By Mike Gaworecki

Researchers found that each hectare of rainforest converted to oil palm
monoculture creates 174 tons of carbon emissions, most of which will
find their way into the atmosphere and contribute to global climate change.

After oil palm is harvested, the amount of biomass returned to the soil
to feed living organisms underground can be 90 percent lower than in a
functional, healthy rainforest. Since the soil in oil palm plantations
is repeatedly cleared and treated with pesticides, very little natural
litter like dead leaves and wood goes back into the ground.

The research team said that their findings show that figures used by
bodies like the IPCC and the RSPO to calculate the carbon cost of oil
palm cultivation should be updated and that belowground carbon losses
must be accounted for.

New research comparing the carbon costs of oil palm plantations with
those of rubber production finds that while oil palm cultivation is the
more efficient process in terms of land use, it’s also responsible for
much higher emissions — and those losses are higher than the figure used
by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and sustainable
palm oil certification bodies.

Thomas Guillaume, a postdoctoral researcher at École Polytechnique
Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), a research institute in Lausanne,
Switzerland, led a team of researchers who analyzed the carbon costs and
benefits of converting rainforests in Sumatra, Indonesia into oil palm
plantations. The results of the study were detailed last month in the
journal Nature Communications.

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