Scenarios for oil palm expansion in degraded and deforested lands in the Brazilian Amazon to meet biodiesel demand

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18472/SustDeb.v12n2.2021.35201

Keywords:

Palm oil. Degraded land. Biofuels. Amazon region.

Abstract

Palm oil production for biodiesel in Brazil is characterized by its high productivity in some environmental conditions, under the Sustainable Palm Oil Production Program. The program seeks to avoid deforestation for oil palm cultivation, recover degraded lands, and focus on social inclusion and family farming. This paper assesses the possible socio-environmental impacts of the expansion of palm oil until 2030, focusing on land-use change and impacts. Land-use data came from the TerraClass initiative for the analysis of degraded forests using geoprocessing. We produced two oil expansion scenarios. The first one reflects current trends in palm oil production expansion and deforestation in Pará State (S1). The second one considers the exclusive use of deforested/degraded land for oil palm crops (S2). The results demonstrate that degraded/deforested land in the current palm oil-producing municipalities is only sufficient for the projected level of expansion for 2020, requiring a stronger public policy to recover degraded areas for oil palm cultivation with social inclusion of family farming.

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Author Biographies

Carolina Monteiro de Carvalho, PhD in Environmental and Energy Planning, Researcher, Instituto de Energia e Ambiente – (IEE), USP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

Post Doctorate at the Faculty of Public Health, University of São Paulo, with a period of research at Aalto University, Espoo, Finland. Researcher in the ResNexus projects - Resilience and vulnerability regarding the urban nexus of food, water, energy and environment, and Environmental Governance of the Macrometrópole Paulista in the face of climatic variability (IEE/USP). PhD in Environmental Planning at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), with a sandwich period at the Royal Institute of Technology (Kunliga Tekniska Hogskolan - KTH), in Stockholm, Sweden, researching the sustainable expansion of oil palm biodiesel in Pará, Brazil, in degraded areas, and related impacts. Master's Degree in Remote Sensing from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), in 2007. Bachelors in Geology from the São Paulo State University Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP), in 2003.

Allan Yu Iwama, PhD in Environmental and Society, Researcher, OTSS, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

Environmental Engineer at UNESP (2006), MSc in Remote Sensing at INPE (2009) and PhD. in Environment and Society at UNICAMP/NEPAM (2014). Currently he has been working on research projects in climate change and adaptation, disasters risks, land use-cover change, citizen science and participatory approaches - social cartography, research-action and participatory GIS. Has experience with management plans of Terrestrial and Marine Protected Areas, socio-environmental analysis, master plans and remote sensing and GIS. He is member of Laboratory of Citizen Science of ULAGOS; Laboratory of Interdisciplinarity in Information and Knowledge and the QES network in research on Ecological Economics, Climate Justice, and Commons Governance. Allan is a member of the 'Ecosystems and Society' working group of CLACSO and the Tropical Water Research Alliance (TWRA). He is a member of the GLP-Global Land Program working groups.

Emilio La Rovere, D.Sc. in Economics, Full Professor, Instituto de Engenharia (COPPE), UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

Graduated in Electrical Systems and Industrial Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (1975), graduated in Economics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1976), master’s in Systems and Computer Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1977) and D.Sc. in Economics at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales de Paris (1980). He is currently Full Professor of the Energy Planning Program (PPE), at the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Research and Graduate Studies in Engineering (COPPE), at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), where he coordinates the Interdisciplinary Environment Laboratory (LIMA) and the Center for Integrated Studies on Environment and Climate Change (CENTRO CLIMA).

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Sustainability in Debate - Brasília, v. 12, n.2, p. 90-107, may-aug/2021

Scenarios for oil palm expansion in degraded and deforested lands in the Brazilian Amazon to meet biodiesel demand

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2021-08-30 — Updated on 2021-09-08

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Carvalho, C. M. de, Iwama, A. Y., & La Rovere, E. (2021). Scenarios for oil palm expansion in degraded and deforested lands in the Brazilian Amazon to meet biodiesel demand. Sustainability in Debate, 12(2), 90–107. https://doi.org/10.18472/SustDeb.v12n2.2021.35201 (Original work published August 30, 2021)

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Vol. 12 No. 2 (2021): Sustainability in Debate / Sustentabilidade em Debate

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Articles - Varia

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