York researchers contribute to 'Partnerships For The Planet' report

News | Posted on Thursday 21 October 2021

Professor Jane Hill’s work with Unilever to reduce our dependence on palm oil is featured in the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) quarterly report this week.

Oil palm agriculture is a major cause of deforestation which contributes to biodiversity and carbon emissions.

Researchers, led by a team at York, measured trees and other vegetation in 14 forest areas protected in RSPO-certified oil palm plantations in Malaysian Borneo. Their key findings are:

  • Patches of protected forest play an important role in helping to conserve carbon as well as biodiversity.
  • Where a tenth of the plantation is protected as natural forest, plantations store up to 20 per cent more carbon than plantations with no protected forest.
  • Patches with more carbon also have higher plant diversity, but in comparison to primary rainforest, the forest areas protected within oil palm plantations have low numbers of tree seedlings, and so may contain fewer trees in the years to come.

As a result, the team has recommended companies managing oil palm plantations should manage their protected forest to improve the potential for trees to produce seedlings and for the seedlings to survive, which could include planting additional seedlings or cutting back vines that prevent seedlings growing. They also recommend companies maintain large forest patches where possible to project rainforest biodiversity.

See the NCUB report

Contact us

David Diston
If you have any questions about the University of York's involvement please contact David Diston, our designated COP26 central contact.

david.diston@york.ac.uk

Contact us

David Diston
If you have any questions about the University of York's involvement please contact David Diston, our designated COP26 central contact.

david.diston@york.ac.uk