Americas, new world for a more sustainable palm oil

Oil palm is the world’s leading oil crop, accounting for 36% of global vegetable oil production in 2020. Originally from Central and West Africa, oil palm plantations have been extended to Southeast Asia, partly at the expense of biodiversity-rich forests and peatlands storing large quantities of carbon. Negative environmental impacts have sometimes been accompanied by equally negative social impacts. Since the 2000s, oil palm plantations have been expanding rapidly in Latin America. The producing countries of the American continent have a number of characteristics in common, which differentiate them from Asia and Africa. Palm oil production costs are high, and oil palm fresh fruits bunches producers are dependent on the presence of extractive mills to purchase their production, sometimes with extensive mill supply basins based on networks of collect centers. Overall, edapho-climatic conditions are not as good as in Indonesia or Malaysia. Nevertheless, palm oil production represents an opportunity for the economic development of rural areas, and could help meet the needs in edible oil of domestic and regional markets in the continent’s producing countries. What are the expectations regarding the sector? What is the risk of expanding oil palm plantations at the expense of forests? Should we fear a scenario resembling Asian expansion dynamics? The development of a sustainable sector raises many challenges. This thematic issue explores some of them, and also highlights the need for further research on the American continent to support the sustainable development of the oil palm sector.