Oil palm plantations pose a threat to water quality

(Palm oil) - Palm oil is an ingredient in thousands of products, from peanut butter, packaged bread, shampoo, shaving cream . the palm oil industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. booming boom.

While this item is not always labeled in supermarket staples, the unintended consequences of producing palm oil - the common ingredient of all types of products - have been widely published. cobble.

Destroying tropical forests for palm trees emits a large amount of carbon dioxide , a greenhouse gas that causes climate change. Transforming the ecological diversity of tropical forests into 'monoculture' palm forests that reduce or destroy wildlife habitats . Oil palm plantations are also associated with dangerous working conditions for workers.

According to new research conducted by scientists from Stanford University and the University of Minnesota, water quality is declining and erosion occurs in relation to the current status of oil palm plantations . Scientists warn of the threat of oil palm cultivation to freshwater springs that millions of people are dependent on to provide domestic water, food and other livelihoods. The study is presented in Geophysical Research magazine: Biogeosciences has discovered the amazing intensity and accumulation of these effects, even in areas where forests are full of mature oil palm trees.

All land activities, management of palm forests (including fertilizer application and pesticide spraying) and processing of palm fruits to produce crude palm oil can all be brought into streams flowing through palm plantation areas. sediments, nutrients and other wastes. The vegetation along the stream bank is destroyed, affecting both organisms and the biological chain using these plants as food as well as shade.

'Although we have previously calculated carbon emissions from land use conversion to oil palm plantations, we were stunned by how the oil palm plantations caused profound changes to Freshwater ecosystems for decades', co-author of research and head research, Lisa M.Curran, professor of human ecology at Stanford University.

Indonesia produces nearly half of the world's palm oil. As the third largest rainforest country in the world, the country is also one of the main greenhouse gas emissions countries, due to the rapid transformation of carbon-rich and peat-rich forests to the purposes. Other uses.

From 2000 to 2013, Indonesia's land area used for palm oil increased more than 3 times. About 35% of the lowlands of the unprotected Borneo region could be wiped out for palm oil, according to a previous study by Curran and the lead author of the study, Kimberly Carlson, a Stanford alumni. is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Minnesota Research Institute for Environment.

Curran, Carlson and their colleagues focused on small streams flowing through oil palm plantations, small agricultural activities and forests in and around Gunung Palung National Park, a the protected area was established in 1990. They found that the temperature of spring water recently was about 4 degrees C higher in oil palm plantations (equivalent to more than 7 degrees F) compared to the stream in the regular forest. . The concentration of sediment was 550 times larger. They also recorded a sharp increase in the flow process - the rate of oxygen consumption and an important factor in assessing the quality of spring water - during the drought season.

The impact of land-use changes on fisheries, coastal areas and coral reefs - likely many miles downstream - remains unclear because this study is one of the studies. First consider the effects of palm oil on freshwater ecosystems.'Local communities pay special attention to their freshwater resources. However, the long-term effects of oil palm plantations on freshwater springs have been completely ignored so far , 'Curran said. 'We hope this study will highlight the above issue in order to appeal to the interest of the agricultural community that will directly affect their livelihoods.'

According to Carlson and Curran, potential management solutions, including maintaining natural vegetation next to streams and rationally designing oil palm plantations so that dense road networks do not intersect directly with waterways.

According to Curran, "extensive land conversion to build palm plantations may lead to a 'super typhoon', combining the environmental impacts of crops with droughts caused by El Nino. This may be causing complete destruction of freshwater ecosystems and causing economic difficulties in an area , 'Curran said.