Why the Palm Oil Conversation is Evolving

For years, the public conversation around palm oil was stuck in a simple loop: palm oil is bad.

The narrative is simple, emotionally driven and incredibly enduring! Powerful images of the devastating loss of wildlife habitats across Indonesia and Malaysia, despondent orangutans, and monoculture crops where virgin rainforest once stood were all the proof that was needed to cement this view in the media and the minds of consumers.

The huge progress made on improving the sustainability of palm oil over the decades did little, if anything, to change the narrative until very recently.

Today, that is changing – and over the past couple of years, we’re starting to see some much-needed nuance enter the discussion. The conversation is maturing, as many begin to understand the importance of sustainably sourced, segregated and certified palm oil, the complexity of global commodity supply chains and the growing raft of legislation designed to protect rainforest habitats across the world.

Crucially, the industry and increasingly the public have recognised that sustainability, rather than boycotts are the key to pushing the conversation forward.

The Start of the Conversation

The sustainable palm oil movement isn’t new – but efforts to communicate the benefits of sustainable palm have been much less successful than the positive changes made by the industry over the past two decades.

This is despite the fact that the narrative has remained fairly constant for 20 years!

The rationale behind the core message has always been sound. Palm oil is the most efficient vegetable oil in the world, supplying 35% of the world’s vegetable oil supply from just 10% of the global land dedicated to oil crops.

(Image credit: IUCN)

Implementing sustainable practices means we can benefit from the efficiency and versatility of palm, while minimising the negative impact on people and planet. Not choosing palm oil means choosing another oil, and the impact could be significantly worse. The most sustainable alternative to palm oil is sustainable palm.

Reticence to Get Involved

So why didn’t the message cut through?

We’ve already touched on one of the challenges – the anti palm narrative was already set, and backed up by evocative images of destroyed landscapes and displaced, despondent wildlife. This narrative was based in reality – historically, the expansion of palm oil was responsible for all these problems, and to this day, rainforests are being cleared for oil palm.

Trying to challenge this narrative while the industry was still involved in widespread deforestation was always going to fail.

At the same time, even those making progress were reluctant to challenge the narrative. Many major players in the industry stayed fairly quiet. They were happier to keep their heads down and remain under the radar, rather than risk communicating about their imperfect though tangible progress – knowing how strong the anti-palm narrative was.

There have been, of course, efforts from some to talk about the progress being made. The RSPO, and other major industry players such as AAK, Daabon Group and KTC Edibles in the UK acted as a vanguard for the message. NGOs like the WWF also led the charge to inject some nuance into the conversation.

Fats are complex, both in chemistry and in public discourse. For decades, “fat” has carried negative connotations, fuelling widespread fear about its role in our diets. While excessive fat consumption is associated with obesity and other health concerns, fats remain an essential part of a balanced diet. They support hormone regulation, vitamin absorption, and cell integrity, while also enhancing the taste and texture of food, and providing a concentrated source of energy.

A recent publication by Slavin, Meijaard, and Sheil (2025) in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems explores these issues in depth, examining both the nutritional science behind fats and the oversimplification that often shapes public messaging. The authors highlight how certain fat sources, particularly vegetable oils, have become vilified, sometimes more for the environmental impacts of their production than for their nutritional qualities. The paper aims to reframe the discussion, recognizing that the “fats debate” spans far beyond health and environment alone, it also encompasses cultural, culinary, and economic dimensions. Reconciling these interconnected perspectives is essential to crafting balanced and effective policy.

The authors argue that interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial to navigate this complexity. Current challenges, such as conflicting dietary advice or selective scrutiny of specific oil crops, cannot be addressed through single-discipline perspectives or by focusing narrowly on individual nutrients. Instead, progress depends on integrating insights from nutrition, agronomy, conservation, and economics to form a more objective understanding. This holistic approach helps reduce the distortion that arises when studies or narratives are driven by selective evidence or underlying bias.

Such collaboration is especially important for policymakers, who face the task of balancing dietary guidance with environmental and social priorities. For example, implementing global dietary models such as the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet could inadvertently increase pressure on biodiversity and contribute to climate change if low-yield oil crops are prioritized over high-efficiency ones, such as oil palm. The authors emphasize that sound science and cooperation across disciplines are key to identifying strategies that align crop production with ecosystem protection, human health, and community needs.

To achieve a more nuanced understanding of fats and oils, the paper calls for greater interdisciplinary collaboration, sustained investment in long-term comparative studies, and the development of standardized methods for assessing both health and environmental outcomes. Applying frameworks such as GRADE for health evidence and lifecycle assessments for environmental impacts can help establish a shared foundation for decision-making.

Ultimately, progress in this field depends more on collaboration than conflict. Bridging divides between producers and consumers requires shared understanding rather than polarized debate. As the authors note, no crop is inherently “good” or “bad”; impacts depend on how, where, and by whom these crops are produced.

By integrating diverse perspectives, we can design food systems that support diets which are nutritionally adequate, culturally relevant, and environmentally responsible. In this vision, fats and oils are not enemies to health or sustainability but vital components of a more informed, equitable, and balanced global food future.

[Top photo: Despite their reputation as products of mass consumption, vegetable oils are also integral to subsistence production systems and embody rich cultural, culinary and nutritional significance.]

Smallholders, defined as farmers with less than 50 hectares of oil palm (RSPO, 2020), produce up to 30% of the world’s crude palm oil (Chain Action Research, 2021) and manage 27–40% of global oil palm area (Descals et al., 2021; RSPO, 2022). They are generally divided into two groups: contract smallholders and independent smallholders. Contract smallholders have exclusive agreements with companies that holds at least partial decision-making power over their land and production, and who are required to sell to, and be purchased by, the company. In contrast, independent smallholders operate without contracts with companies and retain full control over their land.

Despite their central role in the food system, many smallholders risk exclusion as downstream supply chain actors adopt sustainability initiatives, including voluntary certification, zero deforestation pledges, and government-mandated due diligence. These initiatives require proof of compliance with criteria such as land legality, traceability, and sustainable production practices. Many smallholders struggle to meet these new, stringent standards because they lack formal land titles or other necessary documentation.

Figure 1. Sampled RSPO certified palm oil mills in Indonesia (n=87), distributed across Sumatra (64%) and Kalimantan (36%).

Our new study, published in Communications Earth & Environment investigates how and why implementation of supply chain governance initiatives adopted by corporate actors influences smallholder market participation. We focused on palm oil mills in Indonesia certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the leading certification system in the industry. In Indonesia, the world’s leading palm oil producer, independent smallholders manage a larger share of oil palm area (33–41% of the total) in 2019 (Gaveau et al., 2022)  compared to contract smallholders (4–6%) circa 2016 (Jelsma et al., 2017). The RSPO certification standard emphasizes support for smallholder inclusion within its supply chains (RSPO, 2018, 2024), including in certified mills. While many studies have investigated the barriers faced by independent smallholders in obtaining certification, little has been known about the broader inclusion of all smallholders, including those who remain uncertified, within certified mill markets.

By analyzing geospatial data on oil palm plantations, mill locations, and mill fresh fruit bunch (FFB) sourcing records, we found evidence for “passive exclusion” of independent smallholders at RSPO-certified mills. Compared to non-certified mills, certified mills were surrounded by relatively less independent smallholder oil palm as a proportion of total oil palm area. Furthermore, most certified mills never purchased from independent smallholders after certification. Certified mills sourced just 7% of their FFB from independent smallholders, even though these smallholders produced around 34% of FFB in Indonesia in 2020. Conversely, certified mills purchased more FFB from contract smallholders (15%) than expected.

Independent smallholders already face far greater limitations than contract smallholders. In Indonesia, these challenges include lower yields, limited access to credit, and difficulties with land legality. As mills adopt increasingly stringent standards as part of the RSPO and other supply chain governance efforts, independent smallholders’ participation in certified mill markets may decline and limit their access to benefits such as price transparency and stable market opportunities.

New regulations like the European Union’s Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR), risk deepening existing disparities (de Vos et al., 2023). If companies apply stricter RSPO supply chain models (i.e, shifting from mass balance which accommodates noncertified supply to identity preserved/segregated which require fully certified supply) to comply with EUDR, independent smallholders may be excluded altogether. This is particularly concerning given that many smallholders already produce without deforestation but remain outside RSPO certification.

Sustainable supply chain initiatives like RSPO, in partnership with national governments, can support jurisdictional certification approaches and collaborate with private sector, civil society, and policymakers. Similarly, buyer policies that actively engage independent smallholders could help ensure that these farmers are not left behind in the transition toward sustainable palm oil supply chains.

University of Hawai’i news article: https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2025/09/11/palm-oil/

About the authors:

Andini (Sita) Ekaputri is a PhD candidate at National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Indonesia, and University of Hawai’i.
Kimberly Carlson is an Associate Professor at New York University.

References

Chain Action Research. (2021, June 15). FMCGs, Retail Earn 66% of Gross Profits in Palm Oil Value Chain. Chain Reaction Research. https://chainreactionresearch.com/report/palm-oil-value-chain-deforestation/

de Vos, R. E., Suwarno, A., Slingerland, M., van der Meer, P. J., & Lucey, J. M. (2023). Pre-certification conditions of independent oil palm smallholders in Indonesia. Assessing prospects for RSPO certification. Land Use Policy, 130, 106660. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106660

Descals, A., Wich, S., Meijaard, E., Gaveau, D. L. A., Peedell, S., & Szantoi, Z. (2021). High-resolution global map of smallholder and industrial closed-canopy oil palm plantations. Earth System Science Data, 13(3), 1211–1231. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-1211-2021

Gaveau, D. L. A., Locatelli, B., Salim, M. A., Husnayaen, Manurung, T., Descals, A., Angelsen, A., Meijaard, E., & Sheil, D. (2022). Slowing deforestation in Indonesia follows declining oil palm expansion and lower oil prices. PLOS ONE, 17(3), e0266178. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266178

Jelsma, I., Schoneveld, G. C., Zoomers, A., & van Westen, A. C. M. (2017). Unpacking Indonesia’s independent oil palm smallholders: An actor-disaggregated approach to identifying environmental and social performance challenges. Land Use Policy, 69, 281–297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.08.012

RSPO. (2018). 2018 RSPO Principles & Criteria for the Production of Sustainable Palm Oil. RSPO. https://rspo.org/principles-and-criteria-review

RSPO. (2020). RSPO Membership Rules 2020. https://rspo.org/wp-content/uploads/RSPO_Membership_Rules_20202.pdf

RSPO. (2022). RSPO Smallholders. https://rspo.org/smallholders

RSPO. (2024). 2024 RSPO Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Cultivation of Oil Palms and Production of Sustainable Palm Oil and Oil Palm Products. https://rspo.org/wp-content/uploads/1_PC-2024-Final-Draft.pdf

“Why are you selling palm oil? Palm oil is bad!”

This is one of the most common consumer criticisms we face as Britain’s leading distributor of edible oils and fats. Of course, we’re not alone – for years, the temptation for any business selling or using palm oil has been to lay low, not talk about palm oil use, and if possible, hide their use to avoid criticism!

At KTC, we made the conscious decision not to hide away from the hard conversations on palm oil – but to engage in them.

In practice, this means challenging misconceptions, constantly improving our own operations, and championing the benefits of sustainable palm oil wherever we can!

Why We Embrace Sustainable Palm Oil

Like many businesses, we’re conscious of the impact our operations have on the planet – and there’s no getting away from palm oil’s negative historic impact on landscapes ecosystems and wildlife in Southeast Asia.

The historic damage caused by the unsustainable expansion of palm cultivation is real and is the reason that it has a negative reputation to this day.

So why do we still sell it? It’s simple.

We believe that the best alternative to palm oil is sustainable palm oil. There are no ‘bad’ oil crops, just bad practices, and when grown responsibly, palm oil can be truly sustainable.

The best things we can do as a distributor to drive positive change and reduce the negative impact of palm oil is to make the right choice and ensure that all the palm oil we supply is certified sustainable.

At the same time, we can try to educate and influence our own customers, and their consumers on the benefits of sustainable palm oil.

So that’s what we’ve been doing!

Our Progress on Palm

Our journey on sustainable palm oil goes back to 2010, when we joined the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and in 2020, we launched Palmax IP – our first RSPO Certified Identity Preserved frying oil. Since 2022, 100% of KTC Edibles’ palm oil has been RSPO certified sustainable Segregated (SG), or Identity Preserved (IP).

We were the first UK company to sign the Sustainable Palm Oil Manifesto in 2022 – a joint initiative by the RSPO, European Palm Oil Alliance (EPOA), and the IDH (the Sustainable Trade Initiative).

In 2023, we launched Planet Palm – the world’s first overtly pro-palm oil brand for B2B. Earlier this year, we joined Chester Zoo’s Sustainable Palm Oil Communities Project as a Sustainable Palm Oil Ambassador.  We also completed the process of transitioning Cardowan, a company we acquired in 2023, to 100% segregated sustainable.

We’re currently in the process of transitioning another recent acquisition, Trilby Trading, to 100% segregated sustainable, which we hope to complete by the end of the year.

Throughout this process, we’ve always been happy to talk about our palm oil use, appearing on podcasts, communicating with the press, our customers and stakeholders about our mission to ensure that every drop of KTC palm oil meets the highest sustainability standards.

Of course, there’s always more we can do, and we’re continually looking for new ways to drive the adoption of sustainable palm oil across the UK and beyond.

When most people picture palm oil, they imagine vast swathes of palms as far at the eye can see, managed and owned by multi-national conglomerates. But in Africa, the oil palm’s native home, another story unfolds. Picture instead a cluster of fifty palms behind a village in Sierra Leone, or trees scattered among cocoa and cassava in Nigeria. These aren’t industrial plantations. They are part of everyday rural life, providing food, income, and culture.

A new study published in Environmental Research: Food Systems by Descals et al. has revealed just how extensive these overlooked palms are. By analyzing 11,800 high-resolution satellite images, the researchers discovered 6.5 million hectares of non-plantation oil palm across Africa, more than three times the area of all commercial plantations combined.

Comparison of plantation and non-plantation oil palm areas in million hectares (Mha) in African countries with estimated oil palm area greater than 0.

Unlike industrial plantations with their neat rows, these palms appear scattered in forests, gardens, or fields. Harder to discern using traditional methods, they often go unreported in official statistics. Yet, the study found them in over half the villages of West Africa, and nearly 80% of villages across the Congo rainforest. The Democratic Republic of Congo hosts the largest area (2.5 million hectares), followed by Nigeria (1.9 million hectares).

Oil palm, coconut and other palms are often grown together in small plots behind houses. Liberia. Erik Meijaard

Why does this matter? Because palm oil isn’t just an export crop, it’s a staple food. Unrefined “red palm oil” provides essential fats and vitamins in diets that otherwise fall short. Researchers have long warned of a “fat gap” in African diets, but this hidden reservoir of oil palms suggests the shortage may not be as severe as once feared.

“Most oil palm in Africa actually grows outside plantations in wild and semi-wild contexts, often near villages,” said lead author Dr. Adrià Descals. “This resource has been largely invisible to official observation until now.”

“It is an exciting study to see published”, added Prof. Erik Meijaard of Borneo Futures and co-chair of the IUCN Oil Crops Task Force, another co-author. “We were discussing African crops, including subsistence oil palm in a meeting at John Moores Liverpool University when we realized that it might be possible to estimate the total area of subsistence oil palm. I already had my doubts about the official statistics, and it is great to show how much these statistics actually underestimate this culturally, nutritionally and culinary important resource that is used throughout West and Central Africa”.

Subsistence oil palm is not only used for producing oil, but also makes palm wine. Gabon. Erik Meijaard

Still, questions remain. Not all palms are harvested, and the extent to which they support diets varies. Moreover, while these palms sustain rural livelihoods today, they could also attract future expansion. If managed poorly, smallholder-driven oil palm growth could threaten forests. However, as the authors note, palm oil’s high yields might also spare land compared to other oil crops and increased attention from the ‘right’ sources in these areas, could ensure that current plots are managed responsibly.

Palms, such as this one in Bomi, Liberia, are often harvested on a needs basis. Erik Meijaard

What’s clear is that these “invisible” palms complicate the story we tell about palm oil. They are neither industrial villains nor pristine wilderness, but part of a messy, vital mosaic of African food systems. Recognizing them is a step toward better policies for food security, nutrition, and land use.

Hand processing of oil palm fruit in Liberia. Erik Meijaard

The latest report from FAO, The State of the World’s Forests 2024, highlights that although 4.1 billion ha (31%) of the area in the world’s land surface is still covered by forests and there is a declining trend in global deforestation, forest conversion still occurs. It was estimated that 420 million ha of forests were lost between 1990 and 2020, and most of the conversion in the tropics was for agricultural expansion (FAO 2020). A study estimated that 86% of deforestation was associated with agricultural crop and cattle production (West et al, 2025), and this led to the implementation of the no-deforestation supply chain interventions to contribute to halting deforestation.

One of the targeted commodities in the no-deforestation supply chain regulation and campaign is palm oil, which has created a dispute among producer and consumer countries, as seen in the case of the EU Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR) implementation with the Indonesian Government (Jakarta Post, 2025). Despite its controversy, the global demand for vegetable oils is projected to increase by 46% by 2050, with palm oil still the most productive and versatile oil crop (Meijaard et al., 2020).

However, the public perception in the consumer countries towards palm oil is still puzzling—as the study by Lieke et al. (2023) shows that the public tends to have negative views on palm oil due to its associated environmental impacts—however, the public misses that the real problem is why the impacts have arisen, which is when the oil palm was planted through conversion of forests. The public has limited understanding that this can happen with other commodities, and larger trade-offs can happen with less productive oil crops (Lieke et al. 2023, Meijaard et al. 2020). The perception of the public consumers is important because our study suggests that green consumer behavior in consumer countries is indeed influencing sustainable governance in the producing countries, as the majority of the oil was exported to the global consumers. On the other hand, stakeholders in palm oil-producing countries have come to understand that a sustainable product is defined as one that is no-deforestation (Purnomo et al. 2024).

CIFOR-ICRAF promoted the landscape approach, which is defined as allocating and managing land to achieve and align with landscape sustainability goals (social, economic, and environmental) (Sayer et al. 2013). This approach has evolved with various interpretations for various contexts, including agricultural commodity production. The Landscape Approach principles recognize multiple stakeholders and their interests in the landscape. Different interests of stakeholders in the landscape (e.g., conservationists, commodity producers, and consumers) led to complex governance; thus, improving understanding of the stakeholders will help an inclusive co-production process in the landscape management, and that is why the knowledge transfer and education process is important in the implementation of the landscape approach (Reed et al. 2020).

CIFOR-ICRAF and partners developed Landscape Game 2 in 2024, that aims as a learning tool to understand about dynamics in landscape management and balancing conservation and development. The early version in 2007 was launched as a board game and produced for more than 1,000 copies. Due to high demand, the digital version was developed in 2014 to accommodate wider use (Figure 1). The first version of the game often use in the brainstorming process for the workshops and shows that the game play can influence player’s mental model that improve the complexity of landscape management (Purnomo et al 2017). To advancing the player experiences, the second version was launched in March 2024 with adopting experiential learning as landscape manager and add component on commodity trade – to enhance user experiences (Figure 2). Later, the second version of the Landscape Game, developed into digital experiential learning tool that not only use for stakeholder capacity building – but also in education.

Figure 1. The first version of the Landscape Game

Figure 2. Landscape Game 2, can be downloaded in https://www.landscapegame.org/

The landscape game is designed as a multiplayer game, and four players will compete on land management within a landscape. A landscape is assumed to be 225,000 ha and consists of 225 small patches of 1,000 ha. Four players will compete to manage several land blocks in the landscape, from obtaining the land until trading commodities (products and services) produced from the management.

The type of land block is following the landscape concept by Chomitz (2007), which divided landscape into three types, and each type provides different ecosystem service potential and utilization options (Figure 3). There are “forest core,” “forest edge,” and mosaic land. The player can choose several management options, such as conserving it but getting carbon credit; developing ecotourism along with conservation; or converting it into crop yield, mining, or ecotourism.

Figure 3. Type of landscape in the game, follow concept by Chomitz (2007)

The common goal of the game is to keep the balance between the environment and economic status of landscape management, measured in the game by landscape goal indicators, carbon credit, land productivity, and economic benefit. All actions of players in the landscape influence these indicators. The game has threshold to keep the balance condition in the landscape, and if the environment indicator (carbon credit) is below the threshold, then the disaster will occur and reduce the commodity production in the landscape. At the end of the game, successful landscape management is achieved if the environment and economic status of land are balanced—by keeping carbon credit and one of the economic indicators above the threshold (Figure 4).

With this gameplay, the player can understand more the concept of trade-offs between environmental conservation and commodity development in landscape management – and become more aware that the key problem of oil palm is not the type of commodity but rather the production process in the landscape. Almost two years after its launch, the Landscape Game 2 has been played by more than 1,000 users around the world, mostly by youth. The developing process also engaged youth, including in the testing (Figure 5).  The game engaged with global audiences by providing seven different landscape to play: Forest City, Peatland, Java, Congo, Pacific, Borneo, and Brazil (Figure 6).

Figure 4. The landscape status influenced actions of the players and measured through three indicators (environment and economy) and when the environmental indicators below threshold, players will learn about consequence through occurrence of disasters.

Figure 5. Landscape Game testing involved youth

Figure 6. The landscape selection in the game play

Learn more from these videos:

References

FAO. 2024. The State of World’s Forest 2024. Accessed in https://openknowledge.fao.org/items/ec487897-97b5-43ec-bc2e-5ddfc76c8e85.

FAO. 2020. The State of World’s Forest 2020.  Accessed in https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/ca8642en.

Chomitz, KM., 2007. Overview – At Loggerheads? Agricultural Expansion, Poverty Reduction, and Environment in the Tropical Forests. The World Bank. Accessed in https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/70144056-735a-5cce-9367-2646669f305a.

Lieke, S.D., Spiller, A. and Busch, G., 2023. Can consumers understand that there is more to palm oil than deforestation?. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 39, pp.495-505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2023.05.037

Meijaard, E., Brooks, T.M., Carlson, K.M., Slade, E.M., Garcia-Ulloa, J., Gaveau, D.L., Lee, J.S.H., Santika, T., Juffe-Bignoli, D., Struebig, M.J. and Wich, S.A., 2020. The environmental impacts of palm oil in context. Nature plants, 6(12), pp.1418-1426. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-020-00813-w

Purnomo, H., Kusumadewi, S.D., Ilham, Q.P., Kartikasara, H.N., Okarda, B., Dermawan, A., Puspitaloka, D., Kartodihardjo, H., Kharisma, R. and Brady, M.A., 2023. Green consumer behaviour influences Indonesian palm oil sustainability. International Forestry Review, 25(4), pp.449-472. https://doi.org/10.1505/146554823838028210

Purnomo, H., Shantiko, B., Wardell, D.A., Irawati, R.H., Pradana, N.I. and Yovi, E.Y., 2017. Learning landscape sustainability and development links. International Forestry Review, 19(3), pp.333-349. https://doi.org/10.1505/146554817821865027

Sayer, J., Sunderland, T., Ghazoul, J., Pfund, J.L., Sheil, D., Meijaard, E., Venter, M., Boedhihartono, A.K., Day, M., Garcia, C. and Van Oosten, C., 2013. Ten principles for a landscape approach to reconciling agriculture, conservation, and other competing land uses. Proceedings of the national academy of sciences, 110(21), pp.8349-8356. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1210595110

The Jakarta Post. 2025. WTO favours EU over Indonesia on palm oil restrictions. Accessed in https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2025/01/11/wto-favours-eu-over-indonesia-on-palm-oil-restrictions.html.

The palm oil industry stands at a critical crossroads. As climate change intensifies, the sustainable production and consumption of palm oil must shift from ambition to action. A recent study from our team entitled Understanding the impact of climate change on oil palm plantation: a systematic literature reviewhighlights the pressing environmental, economic, and social impacts of climate change on oil palm cultivation, particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia.

The findings are clear: climate change is reshaping the palm oil landscape. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and extreme weather events are reducing yields, increasing pest and disease outbreaks, and exacerbating land degradation. These stressors are projected to cause yield declines of up to 41% in some regions by 2100, threatening the economic viability of smallholders and the long-term stability of the sector.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. The study emphasizes that solutions exist and they begin with sustainable practices. Increasing oil palm productivity on existing land is key to minimizing further deforestation. Climate-smart agriculture practices, such as adopting drought-tolerant varieties, improving soil and water management, and integrating agroforestry, can significantly enhance resilience. Certification schemes like MSPO, RSPO, and ISPO are already promoting better practices, but their enforcement and uptake need strengthening, especially among smallholders.

What does this mean for consumers and the wider community? The future of palm oil isn’t just about what happens on plantations. It’s about how we as consumers, businesses, and policymakers support a just transition towards sustainability. Choosing certified sustainable palm oil, advocating for corporate responsibility, and pushing for policies that balance economic development with ecosystem protection are all part of the solution.

The study also calls for urgent policy innovation and investment. Governments should incentivize eco-friendly technologies, support training programs for smallholders, and expand climate-resilient infrastructure. At the same time, industry stakeholders must prioritize transparency, traceability, and inclusive supply chains that benefit both people and the planet.

As climate threats grow more severe, sustainable production and consumption of palm oil are no longer optional they are imperative. The palm oil sector has the potential to be a model for sustainable development, but only if all actors come together to act decisively.

It’s time to move beyond pledges. Let’s transform the way we grow, process, and consume palm oil to secure a climate-resilient future.

At Indonesia’s plantation expo, palm oil was on full display as the crop of the future. Under spotlights and banners reading “Oil Palm is Indonesia’s Future,” state planners unveiled biodiesel roadmaps and mini processing refineries. These showcases were designed to impress the general public, but most importantly, potential “green” investors with promises of digital traceability, ESG compliance, and scalable sustainability. In this polished vision of the future, financial capital flowed easily, risks were managed, and growth was green.

Just in front of the spotlighted stage, smallholder representatives gathered at quiet tables. They talk among themselves about overdue replanting funds, and seeking answers about old debts still on their books. They weren’t there to marvel at models of future plantations. They were there because their livelihoods depended on navigating a bureaucracy that too often left them behind.

Ever More Finance

This contrast is not incidental. The core of Indonesia’s sustainability narrative today is finance, and even more of it. Building innovative financial infrastructures – expanding credit schemes, attracting climate finance, and blending public-private finance – is becoming a bigger part of the government’s push for sustainable palm oil and biodiesel. The focus is more on carbon markets and investment vehicles than they do on seeds, soil and labor that makes plantations possible.

Finance is framed in these events as a neutral instrument that will modernize palm oil and include more smallholders. But inclusion into this system is rarely neutral. It is shaped by who is seen as creditworthy, which documents are deemed “valid,” and what kinds of futures get funded. For smallholders in West Kalimantan and elsewhere, inclusion often means entering formal credit arrangements that are difficult to repay, especially when the value of their crops fluctuates, or when access to inputs is uncertain.

Picture 1. A Smallholder harvesting an aged oil palm tree. As the tree matures, especially beyond 20 years,  it becomes harder to harvest, its yield declines, and its price drops significantly. The replanting program seeks to remediate this decline (Source: Author)

Pushing Back

Over the past eight years, many smallholders have been enrolled in the state’s flagship sustainable plantation program: replanting. It is only the latest chapter in a longer history of debt-financed expansion, where each promise of reform leaves new obligations in its wake. Backed by government grants, subsidized loans, and renewed corporate partnerships, the program offers support – but only to some. Smallholders with unclear land titles or who are still paying debts are often disqualified or delayed. The costs of participation—idle plots, months without income—add up quickly. Credit may open doors, but it also locks farmers into long repayment cycles.

Yet smallholders are not passive. At a National Smallholder Assembly, representatives did something rarely seen at state-run expos: they refused to let the conversation move on. While state officials and private financiers spoke of IPOs, hedge funds, and corporatization of cooperatives, smallholders pushed back. They demanded clarity on disbursement timelines, accountability for delayed funds, and a meaningful role in shaping how sustainability is defined.

Behind the scenes, corporations benefit from this financial model: credit-backed smallholders guarantee raw material, while profits flow upward. This was not simply a plea for inclusion; it was a direct challenge to a system where the promise of a green future is built on unresolved debts. For many, indebtedness is not new. Debt is a precondition of the plasma scheme that tethered smallholders to corporate mills. Even when plasma debts are cleared, new ones emerge as companies restructure, assetize, and pass risk down the supply chain, forcing smallholders to borrow just to stay afloat.

Reckoning with Debts

If sustainable palm oil is to be more than a marketing promise, it must confront this reality. Sustainability cannot be measured only by how much finance is generated. It must also reckon with the debts that already structure the plantation economy. It must begin with clearing the ledger: auditing old obligations, restructuring burdens, and investing in systems of care, not just yield. Otherwise, we risk building a greener future on the backs of those still paying just to be included.

Listen to the Talking Indonesia podcast, Betting the Farm, with the author discussing his research here: https://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/talking-indonesia-betting-the-farm/

When we think of palm oil, images of displaced wildlife and destroyed habitats often come to mind. But what if agriculture and wildlife didn’t have to be at odds? With the right approach, they can co-exist and even thrive.

Research shows that in well-managed agricultural landscapes, wildlife populations can be sustained. That’s why understanding how animals move, where they live, and how their populations are changing is critical to developing adaptive management strategies that mitigate the negative impacts of palm oil plantations on biodiversity.

This latest study explores a citizen science initiative under the PENDAKI (Care for Biodiversity) programme, which was launched in 2019 by Indonesian palm oil company Austindo Nusantara Jaya (ANJ). The programme empowers plantation workers to record sightings of wild animals and plants while completing routine tasks, creating a rich and growing database of local biodiversity.

Although citizen science is an increasingly popular data collection method, one common critique is that data collected informally, through casual, unstructured observations, can be hard to analyse. Without standardised survey methods, it is often unclear whether a species wasn’t seen because it was absent or simply missed.

To tackle this, researchers applied a statistical tool called occupancy modelling. These models estimate the proportion of areas occupied by a species and account for the possibility that a species was present but undetected. This makes them especially useful when detailed survey data is lacking.

Surprisingly, the study found that even with the “messiness” of unstructured data, occupancy estimates remained reliable. The models revealed important patterns. Species like Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) and Gibbons (Hylobates albibarbis) had much higher occupancy in forested areas and near large forest patches. In contrast, the Water Monitor (Varanus salvator) was found to occupy nearly the entire study area, with a striking 97 percent mean occupancy across plantations and forests.

Still, there were challenges. For many species, the precision of estimates was low, largely because most daily species lists included only one or two species. These “short species lists” make it harder to assess how often a species is missed. The study also highlighted how observer differences, such as varying levels of skill or experience, affected species detection.

Improving precision means gathering more complete data. To that end, a subset of observers is now using fixed species lists and a smartphone app that logs sightings along with location data, boosting both data quality and insights into survey effort.

While the current models don’t yet account for every spatial or temporal variable, such as changes in observer skill or fine-scale habitat features, they represent a promising step toward more effective biodiversity monitoring in tropical plantations.

Ultimately, the goal is to integrate citizen science data and occupancy modelling into day-to-day biodiversity management. With more data and better tools, scientists can sharpen occupancy estimates for current study species, expand the species list, and zoom in on finer spatial scales, helping conservation and agriculture work hand in hand.

(Wildlife images taken by PENDAKI observers)

Since the launch of the Sustainable Palm Oil Communities Project back in 2017, our aim has been clear: to empower communities across the UK to support the use of sustainable palm oil. As we continue to unite towns, cities, counties and regions in support of a sustainable approach to this agricultural commodity, we create meaningful change in supply chains, whilst driving public awareness for a topic still laden with misconception.

In this Chester Zoo led campaign, almost 200 businesses around the UK have pledged or fully signed up as a Sustainable Palm Oil Champion in one of 6 active communities: Chester, Blackpool, Newquay, Oxford, Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire and Dorset, each led by a dedicated lead organisation. Working with businesses across a variety of sectors, the project supports each organisation to make an initial step in switching to sustainable palm oil in their supply chains. While the original focus was on hospitality, champions now include everything from coffee shops to garden centres, gyms to solicitors – representing the need for a whole-community approach to removing environmental damage and deforestation from global supply chains.

Despite progress in consumers recognising that sourcing sustainable palm oil is the best way to prevent habitat destruction and protect biodiversity, as supported by countless NGOs and scientific research, the lasting impact of misconceptions around palm oil remain widespread. Chief among them is the assumption that ‘palm oil free’ automatically equates to no deforestation which consistently misleads consumers. That’s why the Sustainable Palm Oil Communities Project and its wider partnerships continue to advocate for deforestation-free sustainable palm oil as the most efficient, regulated and sustainable solution to a growing global demand for vegetable oil.

To help us shift the narrative, the project has expanded to include a growing list of Ambassadors, such as popular food-to-go retailer Greggs, who are leading by example and utilising their extensive platforms to amplify campaign messaging. These larger businesses not only help educate customers on just how important it is to source sustainable palm oil, but also often simultaneously become a champion themselves when based in one of the campaign’s communities.

In November 2024, the campaign was recognised on the global stage. As part of Chester Zoo’s broader collaboration with Ferrero, the partnership was awarded the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil’s ‘Communicating for Good Award’, voted for live at the 2024 Annual Roundtable Conference on Sustainable Palm Oil in Bangkok. The award is a clear testament to the campaign’s success in driving positive behaviour change through collective action, and we were absolutely delighted to share this achievement with our sustainable palm oil network.

As we look to the future, our mission remains unchanged. We’re inviting more businesses and organisations to join us in shifting the market towards a sustainable future. If you would like to get involved in the sustainable palm oil communities project, either as a champion for one of our sustainable palm oil communities, or as an ambassador, please get in touch at spocity@chesterzoo.org or go to Sustainable Palm Oil – Everything You Need To Know | Chester Zoo to find out more.