Journal article
Co-producing a research agenda for sustainable palm oil
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, Vol.2, 13
2019
Abstract
The rise of palm oil as the world's most consumed vegetable oil has coincided with exponential growth in palm oil research activity. Bibliometric analysis of research outputs reveals a distinct imbalance in the type of research being undertaken, notably a disproportionate focus on biofuel and engineering topics. Recognising the expansion of oil palm agriculture across the tropics and the increasing awareness of environmental, social and economic impacts, we seek to re-orient the existing research agenda towards one that addresses the most fundamental and urgent questions defined by the palm oil stakeholder community. Following consultation with 659 stakeholders from 38 countries, including palm oil growers, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and researchers, the highest priority research questions were identified within 13 themes. The resulting 279 questions, including 26 ranked as top priority, reveal a diversity of environmental and social research challenges facing the industry, ranging from the ecological and ecosystem impacts of production, to the livelihoods of plantation workers and smallholder communities. Analysis of the knowledge type produced from these questions underscores a clear need for fundamental science programmes, and studies that involve the consultation of non-academic stakeholders to develop 'transformative' solutions to the oil palm sector. Stakeholders were most aligned in their choice of priority questions across the themes of policy and certification related themes, and differed the most in environmental feedback, technology and smallholder related themes. Our recommendations include improved regional academic leadership and coordination, greater engagement with private and public stakeholders of Africa, and Central and South America, and enhanced collaborative efforts with researchers in the major consuming countries of India and China.
Details
- Title
- Co-producing a research agenda for sustainable palm oil
- Authors
- Rory Padfield (Author)Sune Hansen (Author)Zoe G Davies (Author)Albrecht Ehrensperger (Author)Eleanor Slade (Author)Stephanie Evers (Author)Effie Papargyropoulou (Author)Cecile Bessou (Author)Norhayati Abdullah (Author)Susan Page (Author)Marc Ancrenaz (Author)Paul Aplin (Author)Dzulkafli S Balquis (Author)Holly Barclay (Author)Darshanaa Chellaiah (Author)Sonal Choudhary (Author)Samantha Conway (Author)Sarah Cook (Author)Alison Copeland (Author)Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz (Author)Nicolas Deere (Author)Simon L Mitchell (Author)Simon Drew (Author)David Gilvear (Author)Ross Gray (Author)Tobias Haller (Author)Amelia S Hood (Author)Lee K Huat (Author)Nhat Huynh (Author)Nagulendran Kangayatkarasu (Author)Lian Oin Koh (Author)Sananth Kumaran (Author)Robin A Hee Lim (Author)Yeong K Loong (Author)Jennifer M Lucey (Author)Sarah Luke (Author)Marvin J Montefrio (Author)Katherine Mullin (Author)Anand Nainar (Author)Anna Nekaris (Author)Vincent Nijman (Author)Matheus Nunes (Author)Siti Nurhidayu (Author)Patrick O'Reilly (Author)Chong L Puan (Author)Nadine Ruppert (Author)Hengky Salim (Author)Greetje Schouten (Author)Anne Tallontire (Author)Thomas Smith (Author)Hsiao-Hang Tao (Author)Mun H Tham (Author)Helena Varkkey (Author)Jamie Wadey (Author)Catherine M Yule (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - School of Science & EngineeringBadrul Azhar (Author)Alexender Sayok (Author)Charles Vairappan (Author)Jake Bicknell (Author)Matthew J Struebig (Author)
- Publication details
- Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, Vol.2, 13
- Publisher
- Frontiers Research Foundation
- Date published
- 2019
- DOI
- 10.3389/ffgc.2019.00013
- ISSN
- 2624-893X; 2624-893X
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2019 Padfield, Hansen, Davies, Ehrensperger, Slade, Evers, Papargyropoulou, Bessou, Abdullah, Page, Ancrenaz, Aplin, Balqis, Barclay, Chellaiah, choudhary, Conway, Cook, Copeland, Camposarceiz, Deere, Mitchell, Drew, Gilvear, Gray, Haller, Hood, Huat, Huynh, Kangayatkarasu, Koh, Kumaran, Hee Lim, Loong, Lucey, Luke, Montefrio, Mullin, Nainar, Nekaris, Nijman, nunes, Nurhidayu, O'Reilly, Puan, Ruppert, Salim, Schouten, Tallontire, Smith, Tao, Tham, Varkkey, Wadey, Yule, Azhar, Sayok, Vairappan, Bicknell and Struebig. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99451403602621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Ecology
- Forestry
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Source: InCites