Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Perspective
  • Published:

Securing oil palm smallholder livelihoods without more deforestation in Indonesia

Nature Sustainability volume 7, pages 387–393 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Facing criticism that Indonesia’s oil palm industry causes deforestation, government and industry representatives have highlighted the role of oil palm in improving the livelihoods of millions of oil palm smallholders, reducing poverty and meeting its Sustainable Development Goals. This line of argument conjures a moral dilemma that pits forest conservation against peoples’ well-being. It overlooks a crucial fact: Indonesia’s government policies favour plantation corporations, and smallholders struggle to access the land and other resources they need to prosper. More robust support for independent smallholders who grow oil palm on their own land could secure rural livelihoods without increasing forest loss.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Oil palm planted areas and deforestation.
Fig. 2: Indonesia’s oil palm concessions.
Fig. 3: Intensive oil palm zone in West Kalimantan.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Deforestation Regulation P9_TA(2023)0109 (European Parliament, 2023); https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=EP%3AP9_TA%282023%290109

  2. Ministry of Foreign Affairs communicates diplomacy efforts on EU deforestation regulation. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia https://kemlu.go.id/portal/en/read/4587/berita/ministry-of-foreign-affairs-communicates-diplomacy-efforts-on-eu-deforestation-regulation (2023).

  3. EU Deforestation Regulation: Impact on Indonesia (GAPKI, 2022); https://www.indonesiapalmoilfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/GAPKI-Letter-to-EU-11.7.22.pdf

  4. Indonesian small farmers protest; petition EU Embassy, Palace. Indonesia Palm Oil Facts https://www.indonesiapalmoilfacts.com/indonesian-small-farmers-protest-petition-eu-embassy-palace/ (2023).

  5. Meijaard, E. & Sheil, D. The moral minefield of ethical oil palm and sustainable development. Front. For. Glob. Change https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00022 (2019).

  6. Indonesia: Whose Land is it Anyway? Corporate Control over the Motherland (Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI), Auriga Nusantara, 2022); https://auriga.or.id/flipbooks/report/en/75#page/1

  7. Pichler, M. Legal dispossession: state strategies and selectivities in the expansion of Indonesian palm oil and agrofuel production. Dev. Change 46, 508–533 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bell, K. C., Srinivas, S., Collier, W., Wallace, J. & Hidayt, L. Towards Indonesian Land Reforms: Challenges and Opportunities. A Review of the Land Sector (Forest and Non-forest) in Indonesia (2015); https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.16062.02883

  9. Hawkins, D., Chen, Y. & Wigglesworth, T. Indonesian Palm Oil Production Sector: A Wave of Consolidation to Come (Hardman Agribusiness, 2016); https://www.academia.edu/34111743/Indonesian_Palm_Oil_Production_Sector_A_Wave_of_Consolidation_To_Come

  10. Varkkey, H. Patronage politics as a driver of economic regionalisation: the Indonesian oil palm sector and transboundary haze. Asia Pac. Viewp. 53, 314–329 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Tycoons in the Indonesian palm oil. Transformasi untuk Keadilan Indonesia (TuK Indonesia) https://www.tuk.or.id/2019/03/tycoon-in-the-indonesian-palm-oil/?lang=en (2018).

  12. Berenschot, W. et al. Anti-corporate activism and collusion: the contentious politics of palm oil expansion in Indonesia. Geoforum 131, 39–49 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. TuK Indonesia. Banks behind Indonesian palm oil tycoons revealed. BankTrack https://www.banktrack.org/article/banks_behind_indonesian_palm_oil_tycoons_revealed (2015).

  14. Kusumaningtyas, R. & van Gelder, J. W. Towards Responsible and Inclusive Financing of the Palm Oil Sector Occasional Paper 175 (Center for International Forestry Research, 2017).

  15. Banking on Biodiversity Collapse: Tracking the Banks and Investors Driving Tropical Forest Destruction (Forests & Finance, 2023); https://forestsandfinance.org/banking-on-biodiversity-collapse

  16. Gallemore, C., Jespersen, K. & Olmsted, P. Harnessing relational values for global value chain sustainability: reframing the roundtable on sustainable palm oil’s offset mechanism to support smallholders. Ecol. Econ. 193, 107303 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Wiyanto. Petani sawit gelar aksi keprihatinan EUDR. Industrycoid https://www.industry.co.id/read/120265/petani-sawit-gelar-aksi-keprihatinan-eudr (2023).

  18. Airlangga sebut sawit proyek strategis nasional yang harus dijaga. ANTARA https://www.antaranews.com/berita/1990200/airlangga-sebut-sawit-proyek-strategis-nasional-yang-harus-dijaga (2021).

  19. Gaveau, D. L. A. et al. Slowing deforestation in Indonesia follows declining oil palm expansion and lower oil prices. PLoS ONE 17, e0266178 (2022).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Steinweg, T., Kuepper, B. & Piotrowski, M. 28 Percent of Indonesia’s Palm Oil Landbank is Stranded (Chain Reaction Research, 2019); https://chainreactionresearch.com/report/28-percent-of-indonesias-palm-oil-landbank-is-stranded/

  21. Jong, H. N. Indonesian audit finds taxes unpaid on 22 million acres of oil palm plantations. Mongabay https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/indonesian-audit-finds-taxes-unpaid-on-22-million-acres-of-oil-palm-plantations/ (2023).

  22. Chao, S. Can there be justice here? Borderl. J. 20, 11–48 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. “When we lost the forest, we lost everything”: oil palm plantations and rights violations in Indonesia. Human Rights Watch https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/09/23/when-we-lost-forest-we-lost-everything/oil-palm-plantations-and-rights-violations (2019).

  24. Li, T. M. & Semedi, P. Plantation Life: Corporate Occupation in Indoensia’s Oil Palm Zone (Duke Univ. Press, 2021).

  25. Santika, T. et al. Does oil palm agriculture help alleviate poverty? A multidimensional counterfactual assessment of oil palm development in Indonesia. World Dev. 120, 105–117 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. The World Bank Group Framework and IFC Strategy for Engagement with the Palm Oil Sector (World Bank, International Finance Corporation, 2011).

  27. Li, T. M. The price of un/freedom: Indonesia’s colonial and contemporary plantation labour regimes. Comp. Stud. Soc. Hist. 59, 245–276 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Tjandraningsih, I. State-sponsored precarious work in Indonesia. Am. Behav. Sci. 57, 403–419 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Sitorus, H. & McCarthy, J. F. in The Paradox of Agrarian Change: Food Security and the Politics of Social Protection in Indonesia (eds McCarthy, J. F. et al.) 167–196 (NUS Press, 2022).

  30. Obidzinski, K., Andriani, R., Komarudin, H. & Andrianto, A. Environmental and social impacts of oil palm plantations and their implications for biofuel production in Indonesia. Ecol. Soc. 17, 25 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Budidarsono, S., Sofiyuddin, M., Rahmanulloh, A. & Dewi, S. Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of Palm Oil Production Technical Brief 27 (World Agroforestry Centre, 2012).

  32. McCarthy, J. Processes of inclusion and adverse incorporation: oil palm and agrarian change in Sumatra, Indonesia. J. Peasant Stud. 37, 821–850 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Feintrenie, L., Chong, W. K. & Levang, P. Why do farmers prefer oil palm? Lessons learnt from Bungo District, Indonesia. Small Scale For. 9, 379–396 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. McCarthy, J. F. & Robinson, K. (eds) Land and Development in Indonesia: Searching for the People’s Sovereignty (ISEAS, 2016).

  35. Li, T. M. Epilogue: customary land rights and politics, 25 years on. Asia Pac. J. Anthropol. 21, 77–84 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Tipologi Penguasaan Lahan Perkebunan Sawit di dalam Kawasan Hutan dan Strategi Penyelesaiannya (draft) (Auriga Nusantara, 2019).

  37. Jong, H. N. Indonesia slammed for ‘bowing down’ in amnesty for illegal oil palm estates. Mongabay https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/indonesia-slammed-for-bowing-down-in-amnesty-for-illegal-oil-palm-estates/ (2023).

  38. Deceased Estate: Illegal Oil Palm Wiping out Indonesia’s Forest (Greenpeace Indonesia, 2021); https://www.greenpeace.org/southeastasia/publication/44744/deceased-estate-illegal-palm-oil-wiping-out-indonesias-national-forest/

  39. Mitchell, R., Safik, A. & Dodd, M.-L. Status Report on Indonesian Land Reform (Landesa, 2020); http://eprints.uai.ac.id/id/eprint/1690

  40. Jong, H. N. Indonesia calls on palm oil industry, obscured by secrecy, to remain opaque. Mongabay https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/indonesia-calls-on-palm-oil-industry-obscured-by-secrecy-to-remain-opaque/ (2019).

  41. Lund, C. Predatory peace. Dispossession at Aceh’s oil palm frontier. J. Peasant Stud. 45, 431–452 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Nuraini, A., Aziz, D. A. N., Cahyono, E. & Moniaga, S. National Inquiry on the Right of Indigenous Peoples on their Territories in the Forest Zones (Komnas HAM, 2015); https://www.komnasham.go.id/index.php/publikasi/2016/06/01/1/national-inquiry-on-the-right-of-indigenous-peoples-on-their-territories-in-the-forest-zones.html

  43. Byerlee, D. The fall and rise again of plantations in tropical Asia: history repeated? Land 3, 574–597 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Cramb, R. & McCarthy, J. F. in The Oil Palm Complex: Smallholders, Agribusiness and the State in Indonesia and Malaysia (eds Cramb, R. & McCarthy, J. F.) 27–77 (NUS Press, 2016).

  45. Li, T. M. Dynamic farmers, dead plantations, and the myth of the lazy native. J. Peasant Stud. 50, 519–538 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Jelsma, I., Schoneveld, G. C., Zoomers, A. & van Westen, A. C. M. Unpacking Indonesia’s independent oil palm smallholders: an actor-disaggregated approach to identifying environmental and social performance challenges. Land Use Policy 69, 281–297 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. ‘The promise was a lie’: how Indonesian villagers lost their cut of the palm oil boom. The Gecko Project https://thegeckoproject.org/articles/the-promise-was-a-lie-how-indonesian-villagers-lost-their-cut-of-the-palm-oil-boom/ (2022).

  48. Promised prosperity, drowning in debt. The Gecko Project https://thegeckoproject.org/articles/promised-prosperity-drowning-in-debt/ (2023).

  49. Statistik Kelapa Sawit Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik, 2019).

  50. Schoneveld, G. C. et al. Certification, good agricultural practice and smallholder heterogeneity: differentiated pathways for resolving compliance gaps in the Indonesian oil palm sector. Glob. Environ. Change 57, 101933 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Kariyasa, I. K. Analisis kelayakan finansial penggunaan bibit bersertifikat kelapa sawit di Provinsi Kalimantan Barat. J. Agro Ekon. 33, 141–159 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Indonesia oil palm. Global Yield Gap Atlas https://www.yieldgap.org/indonesia-oil-palm (2023).

  53. Nangoy, F. Indonesia must achieve palm oil replanting target—senior official. Reuters https://jp.reuters.com/article/indonesia-palmoil-idUSKBN2V10EI (2023).

  54. Peraturan Menteri Pertanian Republik Indonesia Nomor 03 Tahun 2022 tentang Pengembangan Sumber Daya Manusia, Penelitian dan Pengembangan, Peremajaan, serta Sarana dan Prasarana Perkebunan Kelapa Sawit (Government of Indonesia, 2022).

  55. Rulli, M. C. et al. Interdependencies and telecoupling of oil palm expansion at the expense of Indonesian rainforest. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 105, 499–512 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Hamilton-Hart, N. Multilevel (mis)governance of palm oil production. Aust. J. Int. Aff. 69, 164–184 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Statistik Kelapa Sawit Indonesia 2022 (BPS-Statistics Indonesia, 2023); https://www.bps.go.id/id/publication/2023/11/30/160f211bfc4f91e1b77974e1/statistik-kelapa-sawit-indonesia-2022.html

  58. zu Ermgassen, E. K. H. J. et al. Addressing indirect sourcing in zero deforestation commodity supply chains. Sci. Adv. 8, eabn3132 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Zhunusova, E. et al. Potential impacts of the proposed EU regulation on deforestation-free supply chains on smallholders, indigenous peoples, and local communities in producer countries outside the EU. For. Policy Econ. 143, 102817 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Position of the Union of Oil Palm Smallholders (SPKS), An Independent Oil Palm Smallholders in Indonesia (SPKS, 2022); https://spks.or.id/detail-sikap-position-of-the-spks-an-independent-oil-palm-smallholders-in-indonesia-submission-to-the-european-commission-on-the-proposal-for-the-regulation-regarding-commodities-associated-with-deforestation-and-forest-degradation

  61. Messador, M., Lelong, C. & Huart, S. Tracking Down Products Linked to Deforestation: The Role of Remote Sensing Technologies in Implementing the EU Legislation on Deforestation-free Products (Kayrros, 2022); https://www.greens-efa.eu/en/article/study/tracking-down-products-linked-to-deforestation

  62. Directorate-General for the Environment Frequently Asked Questions—Deforestation Regulation (European Commission, 2023); https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/frequently-asked-questions-deforestation-regulation_en

Download references

Acknowledgements

Thanks to P. Semedi of Gadjah Mada University for his collaboration. Long-term research support was provided by Canada’s Social Science and Humanities Research Council. Research fellowships in 2023 at the Center for Southeast Asian studies, Kyoto University, and at the UMR-SENS in Montpellier provided a stimulating environment for writing. Additional support was provided by the MAK’IT-FIAS Fellowship programme (Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions – French Institutes for Advanced Study) co-funded by the University of Montpellier and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (co-fund grant agreement no. 945408).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Tania Murray Li

Authors
  1. Tania Murray Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tania Murray Li.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Sustainability thanks Daniel Müller and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, T.M. Securing oil palm smallholder livelihoods without more deforestation in Indonesia. Nat Sustain 7, 387–393 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01279-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01279-w

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene