Oil palm fragmentation in Malaysia
Research Background
Over the last decades, tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia haved faced unprecedented threats from agricultural expansion, particularly from oil palm cultivation which has led to significant habitat loss and fragmentation. Indonesia and Malaysia together produce approximately 80% of the world’s oil palm fruit (Vijay et al., 2016). In Borneo, 815,592 hectares of palm oil plantations are certified under the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to meet growing global demands for sustainability while incorporating biodiversity conservation measures through the designation of High Conservation Value Areas (HCVAs) within plantations (Meijaard et al., 2017; Fitzherbert et al., 2008). However, there is no globally standardized approach to defining HCVAs, and each country adapts the criteria to fit its conservation strategies and ecological priorities (Areendran et al., 2020).
While sustainable certification schemes such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) require the presence of forest fragments, or High Conservation Value Areas (HCVAs), within plantations, their effectiveness in conserving biodiversity, particularly medium- and large-sized mammals, remains uncertain. This study investigates whether forest fragments within certified oil palm plantations in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, function as refuges for mammalian biodiversity.
Borneo is home to an extraordinary diversity of land mammals, with 247 recorded species, including 100 species of bats and 63 endemics found exclusively on the island. Among its most iconic species are the Bornean orangutan, proboscis monkey, clouded leopard, sun bear, and pygmy elephant. Sarawak, the largest and most biodiverse state in Malaysia, has experienced significant wildlife declines over the past 50 years, primarily due to the absence of protected lowland forests, which are essential for preserving the region’s rich plant and mammal diversity (Phillipps, 2016).
The five plantations used in the study are located in the Sarawak state of Malaysia, located on the island of Borneo. The study sites are managed by three estate companies: SALCRA, Sime Darby, and SOPB. While the landscapes are predominantly covered by oil palm plantations, they also contain scattered forest patches distributed throughout the estates.
This project is led by Prof Jayasilan Mohd-Azlan at University of Malaysia, Sarawak. We collaborate with his project through remote sensing, fragmentation analyses and spatial statistics.
Research Questions
How do the structural and spatial characteristics of forest fragments within oil palm plantations influence the diversity of medium to large mammal species in Sarawak?
We will ask this question by tackling the following smaller research questions.
- How do structural characteristics of isolated forest fragments within oil palm plantations influence the diversity and abundance of medium to large mammals?
- How do spatial characteristics of isolated forest fragments within oil palm plantations influence the diversity and abundance of medium to large mammals?
- Do isolated forest fragments function as refuges for endangered species amidst a predominantly oil palm landscape?
With Prof Azlan's group, we will analyze the camera trap data on mammal species and compare the species richness with the degree of fragmentation and other spatial characteristics obtained via remote sensing.
