棕榈油替代品需要更多土地 - 研究

[NEW DELHI] While palm oil is associated with deforestation in biodiversity hotspots, alternatives may actually require more land, says a study.

从油棕水果中提取的油便宜且用途广泛，现在是世界上最常见的植物油。全球生产在1995年至2015年期间增加了两倍，大部分增长负责清理大量生物多样性-富有的雨林in Malaysia and Indonesia where roughly 90 per cent of the crop is grown.

印度尼西亚东卡利门丹的油棕种植园的卫星图像。浅棕色区域显示了收获的土地。图片来源：欧洲航天局(CC BY-SA 2.0)。

According to thestudy, published in自然植物12月7日，马来西亚婆罗洲的新油棕种植园在1972年至2015年之间占森林砍伐的50％reportby theGlobal Forest Watch。

Such extensive devastation has led to calls bybeplay足球体育的微博环境的抵制含有棕榈油的产品的活动家。

但是这项研究说，全球对植物油的需求不断增长，研究人员预计到2050年将增加46％，这可能会导致转向诸如大豆和菜籽的替代作物，这些农作物需要更多的土地才能生长。

作者估计，扩大棕榈油的生产以保持需求的步伐将需要3600万公顷的额外土地，而第二个最受欢迎的石油作物大豆将需要2.04亿公顷。

While tropical rainforest is often cleared for oil palm plantations, alternatives such as soybean and rapeseed can be grown on existing farmland.

但是，该研究的首席作者埃里克·梅贾尔德（Erik Meijaard）和独立研究人员隶属于University of Queensland, Australia, tellsscidev.net: “We know a lot about palm oil and its impacts on biodiversity, environmental and social impacts, but we know very little about the other crops. You need to realise that saying no to palm oil means saying yes to something else.”

While few of the authors received funding for the study, the道德声明在论文中指出，Meijaard和其他两个同事过去曾与棕榈油行业进行有偿工作，以及可持续棕榈油的圆桌会议lobby group。

“You need to realise that saying no to palm oil means saying yes to something else”

Erik Meijaard, University of Queensland

Meijaard说，由油棕beplay足球体育的微博榈种植园造成的巨大环境破坏证明了其受到的关注是合理的，但这可能导致其他主要油作物被视为替代品。

“The rhetoric and polarisation are useful because it has put a lot of pressure on the [palm oil] industry to be more transparent and improve practices,” adds Meijaard. “At the same time, if it results in decision-making that’s not informed by good knowledge and understanding then I think you’re creating a problem.” *

Meijaard说，解决信息差距的一个良好起点是创建最新的全球地图，以显示大豆，菜籽或向日葵等农作物的种植。他补充说，这将有助于确定这些农作物影响了多少土地和哪种天然生态系统。*

However, moreresearchinto the trade-offs between various vegetable oil crops is necessary, warnsVarsha Vijay, a postdoctoral researcher at theUniversity of Tennesseewho has studied the environmental impact of palm oil. She says that planners should avoid focusing on narrow comparisons of land use.

Vijay说，虽然棕榈油的每公顷产量更高，但它几乎完全在已知对生物多样性和碳固存重要的地区生长。她补充说，作者自己的分析强调，棕榈油威胁的物种数量为321，而大豆的数量为73，而Rapeseed的物种数量为73。

“It’s not just the amount of area, but rather where that land is,” says Vijay. “This crop [oil palm] is produced in the tropics, replacing tropical, moist forests. And this is where biodiversity is concentrated.”

这件作品由Scidev.net的亚太桌子制作。

*本文已纠正，以表明油棕替代品需要更多的土地，这并不意味着对环境的整体损害更大。beplay足球体育的微博Meijaard的拼写也已在11中得到纠正^Thand 12^Thparagraphs.