Deforestation in Southeast Asia, the commodities that drive it and what we can do about it
What we do with the land on the planet and how we do it are both incredibly important.
Sustainable Land Management (SLM) is the act of balancing current human needs with long term human needs and the environment when using land resources (such as soil, water, animals and plants) (1).
The way humans have managed land in the past (converting forests and other carbon sinks and hubs of biodiversity into urban areas, agriculture, mining sites) has contributed heavily to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (5) and has put the long term prospect of life on the planet at risk, especially in the tropics (7). Soil degradation, urbanization, and rising temperatures will put more pressure to convert remaining forests as current agricultural lands become unproductive, built-up or too hot.
“Between 1985 and 2005, the world’s croplands and pastures expanded by 154 million hectares. In the last two centuries, humans have cleared or converted 70% of the grassland, 50% of the savannah, 45% of the temperate deciduous forest, and 27% of the tropical forest biome for agriculture. Agriculture is estimated to be the proximate driver for around 80% of deforestation worldwide.” FAO, Issues Brief on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (8)
At the same time, population growth and income growth are putting pressure on the world’s resources. This is apparent in the increasing demand for food. The FAO expects agricultural output to increase ~50% from 2015 to 2050. This demand is expected to be concentrated in South Asia and Africa which are projected to be home to 9 of the projected 11 billion people on the planet (2).
This makes sustainable land use an essential aspect of both mitigating and adapting to climate change. Through sustainable land use we can:
- reduce GHG emissions and protect the planet’s biodiversity and;
- meet the growing demand (for everything) in the context of a changing climate.
Deforestation in Southeast Asia
Given that I live and work in Southeast Asia, a region with rapid growth and development, I thought it would be interesting to focus on land use and deforestation in the region. From 2001 to 2018 Southeast Asian countries lost 47 million hectares of tree cover. That’s a landmass a bit bigger than the size of Sweden. This was a 15% reduction in forests in the region and led to 19,479 million tonnes of GHG emissions (3). This is equal to the annual impact of 4,539 coal plants burning or the energy consumption of over 2 billion homes (4).
The top two drivers of this deforestation were (a) commodity-driven agriculture (the conversion of forest to agriculture (including oil palm), mining or energy infrastructure), and (b) forestry (3).
Current land uses, their impacts and solutions
There are more of us, and there are a lot of people coming out of poverty and changing their consumption patterns — we need more of everything we use and eat, but this doesn’t have to lead to more environmental harm.
Let’s dive into a few commodities that are affecting forests in Southeast Asia and ways we can lessen their impact:
Rubber
Demand for natural rubber doubled between 2000 and 2017 (9), with Southeast Asia contributing 75% of worldwide natural rubber production. Six countries — Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, and China — account for approximately 90% of global production, with the majority (70%) coming from Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia (11).
Living in Cambodia, I am particularly interested in learning about what has been happening here. Cambodia has been a growing exporter of rubber and is now the 9th largest rubber exporter in the world, with rubber plantations making up 80% of its economic land concessions (ELCs — the government leasing land to companies for agricultural development). ELCs are the main driver of deforestation in Cambodia (which has lost 25% of forest cover between 2000 and 2017) and are often located in protected forest land and national parks (11).
Intercropping, sustainable agricultural practices and avoidance of further deforestation can be methods to both improve farmer livelihoods and reduce the environmental impact of rubber production. Training from organizations like WWF and FCS can help to put these methods into practice. While involving upfront costs, these changes lead to positive impacts on long term production and profitability (12).
“When done responsibly, rubber production increases biodiversity and carbon sequestration, and reduces carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation. It also avoids human and labor rights violations, as well as land grabs.” WWF (10)
NGOs alone can’t change the global supply chain. 70% of natural rubber is used for car tires or related products (10). This puts the onus on multinational companies like Michelin and General Motors to advocate for (and pay for) changes in their supply chains (13).
[Quick shoutout to Alice and Whittles, a company based out of Toronto selling super cute sustainably sourced natural rubber products — like rainboots (48)]
Cacao
Production of Cacao has expanded by 56% from 2000 to 2017, with 13% coming from Southeast Asia, almost all of it from Indonesia. Between 1988 and 2007 in Indonesia, an estimated 700,000 hectares of deforestation can be attributed to cacao production (9% of Indonesian deforestation for crops) (23).
While more than 90% of Cacao is grown by smallholder farmers, these farmers do not have the financial means or technical capacity to change their practices. It is up to the concentrated group of chocolate producers to support and finance change in their supply chains (24). Companies like Barry Callebaut have shown leadership in the sector with the goal of being carbon and forest positive by 2025 (25).
The Beyond Chocolate partnership between the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) and Belgium Chocolate producers aims to improve farmer livelihoods and yields sustainably, thereby taking the pressure off of additional deforestation (26).
“Increased incomes enable cocoa farmers to invest in their farms and increase their productivity on existing land, mitigating the need to encroach tropical forest areas.” IDH (26)
But chocolate grown in Indonesia gets relatively limited attention. World Cocoa Foundation is a member-based organization representing about 80% of the chocolate market. While they have formed partnerships and made commitments related to cocoa and the environment, their Cocoa and Forests initiative has been wholly focused on West Africa (22).
Coffee
Southeast Asia produces 27% of the world’s coffee, with Vietnam contributing the majority of the region’s contributions at 17% (9).
The demand for coffee is expected to triple by 2050. In that period, half of the land currently suitable to cultivate coffee is expected to become unsuitable due to climate change. Tropical rainforests make up 60% of the land with the right climate to grow coffee — this makes coffee a perfect storm for future deforestation (15).
Coffee has also been a source of deforestation historically. In the past, increases in coffee production in Southeast Asia have not been accompanied by increasing yields, indicating that coffee growth has largely been driven by deforestation. (16) With about 100,000 hectares of deforestation annually attributable to coffee production, there are about 1.78 square inches of deforestation for every cup of coffee you drink (calculations below — 17).
In order to limit future deforestation and GHG impact from coffee production, expansion into forested lands has to be limited. In addition, sustainable agricultural practices have to be implemented, including shade growth, intercropping and reduced pesticide use.
Nonprofits and NGOs such as Rainforest Alliance, Conservation International and Fairtrade International have partnered with large coffee purchasers like Starbucks (18) and Nestle (20) on initiatives to work with the smallholder farmers they source from. These projects increase farmer yields and revenues while boosting their climate resilience and reducing their environmental impact (21).
It’s worth mentioning that Nestle missed all of its 2020 coffee sustainability objectives (20) and Starbucks last updated its progress on 2015 sustainability goals in 2011 (19). The pressure needs to turn up on these companies to put their money where their mouth is.
Palm Oil
It is estimated that half of the products in any supermarket contain palm oil (33). Production of palm oil increased by ~150% between 2000 and 2013 with almost 90% coming from Southeast Asia. 35% of the world’s palm oil is grown in Malaysia and 50% in Indonesia (9). In Southeast Asia, 45% of palm oil plantations are located in areas that were forested in 1989 (30).
One of the lesser-known impacts of palm oil is the draining and burning of peatlands. These swamps can hold 18–28 times as much carbon held in forests growing on them. Not only does the conversion of this land release GHGs for decades, the burning of peatlands can also be blamed for over 100,000 deaths in Southeast Asia from the resulting air pollution (27).
90% of palm oil traded is covered by deforestation-free commitments (32). However, under the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) which has over 3,000 members, the exact definition of ‘deforestation’ is disputed, with some members insisting that the deforestation of some types of forested areas does not count (28).
Palm oil is not conducive to intercropping and since the ground cover has to be cleared and pesticides are heavily used (31), only 15% of native species can survive on forests turned palm oil plantations (27). This makes tree re-planting (with more productive species) one of the only ways to drive up yields and take the pressure off of land expansion (29). Scientists looking at the oil palm sustainability challenge also recommend promoting the use of land cover in plantations, and the re-use of biomass waste for fertilizer (31).
As in the other commodities above, it will take corporate giants and governments to make a real impact on the sustainability of the palm oil supply chain. Unilever has been an industry leader on this front, with a commitment to 100% physical traceability by 2019 with an accompanying strong commitment against deforestation (32).
The EU, which is Indonesia’s second-biggest palm oil purchaser behind India, is phasing out palm oil-based biofuels to 2030, but leaves open an exception for smallholders who produce in a sustainable way. Under this regulation, vehicle fuel can still contain palm oil, that palm oil will just not count towards renewable fuel goals unless it is produced sustainably (34).
These are just a few of the contributors to deforestation in Southeast Asia. Timber and other forest products are another main contributor and can also be managed sustainably (check out the Forest Stewardship Council (35)). Tropical rainforests outside Southeast Asia, namely in Latin America are also threatened, primarily by the cultivation of Beef and Soy (14).
What can be done about it?
While there have been efforts to change the way land is used in Southeast Asia, the upcoming decade is critical to mitigate climate change and protect the remaining tropical Asian forests and the communities they support. The two primary groups that are positioned to have the greatest impact are governments and large corporations.
Governments
Overall, governments have to improve the way they give land concessions to companies, and what they let companies do on that land. There is evidence that conservation policies do work when they are properly implemented. Government policies have been influential in the reduction of deforestation in the Amazon (38). China implemented conservation policies in the 1990s which led to substantial forest recovery in Panda habitats (37). Theodore Rosevelt spearheaded the conservation movement in the US. As president, he created 150 national forests in the early 1990s (50).
Governments in more developed nations have the obligation in the face of the looming climate crisis to support developing nations to make these changes.
“A carbon price of $50-$100 (US) per ton of carbon dioxide, prices required to meet the Paris Agreement of keeping global warming at less than 2 degrees Celsius, would reduce deforestation by 28 to 44 percent during the 2020 to 2050 period.” The Science Brief, 2019 (51)
The Green Climate Fund set up by the UN was created to support the efforts of developing countries to respond to the challenge of climate change (49), but the 10.3 billion USD pledged is not nearly enough to tackle the problem. An estimated 89 trillion USD is needed in the next fifteen years to invest in cities, energy and land-use systems to keep temperatures below the international target of 2 degrees Celcius (52). In addition, carbon taxes and other climate change regulations have to start coming into force.
Corporations
Large companies have the resources and influence to work with their supply chains to promote sustainable land use. In 2009, Ikea formed the Better Cotton Initiative with WWF to reduce the environmental impact of its supply chain and improve farmer livelihoods (36). Better Cotton now accounts for 14% of the world's production, and that number is growing. Patagonia has been a leader in supply chain transparency with an in-depth analysis available on its website. The company is also active in environmental advocacy (39).
NGOs and Nonprofits
The organizations which have spearheaded efforts in terms of execution and advocacy to date have been international NGOs and nonprofits. In partnership with governments or corporations, these organizations often work directly with co-ops/smallholder farmers to support them in changing their practices to improve their livelihoods and reduce environmental impact. To name two of many, the WWF has projects worldwide dedicated to protecting forests (40) and the Rainforest Alliance also works for strong forests and healthy communities (41).
What can I do about it?*
As we are all humans and we participate in the world economy, we are all connected in some way to the deforestation in Southeast Asia. Whether through the food we eat, the taxes we pay, the clothes we wear, the flights we take or the shampoo we use. So what can I/we/you do about it?
Policy
The most important influencer is policy and land use management. This can seem like something we as individuals don’t have any influence over, but wherever you live it is important to hold your representatives accountable for their votes on environmental policy/permitting/land use regulation.
- US representatives scorecards on environmental decisions (42)
- You can find out how to contact your elected representative in the US here (43)
Vote with your $
International projects focused on land use and sustainability are often driven or funded by large multinational corporations seeking to make their supply chains more transparent and meet sustainability commitments. Most of these companies are taking action because consumers and shareholders are demanding they do and holding them to their commitments.
What you spend your money on and where you put your money can make a difference, read more labels, look for certifications and find some new hip sustainable brands:
- The Good Trade is a cool sustainable fashion resource (44)
- FSC certification confirms that biological diversity in forests are being preserved and local people are benefiting (35)
- Rainforest Alliance/UTZ certified products are verified for social, economic, and environmental sustainability (41)
- Where you put your savings is also important, a cool blog on sustainable investing (45)
Talk about it
Climate Change often seems like the elephant in the room. It’s important for us to start speaking more openly with our friends and family about our thoughts and fears about climate change and what we, our governments, and our employers can do about it.
*There have been quite a few discussions about how individual action is a false premise to shift blame onto the individual consumer (46), which is probably true in part — but if all of us collectively do nothing to change then nothing will change.
In Summary…
The land-use issue is complex. Governments have many conflicting priorities and forests often end up at the bottom of the list. All of the different agricultural commodities that drive land-use change in Southeast Asia have local communities depending on them, have different ways they are grown and sold and complex international supply chains. There is no silver bullet solution to protect biodiversity, forests, and local communities and fulfill global demand and sequestering carbon.
But there are solutions and there are people working on solving these problems. We can all be more informed and more engaged, and hold our governments, our companies and ourselves more accountable. More accountable for taking care of the beautiful carbon-sequestering land on this green planet (cause it’s the only one we got).
References
1 Sustainable Land Management, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2020, http://www.fao.org/land-water/land/sustainable-land-management/en/
2 The future of food and agriculture — Alternative pathways to 2050, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2018, http://www.fao.org/global-perspectives-studies/en/
3 Global Forest Watch, World Resources Institute and Agence Francaise De Development, 2018, https://www.globalforestwatch.org/
4 Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator, United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2019, https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator
5 Tracking Illegal Logging and Related Trade: What progress and where the next, Alison Hoare, Chatham House, 2015, https://www.chathamhouse.org/publication/tackling-illegal-logging-and-related-trade-what-progress-and-where-next#
6 Forest product statistics, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2018, http://www.fao.org/forestry/statistics/80938@180723/en/
7 Climate Change Will Accelerate Earth’s Sixth Mass Extinction, Sarah Zielinski, Smithsonian Magazine, 2015 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/climate-change-will-accelerate-earths-sixth-mass-extinction-180955138/
8 Issues Brief on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/GSP/docs/ITPS/Annex2.pdf
9 FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data
10 Transforming the global rubber market, World Wildlife Fund, https://www.worldwildlife.org/projects/transforming-the-global-rubber-market
11 Rubber Barons, Global Witness, 2013 https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/land-deals/rubberbarons/
12 How rubber farmers can reduce risk and help the environment (commentary), Arlene Chang, Mongabay, 2019 https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/how-rubber-farmers-can-reduce-risk-and-help-the-environment-commentary/
13 GM, Michelin put brakes on deforestation linked to rubber, Barbara Grady, GreenBiz, https://www.greenbiz.com/article/gm-michelin-put-brakes-deforestation-linked-rubber
14 What’s Driving Deforestation, Union of Concerned Scientists, 2016, https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/whats-driving-deforestation
15 Coffee in the 21st Century, Timothy J Killeen, Conservation International, 2016 https://www.conservation.org/docs/default-source/publication-pdfs/ci-coffee-report.pdf
16 Global Coffee Production and Land Use Change, Peter Baker, 2014, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273445289_Global_Coffee_Production_and_Land_Use_Change
17
- There are 9,212,169 tonnes of green coffee beans produced annually (9)
- There are 1,000 kg per tonne
- An average coffee is 10.6 grams (0.0106 tonnes) (47)
- This results in 9,212,169 tonnes X 1,000 kg per tonne / 0.0106 tonnes per coffee = 869 billion cups of coffee drunk every year
- 100,000 ha deforested every year (16)
- 15,500,030 square inches per hectare
- 100,000 ha / 869 billion cups of coffee * 15,500,030 square in/ ha = 1.78 square inches of forest for every cup of coffee
18 Climate Change, Starbucks Coffee Company https://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/environment/climate-change
19 Goals & Progress: Coffee Purchasing, Starbucks Coffee Company https://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/global-report/ethical-sourcing/coffee-purchasing
20 Coffee, Nestle https://www.nestle.com/csv/raw-materials/coffee
21 Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffee, Rainforest Alliance, 2016 https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/articles/rainforest-alliance-certified-coffee
22 Cocoa & Forests Initiative, World Cocoa Foundation, 2017 https://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/initiative/cocoa-forests-initiative/
23 Your Cocoa, Kissed by Deforesation, Mighty Earth http://www.mightyearth.org/kissed-by-deforestation/
24 Cutting Deforestation Out of the Cocoa Supply Chain, The World Bank, 2017 https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2017/05/22/cutting-deforestation-out-of-the-cocoa-supply-chain
25 Forever Chocolate: our plan to make sustainable chocolate the norm, Barry Callebaut, https://www.barry-callebaut.com/en/group/forever-chocolate-our-plan-make-sustainable-chocolate-norm
26 Beyond Chocolate, The Sustainable Trade Initiative, https://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/initiative/beyondchocolate/
27 Palm Oil, Union of Concerned Scientists, 2016, https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/palm-oil
28 Palm oil is cheap, but it’s also and eco-disaster, Laura Villadiego, This Week in Asia, 2018, https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2129698/time-bomb-our-stir-fry
29 Southeast Asia’s palm oil touts sustainability narrative, but activists cast doubts, Kiki Siregar and Vincent Tan, Channel News Asia, 2019, https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/indonesia-malaysia-palm-oil-sustainable-practices-activists-12166550
30 The Impacts of Oil Palm on Recent Deforestation and Biodiversity Loss, Varsha Vijay et al, PLoS ONE, 2016 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0159668
31 The Impact of Palm Oil Cultivation in South East Asia, Alexander Stark, Lab Worldwide, 2018 https://www.lab-worldwide.com/the-impact-of-palm-oil-cultivation-in-south-east-asia-a-726281/
32 Partnerships for transformational change, Unilever, https://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/reducing-environmental-impact/sustainable-sourcing/transforming-the-palm-oil-industry/partnerships-for-transformational-change/
33 Palm Oil: Growth in Southeast Asia Comes With a High Price Tag, Gro Intelligence, 2016, https://www.gro-intelligence.com/insights/articles/palm-oil-production-and-demand
34 ‘Bring it on,’ EU MP says of trade fight over palm biofuel phase-out, Hans Nicholas Jong, Mongabay, 2019, https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/eu-palm-oil-biofuel-indonesia-malaysia-phaseout-wto/
35 Forest Stewardship Council https://fsc.org/en
36 The IKEA experience in moving towards Better Cotton supply chain: Making sustainability work, Kavita Joshi Rai, Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative, 2010, https://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/uploaded/2016/08/Ikea-booklet-def.pdf
37 Effects of Conservation Policies on Forest Cover Change in Giant Panda Habitat Regions, China, Yu Li et al, 2015, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4486658/
38 Government Policies, Responsible for Half of the Reduction in Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, Climate Policy Imitative, 2012, https://climatepolicyinitiative.org/press-release/government-policies-responsible-for-half-of-the-reduction-in-deforestation-in-the-brazilian-amazon/
39 Footprint, Patagonia https://www.patagonia.com/footprint.html
40 Forest Projects, World Wildlife Fund, https://www.worldwildlife.org/projects?initiative_id=forests&page=1
41 Forests, Rainforest Alliance, https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/issues/forests
42 Scorecard, League of Conservation Voters, http://scorecard.lcv.org/
43 How to Contact Your Elected Officials, United States Government, https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/
44 The Good Trade, https://www.thegoodtrade.com/
45 How to Start With Sustainable Investing, Andrea Bertoli, Clean Technica, 2019 https://cleantechnica.com/2019/08/17/how-to-start-with-sustainable-investing/
46 Focusing on how individuals can stop climate change is very convenient for corporations, Morten Fibieger, Fast Company, 2019, https://www.fastcompany.com/90290795/focusing-on-how-individuals-can-stop-climate-change-is-very-convenient-for-corporations
47 Make a Perfect Cup of Coffee with These Brewing Ratio Charts, Mihir Patkar, Lifehacker, 2019, https://lifehacker.com/make-a-perfect-cup-of-coffee-with-these-brewing-ratio-c-1644967428
48 Alice and Whittles https://www.aliceandwhittles.com/
49 The Green Climate Fund https://www.greenclimate.fund/home
50 The Conservation Legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, The US Department of the Interior, 2016, https://www.doi.gov/blog/conservation-legacy-theodore-roosevelt
51 How Much Does it Cost to Save Tropical Forests and Prevent Climate Change?, Matthew Miller, The Science Brief, 2019 https://blog.nature.org/science/science-brief/how-much-does-it-cost-to-save-tropical-forests-and-prevent-climate-change/
52 Mobilizing the Billions and Trillions for Climate Finance, The World Bank, 2015, https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/04/18/raising-trillions-for-climate-finance
