This seminar is organised by the Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests, an Oxford Martin School Centre
Speaker: Dr John F McCarthy, Senior Lecturer, Environmental Management and Development Programme, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
Title: The Oil Palm Complex: Agrarian Transformation, State Policy, and Environmental Change in Indonesia and Malaysia
Summary: Spurred by industrialisation in China and India, booming demand for vegetable oil, and the growing interest in biofuels in the developed countries, global markets for palm oil have expanded over recent years. Indonesia and Malaysia, the centre of global palm oil production, are on the in the grip of a palm oil boom. This raises fiercely contested issues of significant concern to rural landholders, decision makers, people’s organisations, ecologists, donor agencies, academics, and the international community. This paper reprises the key finding of a multi-year project, setting out a series of propositions regarding the dynamics shaping the uneven economic development and agricultural and environmental changes. It explores why the same phenomena of oil palm development can support the economic advancement of large numbers of smallholders while marginalizing vulnerable communities, exacerbating tensions, and leading to endemic local level conflicts and detrimental environmental outcomes. It analyses the linkages between agrarian and environmental change, governance systems and conflict, providing a comparative framework for understanding oil-palm related social and environmental change that will be relevant to wider policy discussions and scholarship.
OCTF seminar followed by drinks.
All welcome - to book a place please go to https://bookwhen.com/octf