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Ordway EM, Naylor RL, Nkongho RN, et al. Oil palm expansion and deforestation in Southwest Cameroon associated with proliferation of informal mills. Nat Commun. 2019;10(1):114doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07915-2.
Ordway, E. M., Naylor, R. L., Nkongho, R. N., & Lambin, E. F. (2019). Oil palm expansion and deforestation in Southwest Cameroon associated with proliferation of informal mills. Nature communications, 10(1), 114. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07915-2
Ordway, Elsa M, et al. "Oil palm expansion and deforestation in Southwest Cameroon associated with proliferation of informal mills." Nature communications vol. 10,1 (2019): 114. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07915-2
Ordway EM, Naylor RL, Nkongho RN, Lambin EF. Oil palm expansion and deforestation in Southwest Cameroon associated with proliferation of informal mills. Nat Commun. 2019 Jan 10;10(1):114. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07915-2. PMID: 30631076; PMCID: PMC6328567.
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Nat Commun. 2019 Jan 10;10(1):114. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07915-2.

Oil palm expansion and deforestation in Southwest Cameroon associated with proliferation of informal mills.

Nature communications

Elsa M Ordway, Rosamond L Naylor, Raymond N Nkongho, Eric F Lambin

Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States. [email protected].
  2. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States. [email protected].
  3. Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States.
  4. Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States.
  5. Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University, 616 Serra Street C100, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States.
  6. Department of Agronomic and Applied Molecular Sciences, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon.
  7. Georges Lemaître Earth and Climate Research Centre, Earth & Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Place L. Pasteur 3, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348, Belgium.

PMID: 30631076 PMCID: PMC6328567 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07915-2

Abstract

Oil palm expansion resulted in 2 million hectares (Mha) of forest loss globally in 2000-2010. Despite accounting for 24% (4.5 Mha) of the world's total oil palm cultivated area, expansion dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa have been overlooked. We show that in Southwest Cameroon, a top producing region of Africa, 67% of oil palm expansion from 2000-2015 occurred at the expense of forest. Contrary to the publicized narrative of industrial-scale expansion, most oil palm expansion and associated deforestation is occurring outside large agro-industrial concessions. Expansion and deforestation carried out by non-industrial producers is occurring near low-efficiency informal mills, unconstrained by the location of high-efficiency company-owned mills. These results highlight the key role of a booming informal economic sector in driving rapid land use change. High per capita consumption and rising palm oil demands in sub-Saharan Africa spotlight the need to consider informal economies when identifying regionally relevant sustainability pathways.

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