Sustainable palm oil: challenges, a common vision and the way forward - a two-day ZSL symposium

Escalating global demand for palm oil continues to drive rapid expansion of oil palm monocultures across the tropics. Whilst business is booming for the palm oil industry, providing a major source of employment and foreign exchange for producing nations, success is tainted by the extensive damage being inflicted on some of the richest ecosystems on earth.

This creates a complex challenge for biodiversity conservation. Insatiable demand for vegetable oil combined with high yields and profitability mean that oil palm expansion is set to continue, yet the predicted scale of expansion makes it a strong contender for the single greatest threat to biodiversity on the planet. How can these socio-economic and environmental goals be reconciled?

The focus of this symposium was to define a common vision for integrating environmental and socio-economic goals for more sustainable palm oil production and to identify and catalyse the stakeholder actions necessary to achieve this. As a first step, key scientists, policy makers, NGOs and private sector representatives reviewed the science and practicalities of reconciling continued global oil palm expansion with biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of ecosystem functions. The second step was to explore the processes, decisions and conditions necessary to make this common vision a reality, highlighting the roles of investors, policymakers, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, palm oil producers, retailers and NGOs.

To find out more about the information presented and topics discussed during this symposium you can download the book of abstracts or copies of the presentations from the links below.

You can also listen to a recording of this 2 day symposium on the 2 degrees website

Proceedings of the symposium 'Sustainable palm oil: challenges, a common vision & the way forwards'

• Abstract book of speaker and poster presentations Palm Oil Symposium Abstracts (438 KB)

SESSION I: PALM OIL & SUSTAINABILITY

• The business case for sustainable practice: protecting our natural assets. Duncan Pollard (Sustainability Advisor, Nestle) (2.8 MB)

• A global challenge: market assessment and scenarios for oil palm expansion. James Fry (LMC, UK) (241 KB)

SESSION 2: PALM OIL & THE ENVIRONMENT

• Reducing green house gas emissions from land use changes for oil palm development. Fahmuddin Agus (Indonesian Soil Research Institute) (1.4 MB)

• Can oil palm & biodiversity co-exist? Sophie Persey (ZSL, Indonesia) (10.2 MB)

• Securing sustainable ecosystem services within oil palm landscapes. Jake Snaddon (Department of Zoology, Cambridge University, UK) (3.8 MB)

SESSION 3: BALANCING ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIO-ECONOMIC GOALS

• Reconciling targets for the environment, development and oil palm expansion. John Garcia-Ulloa (ETH, Zurich & CIFOR) (315 KB)

• Maintaining High Conservation Values in oil palm landscapes. Christopher Stewart (HCV Resource Network, UK) (2.7 MB)

• The challenges, costs & benefits of maintaining High Conservation Values. Simon Siburat (Wilmar International, Singapore) (2.2 MB)

• Sustainable practice for smallholders: the challenges. Jan Maartan Dros (Solidaridad) (2.2 MB)

• Directing Oil Palm Expansion onto ‘Degraded Land’ in Indonesia: What is it? Where is it? And what to do when you get there. Moray McLeish (World Resources Institute, Indonesia) (4.7 MB)

SESSION 4: THE ROLE OF PRODUCER GOVERNMENTS

• Strengthening legal frameworks in Indonesia. Suer Suryadi (Wildlife Conservation Society, Indonesia) (476 KB)

• Spatial planning as a tool to guide responsible production in Indonesia. Dolly Priatna (Zoological Society London, Indonesia) (14.9 MB)

• The outlook for large scale oil palm expansion in Liberia.Chea Garley Sr (Assistant Minister for Technical Services, Ministry of Agriculture, Republic of Liberia) (1.7 MB)

SESSION 5: MECHANISMS TO ASSIST SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION

• Increasing the effectiveness of the RSPO. Darell Webber (RSPO Secretary General, Malaysia) (6.0 MB)

• The challenges of compensating for impacts on ecosystems & biodiversity. Kerry Ten Kate (BBOP) (6.4 MB)

• Principles, practices & stakeholder expectations for reducing impacts of oil palm on the environment.Gary Paoli (Daemeter Consulting, Indonesia) (13.9 MB)

SESSION 6: THE MARKET FOR SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL

• Responsible investment as a driver of sustainable production. John Laidlow (HSBC) (0.9 MB)

• The role of media and civil society in promoting sustainable palm oil production and consumption. Adam Harrison (WWF) (1.5 MB)

• The manufacturers’ approach to sustainable palm oil. Neil la Croix, (Director of Sustainable Supply Chains, Kraft Foods)

• Consumer Governments: roles to support sustainable palm oil. Sara Eppel (DEFRA) (485 KB)

• Promoting the procurement of sustainable palm oil in China. Chen Ying (Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Import & Export of Foodstuffs) (0.9 MB)

SESSION 7: THE WAY FORWARDS

• Lessons learnt and the way forwards. Ruth Nussbaum (ProForest, UK) (472 KB)

This symposium was held in collaboration with ProForest and the Wildlife Conservation Society and was organised by Sophie Persey (ZSL), Sarah Christie (ZSL), Ruth Nussbaum (ProForest), Matthew Hatchwell (WCS) and Helen Crowley (WCS). Funding was provided by a grant from the Biodiversity & Agricultural Commodities Programme, with match funding from Wilmar International.

For all enquiries: please contact Sophie Persey, Biodiversity & Oil Palm Project Manager, Zoological Society of London, Indonesia; e-mail: sophie.persey@zsl.org ;

To find out more about our Biodiversity and Oil Palm project in Indonesia, you can visit our Biodiversity Information for Oil Palm website , or download our project information sheet (1.6 MB)

Related links
ZSL Biodiversity Information for Oil Palm website
ZSL Indonesia Conservation Programme
ZSL Science and Conservation Events
Map showing ZSL Meeting Rooms
Directions to ZSL London Zoo
Information on ZSL membership