Treefalls are a common and necessary occurrence in forests all over the world. As sunshine streams in from above, trees hunkered down in the understory finally get their chance to rise. Basking in the suddenly resource-rich environment, tropical trees and other plants produce nectar-filled flowers and fruit, important food sources for birds and other animals.
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Even when it comes to environmental protection (the sole reason why the EU was purportedly banning palm oil in the first place) the evidence falls short of the reasoning. While a ban on palm oil reduces the EU’s consumption of palm oil, this doesn’t automatically make the world a better place.
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On a more global scale, critics of ecotourism have argued that the astronomical carbon footprint of international air travel negates any benefits that might be derived from tourists eating local fruits and vegetables, or bathing with water that is heated by solar energy.
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Biofuels – liquids or gases made from plant products including oil crops such as palm, soy, corn, coconut and rapeseed – are not the sound green alternative to petrol and diesel they were once thought to be.
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Both humans and great apes are susceptible to infectious diseases; and introducing human pathogens to the great ape population could result in catastrophic losses.
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An epic rebuttal by Hariri Sadiman (@HSadiman):
Sustainability, whether that of palm oil or coconut oil or even rapeseed and soy is an important issue that must be addressed with facts as global solutions for a sustainable planet are sought.
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The outcome of the study is the idea that providing a competitive financial incentive is one factor in encouraging the reforestation of areas where wood has been cut for biomass. For instance, if wood can earn harvesters more money than a replacement crop, such as palm for oil, then they would be more inclined to replant trees or afforest other areas, thus leading to an increase, over time, of overall forest cover.
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“When you take away protected animals from a forest fragment, you remove any incentive and the legal reason for the landowner to keep those trees standing,” Sherman says, “and once the forest is cut, everything is lost – all the species that lived in and used it, as well as the ecosystem services such as flood control that it provided to human communities.”
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This Working Paper analyzes the gender dimensions of forest tenure and forest tenure reform in Indonesia. Data were derived from CIFOR’s research on forest tenure reform at the national and provincial levels, focusing on the provinces of Lampung and Maluku. Additional data were taken from training workshops on gender and community-based forest tenure reform held at these two sites. The study forms part of CIFOR’s Global Comparative Study on Forest Tenure Reform (https://www.cifor.org/gcs-tenure/).
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