil palm cultivated area, expansion dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa have been overlooked. We show that in Southwest Cameroon, a top producing region of Africa, 67% of oil palm expansion from 2000-2015 occurred at the expense of forest. Contrary to the publicized narrative of industrial-scale expansion, most oil palm expansion and associated deforestation is occurring outside large agro-industrial concessions. Expansion and deforestation carried out by non-industrial producers is occurring near low-efficiency informal mills, unconstrained by the location of high-efficiency company-owned mills. These results highlight the key role of a booming informal economic sector in driving rapid land use change. High per capita consumption and rising palm oil demands in sub-Saharan Africa spotlight the need to consider informal economies when identifying regionally relevant sustainability pathways.