Understanding local perceptions of the impacts of large-scale oil palm plantations on ecosystem services in the Brazilian Amazon

• Published in: Forest policy and economics 2019-12, Vol.109, p.102007, Article 102007
• Main Authors: Córdoba, Diana, Juen, Leandro, Selfa, Theresa, Peredo, Ana Maria, Montag, Luciano Fogaça de Assis, Sombra, Daniel, Santos, Marcos Persio Dantas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agribusiness; Brazil; Community perceptions; Crops; Demographics; Differentiation; Economics; Ecosystem services; Ecosystems; Employment opportunities; Environmental changes; Exposure; Interest groups; International trade; Land use; Land use change; Oil; Oil palm; Petroleum; Plantations; Respondents; Services; Sustainability; Tradeoffs; Vegetable oils; Water quality
• ISSN: 1389-9341; 1872-7050
• DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2019.102007

Despite the increasing research on the impacts of oil palm, few studies have examined local perceptions of environmental changes of large-scale plantations in Latin America. This paper addresses this research gap through focusing on understanding these perceptions in communities bordering two plantations with different time of exposure to land use transformation in the Amazonian state of Pará, Brazil. Drawing on the concept of ecosystem services, results from our survey and qualitative interviews indicate that water availa bility, air and water quality were perceived to be the most heavily impacted ecosystem services by this crop. While respondents were aware of the negative impacts on ecosystem services of future palm plantations in the two sites, the majority tend to support a future expansion of this crop. Demographic characteristics as well as time of exposure to the crop did not correlate with peoples' perceptions as people in both sites tended to privilege job opportunities and economic benefits. We found that people's perceptions of land use change trade-offs were also linked to wider economic and social sustainability issues such as land conflicts, agribusiness management practices and distinct oil palm trajectories. We suggest that information on stakeholders' interactions, social differentiation and social and economic sustainability is needed for policy design and planning to complement an ecosystem services analysis of the trade-offs of oil palm expansion. •We conducted a mixed-methods study to understand local perceptions of oil palm impacts on Ecosystem Services (ES)•Water availability, air and water quality were perceived as the most heavily impacted ES by current palm production•Perceptions of the environmental effects of oil palm expansion are not directly linked with support to this crop•Perceived socio-economic benefits and wider economic and social sustainability issues are key in supporting oil palm•Information on stakeholders’ interactions and social differentiation help to understand trade-offs of oil palm expansion