Spatially explicit mapping

NMOOP is on a mission to bring an additional 120,000 hectares of land under oil palm cultivation (Government of India and Cabinet, 2017). However, we were unable to find a report that has mapped potential areas for oil palm and other land-use patterns. We suggest that explicit mapping is essential at the national level to understand land-use patterns, including protected areas, primary and secondary forests, agricultural land with crops, fallow lands, and degraded areas. Potential areas favorable to grow oil palm must be identified using climatic conditions, rainfall, water balance, and land profile (Budidarsono, Susanti, & Zoomers, 2013; FAO, 2017). Areas crucial for the survival of the biodiversity, such as protected areas, unprotected government- or community-owned primary and secondary forests, and traditional agricultural landscapes such as shifting agriculture, must be spared from future oil palm expansion. Similar measures are already directing a sustainable development of oil palm plantation in Ghana, where natural areas are being converted into plantations (National Geographic, 2018). However, in India, existing agricultural areas and nonarable fallow lands must be used to grow oil palm. Potential for such trade-offs must be explored at more regional or local level.

Oil palm is the most efficient oilseed, with nearly 5 times more production per unit area than any other leading oilseed crops (World Wide Fund, 2016). We suggest that plantations must be increased on existing agricultural lands by converting other oil seed crops, such as rapeseed, peanut and sunflower seed, and staple food crops such as rice, to oil palm plantations. With a profile of food production at the regional level, areas producing surplus amount of food crops could be allowed to be converted into oil palm plantations. This must be done while keeping the food security of the region in mind, along with projected population growth. Nonarable fallow lands could also be converted into plantations with adequate irrigation.

Replenishing the water table

With climate models forecasting a 0.5°C rise in temperature by 2030 in India, heatwaves, drought, severe storms, and flooding are expected to increase in the future, with negative effects on health and livelihoods. Flooding will increase in glacier-fed rivers followed by diminished water flows. In the regions that depend completely on the monsoon, the rate of precipitation will be increased over short periods of time, followed by long periods of drought (National Intelligence Council, 2009). Drizzle-type precipitation, important to replenish soil moisture (National Weather Service, 1996), is also expected to decline. This will cause alternating floods and droughts, affecting agricultural and water security, with ramifications for social and political instability (Schellnhuber et al., 2013). Northern and Eastern India in particular have been revealed as hotspots for groundwater depletion over the last decade, owing to overextraction for crop irrigation and decrease in precipitation, respectively (Rodell, Famiglietti, Wiese, Reager, & Beaudoing, 2018).

Oil palm is extremely water intensive, requiring 280 to 350 L of water per plant per day (Carr, 2011). With rising temperatures, it will be difficult to rely on precipitation alone for agriculture. Measures should be taken to effectively harvest rainfall. The NMOOP (2014) operational guidelines include incentives for farmers to set up drip irrigation and bore wells and to construct ponds and purchase pump sets for irrigation. However, no measures of replenishing the ground water table are incentivized. Replenishment of ground water must be immediately undertaken to sustain irrigation.

Using technique like Managed Aquifer Recharge, it is possible to artificially facilitate the increase in ground water storage. This is a technique to intentionally recharge suitable aquifers for subsequent recovery. Methods such as injection wells or infiltration structures such as ponds, basins, galleries, and trenches are used to reduce water loss through evaporation. This technique has proved to be very efficient worldwide, especially in dry regions of Australia (Dillon, 2009; Khan, Mushtaq, Hanjra, & Schaeffer, 2008).

Aiding an informed decision

Many farmers and tribal communities in rural India are unaware about the negative effects of oil palm plantations. Decisions taken by the government based on short-term economic benefits might lead to social and environmental problems, such as loss of traditional rights of indigenous communities over land and other natural resources, illegal clearing of forest lands, forest fires, and exploitative use of fertilizers, as were witnessed in Indonesia and Malaysia (Budidarsono et al., 2013; Colchester et al., 2007; Cooke, Toh, & Vaz, 2011; Sheil et al., 2009). We, therefore, propose that a series of workshops be held in each village, involving all stakeholders—local community, village councils, the forest department, horticultural department and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Communities should discuss the proposed oil palm cultivation and make informed choices. Such meetings should discuss and address the difficulties of oil palm cultivation for small holders, including a lack of income during the gestation period of 4 to 5 years, market fluctuations, and production vulnerability to climate (Noor, Gassner, Terheggen, & Dobie, 2017). The decisions must be made from a debate arising between officials pushing for oil palm plantations, and agencies that currently warn against potential downsides, with recommendations arising from such debates.

We understand the underlying difficulties to take this approach. However, involvement of stakeholders and civil society, support from NGOs, and active consultation with the local communities were the main reasons for the success of one of the largest voluntary resettlement programs from within Bhadra Tiger Reserve—a protected area in Southern India (Karanth, 2007; Wildlife Conservation Society-India, 2018). Achieving an informed decision might be difficult, but it is crucial for the success of the oil palm cultivation project in India. This may help avert the mistakes of the oil palm industry in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Safeguarding traditional agricultural practices in ecologically sensitive zones

Areas of Northeast and Eastern India have traditional shifting cultivation practices known as jhum. Although some studies indicate that jhum may not be economically feasible, and might be wasteful for the community, since it represents subsistence farming using large areas (Bandy, Garrity, & Sanchez, 1993; Lianzela, 1997; Ranjan & Upadhyay, 1999), these cultivation landscapes are culturally and ecologically important (Borah, Evans, & Edwards, 2018). Many communities associate their cultural identity and way of life to the age-old practice of shifting cultivation (Ramakrishnan, 1992). Such practices also support and buffer communities during market fluctuations (Cramb et al., 2009). It has been shown that when compared with monoculture plantations, jhum—with a mosaic of forest patches at different stages of regeneration—is far better at maintaining biodiversity in larger landscapes. Moreover, these secondary forests are important habitats for endemic and endangered wildlife (Mandal & Shankar Raman, 2016). However, Indian government has been trying to convert jhum to intensive settled monoculture crops for the past six decades (Maithani, 2005; Malik, 2003).

Converting large expanses of community-owned shifting cultivation lands into monoculture oil palm plantations will destroy key habitats of conservation importance, along with cultural heritage. We suggest that these community-managed forest lands should not be completely converted to oil palm lands, as this may cause socioeconomic instability in the long run (Teegalapalli & Datta, 2016). Instead, these landscapes have to be prioritized as cultural landscapes and protected areas, empowering local communities in protection, management, and sustainable tourism (Mohan & Athreya, 2011).

Involving the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is an association of organizations from different sectors of the oil palm industry, established with an aim to create and implement a global standard for sustainable palm oil (Laurance et al., 2010). A study by Carlson et al. (2018) shows that certification by the RSPO lowered deforestation by 33% from a counterfactual of 9.8 to 6.6% per year between 2001 and 2015, in Indonesia. The study also shows that certification had minimum impact on fire reduction and calls for strict measures to halt peat and forest loss.

However, the RSPO (2018a) is nonexistent in the growing Indian oil palm industry, with only 49 members. Even though the RSPO has shortcomings in effectuating sustainable oil palm production by not implementing a blanket ban on deforestation or conversion of peatland and failing to regulate the actions of its members (e.g., Laurance et al., 2010), it provides a platform for NGOs, governments, and communities to hold oil palm companies accountable and bring constructive criticism to the table. In addition, RSPO’s (2018a) newly adopted standards, which have been agreed by their members, aim at increasing ethical plantations, by halting deforestation and human rights violations. We propose that plantations of both large and small holders in India be certified at the very outset by the RSPO, and that the local conservation organizations dealing with the oil palm industry involve the RSPO in their action plans. One of the most important steps in this regard is for consumers, conservation scientists, civil society groups, and the international community to lobby the Government of India to formally recognize and endorse the RSPO certification schemes through appropriate policies.

Lessons from Indonesia and Malaysia have shown that it is often difficult for small holders to absorb sustainability certification due to lack of sufficient capital and technical expertise, amidst other difficulties such as cumbersome labor and fertilizer management, that is associated with oil palm plantations (Noor et al., 2017). In response to this, the RSPO Smallholder Support Fund was set up in 2013 and has funded 32 smallholder projects in 12 countries aiding nearly 26,000 individual smallholders till date (RSPO, 2018b). Harnessing the RSPO Smallholder Support Fund and implementing the RSPO’s (2018b) newly drafted small holder standard, under the supervision of local NGOs, could therefore enable even the smallholders to access equitable certifications. The Government of India has a golden opportunity to be an example to the developing world in ensuring sustainable expansion of a crucial food and cash crop.

National initiatives

NGOs play an important role in counteracting the negative impacts of the palm oil industry, and in pressuring governments toward reform and better policy. In Indonesia, NGOs such as Sawit Watch and Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia have been actively involved in resolving conflicts between local stakeholders and large companies and ensuring access to natural resources, indigenous rights, and sustainable environmental governance. In Malaysia, Jaringan Orang Asal Se-Malaysia’, a collective of 21 NGOs focusing on advocacy issues of indigenous communities, and Malaysian Palm Oil NGO Coalition, with various environmental NGOs, play an important role in environmental protection (RSPO, 2013). Government actions, such as the One-Map Initiative (Mulyani & Jepson, 2016), identification of sustainable oil palm producers and traders (Bahuet, 2017; Zoological Society of London, 2017), and the peatland restoration agency of Indonesia (Badan Restorasi Gambut, 2015), have been successful in regulating the oil palm industry better. In the context of the success of NGOs and government initiatives in Indonesia and Malaysia, we advocate similar initiatives in India.

Policies to safeguard unique tribal land tenure

Communities involved in traditional agricultural practices have unique land tenure systems, especially in the community-owned tribal lands of East and Northeast India. In the case of Northeast India, even though large swathes of land are nominally administered by the territorial forest division, land is owned and managed at the village level, with the consultation of village councils. Each tribe has well-demarcated boundaries separating their lands from those of neighboring tribes. Within a tribe, each village has its own lands, well demarcated from lands of adjoining villages. We propose that a clear regulatory framework must be prepared regarding land usage for oil palm in such sensitive areas.

Local communities in Southeast Asia face problems with oil palm companies regarding land rights conflicts, arising from agreements made with false promises and lack of opportunities to take part in decision-making processes (Budidarsono et al., 2013; Colchester et al., 2007). Tribal leaders are bribed to convert their tribal lands into oil palm plantations, disrupting the socioeconomic system of the community (Curry & Koczberski, 2009). People are forced out of their land with no or little compensation (Colchester et al., 2011). This may lead the communities to lose communal identity, social bonds, and experience uncertainties arising from monoculture cropping, such as disease, pests, and an increasing reliance on chemicals (Carlson et al., 2012; Obidzinski, Andriani, Komarudin, & Andrianto, 2012). Therefore, a regulatory policy must be designed before the expansion of oil palm plantations in such traditional agriculture and community-owned lands of India to prevent suffering of the local communities in the future.

Policies to regulate the usage of agrochemicals

With the aggressive move to convert large expanses of land into monoculture oil palm plantations that demands high chemical usage, farmers will be forced to use mineral fertilizers and pesticides to maximize yields, like in Southeast Asia, where fertilizers account for 25% of total costs (Comte, Colin, Whalen, Grünberger, & Caliman, 2012; Goh, Härdter, & Fairhurst, 2003). Studies in Indonesia have shown that runoff and leaching of nutrients from fertilizers and pesticides, including herbicides and the discharge of other effluents, are factors with high potential to affect water quality (Lord & Clay, 2006). The increased usage of pesticides like endosulfan (a polychlorinated pesticide) for cashew plantations in the Indian state of Kerala proved to be disastrous for health (Embrandiri, Singh, Ibrahim, & Khan, 2012; Saiyed et al., 2003). Endosulfan’s effects persist after nearly three decades in the form of birth defects. To prevent such disasters from recurring, strict policies must regulate the import and usage of insecticides, pesticides, and fertilizers. Such policy must include the quantities and chemicals approved by national and international institutions like the World Health Organization.

Strong import policies as leverage

Being the largest consumer with a high demand growth rate, India is an important consumer of palm oil in the global market, with a big say in the global trade like EU. Recently, with a 640 to 18 majority, members of the European Parliament (2017a; MEPs) voted in favor of ban on imports of unsustainable palm oil and its use in biofuel. The motion for a European Parliament (2017b) resolution was drafted with regard to various environmental protection agreements signed by EU such as Paris Agreement at COP21 and 2015–2030 United Nation Sustainable Development Goals.

We propose that India too should use this leverage to promote the trade of sustainable palm oil by implementing strong import regulations. This would encourage more ethical and sustainable plantations—plantations that are grown only in arable, fallow, or unused lands, without converting primary or regenerating secondary forests or peatland and without causing social and economic losses for residents. This could trigger a change in oil palm plantation practices in both domestic and foreign arenas. Such practices would be an example for a bottom-up control from the consumer side (India) to regulate and direct the future expansion of oil palm plantations in a sustainable direction.