Issues in Interdisciplinarity 2020-21/Evidence in the Production and Consumption of the Palm Oil Boom

Introduction The palm oil boom began in the 1970s to meet the rapidly growing demand for vegetable oilQaim Environmental, Economic, and Social Consequences of the Oil Palm Boom 10.1146/annurev-resource-110119-024922 321–344 1 12 Annual Review of Resource Economics http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-110119-024922 2020-10-06 Matin Ingo Grass Hermanto Siregar Kibrom T. Sibhatu 1941-1340. A high-yielding crop with versatile applications, palm oil has become deeply embedded in our economy, used for human consumption, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and biofuelSanders Daniel Balagtas Joseph Gruere Guillaume 2012 Revisiting the palm oil boom in Southeast Asia: The role of fuel versus food demand drivers https://www.ifpri.org/publication/revisiting-palm-oil-boom-southeast-asia-role-fuel-versus-food-demand-drivers live 2020-12-10 International Food Policy Research Institute. Moving from a multidisciplinary to interdisciplinary approach on the basis of evidence enables a comprehensive understanding of the surge in palm oil consumption and the resulting economic, ecological, nutritional and sociological effects. Evidence in Economics Economic evidence is largely quantitative.Joffe Michael 2017-01-01 Watson Duncan Causal theories, models and evidence in economics—some reflections from the natural sciences https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2017.1280983 Cogent Economics & Finance 5 1 1280983 10.1080/23322039.2017.1280983 Empirical research provides the basis for building economic models for causal inference. thumb|Selling red palm oil in a market|250x250pxInternational trade of palm oil is the dominant macroeconomic indicator of the growing industry's impact. Net exports, a component of GDP, is the most common model used to measure national economic growth. Thus, in export-led economies where palm oil production constitutes a large proportion of net exports, trade data is an informative form of evidence. Economists calculate net exports of palm oil using trade estimations fromOritz-Ospina Esteban Beltekian Diana 2018-06-05 International trade data: why doesn’t it add up? https://ourworldindata.org/trade-data-sources-discrepancies live 2020-12-10 Our World in Data: 1. Customs records, as outlined by the International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) Manual. 2. National accounts, by accounting for economic ownership of the palm oil, as outlined in the IMTS Manual. Economists analysing the microeconomic impacts of the palm oil industry collect evidence by dissecting the market into its stakeholders and applying models to assess the benefits to these groups from the growing palm oil sectorPublications Office of the European Union 2018-03-19 Study on the environmental impact of palm oil consumption and on existing sustainability standards : final report and appendices. http://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/89c7f3d8-2bf3-11e8-b5fe-01aa75ed71a1 live 2020-12-10 op.europa.eu en. For example, studying palm oil workers, a classical supply and demand model would suggest the following: ↑ Demand for palm oil → ↑ Demand for labour in corresponding labour market → Upwards pressure on wages → ↑ Income of workers These models can be checked against empirical data, for example the change in wages of palm oil workers can be compared to those in other commodity industries, to give the model credibility. Evidence in Ecology Ecology relies on quantitative research methods to understand the relationship between living organisms and the environmentWhat Is Ecology? – The Ecological Society of America https://www.esa.org/about/what-does-ecology-have-to-do-with-me/ 2020-12-06 en-US. Deforestation, a major concern of the palm oil boom, has been observed and recorded by ecologists using satellite imagingVijay https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0159668 10.1371/journal.pone.0159668 e0159668 7 11 en PLOS ONE The Impacts of Oil Palm on Recent Deforestation and Biodiversity Loss Varsha 2016-07-27 Sharon J. Smith Clinton N. Jenkins Stuart L. Pimm 1932-6203Viña Andrés Echavarria Fernando R. Rundquist Donald C. 2004 Satellite Change Detection Analysis of Deforestation Rates and Patterns along the Colombia – Ecuador Border https://bioone.org/journals/ambio-a-journal-of-the-human-environment/volume-33/issue-3/0044-7447-33.3.118/Satellite-Change-Detection-Analysis-of-Deforestation-Rates-and-Patterns-along/10.1579/0044-7447-33.3.118.full AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment 33 3 118–125 10.1579/0044-7447-33.3.118 0044-7447Danylo Kraxner https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339350803_Satellite_reveals_age_and_extent_of_oil_palm_plantations_in_Southeast_Asia Satellite reveals age and extent of oil palm plantations in Southeast Asia 2020-02-17 Steffen Fritz Frederic Archard Florian Olga hadi Ian McCallum Linda See Guido Ceccherini Guido Lemoine johannes Pirker Research Gate. High-resolution images captured from satellites, like Landsat, collect data on land use and environmental changeUnited States Geological Survey What is the Landsat satellite program and why is it important? https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-landsat-satellite-program-and-why-it-important?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products live 2020-12-07 www.usgs.gov enJenner Lynn 2015-04-01 Landsat Overview http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/landsat/overview/index.html 2020-12-06 NASA as a result of palm oil plantations. Tools like unsupervised classification, visual classification, and observation of spectral characteristics are used to quantify the plantation area. This identification process is repeated on datasets of satellite images from different time periods to compare changes of land use over time. Statistical models and formulas then calculate the rate of deforestation. Through this methodology, ecologists are able to gather evidence on the statistically significant rates of deforestation due to the spatial expansion of palm oil plantations. A limitation of this methodology is its reliance on computer algorithms that may either mistakenly identify other vegetation as oil palm or are unable to detect oil palm because of the spacing between trees. Evidence in Nutrition Nutrition, the process of assimilating food, is linked to the health impact of palm oil on consumersnutrition: Definition, Importance, & Food https://www.britannica.com/science/nutrition Encyclopedia Britannica en. Nutritional evidence is obtained through scientific research, experiments, and clinical trialsBosch V Aular A Medina J Ortiz N Apitz R Changes in of plasma lipoproteins after the use of palm oil in the diet of a group healthy adults https://europepmc.org/article/med/12184147 Archivos Latinoamericanos de Nutricion 52(2) europepmc.org 01 Jun 2002. These methods are usually integrated, analysing palm oil itself and then experimenting and observing its effects on subjects to understand the influence of palm oil on lipids in blood as compared to other oils. Differing trials were led with different parameters varying the participants' characteristics, sample size, and intervention characteristics. Their reliability can be assessed on the Jadad scale used for clinical trialsSun Ye Neelakantan Nithya Wu Yi Lote-Oke Rashmi Pan An van Dam Rob M Palm Oil Consumption Increases LDL Cholesterol Compared with Vegetable Oils Low in Saturated Fat in a Meta-Analysis of Clinical Trials https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.115.210575 The Journal of Nutrition Volume 145, Issue 7, 20 May 2015 1549–1558 10.3945/jn.115.210575. The method used is observing the impact on the body through regular intake of palm oil and integrating it into the subject's diet. Researchers analysed the principal fatty acids in palm oilEbong P.E. Owu D.U. Isong E.U. Influence of palm oil ( Elaesis guineensis) on health https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1008089715153 Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 1 September 1999 209–222 en 10.1023/A:1008089715153 and how they impacted functions of the body, e.g. body weight, metabolic rate and blood pressure. Clinical trials have demonstrated that consuming fresh palm oil has benefits such as the intake of vitamin A and E and reducing lipid distribution in the body, however, there are risks to palm oil when not consumed freshMarangoni Ersilia Walter Miniello Vito Leonardo Mureddu Gian Francesco Pellegrini Nicoletta Stella Roberto Troiano Verduci Giuseppe Elvira Volpe Roberto Poli Andrea Palm oil and human health. Meeting report of NFI: Nutrition Foundation of Italy symposium https://doi.org/10.1080/09637486.2016.1278431 International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 18 August 2017 643–655 Marrocco Marelli Franca Agostoni Galli Claudio Ghiselli Andrea Lercker Giovanni Vecchia Carlo La Maffeis Claudio Carlo Paolo Ballardini Donatella Brignoli Ovidio Faggiano Pompilio Giacco Rosalba Macca Claudio Magni 10.1080/09637486.2016.1278431Zhang Jian Ping Wang Chunrong Wang Shou Chen Xiao Keyou Ge Nonhypercholesterolemic Effects of a Palm Oil Diet in Chinese Adults https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/127.3.509S The Journal of Nutrition 1 March 1997 509S–513S 10.1093/jn/127.3.509sKadandale Sowmya Marten Robert Smith Richard The palm oil industry and noncommunicable diseases https://www.proquest.com/docview/2177518722/ Scholarly Journals World Health Organization. Bulletin of the World Health Organization Geneva Vol. 97, N° 2 ProQuest February 2019 118-128 en 10.2471/BLT.18.220434. Evidence in Sociology Sociologists, who study the social aspects of palm oilUNC Greensborough What do Sociologists Study? Sociology https://soc.uncg.edu/about-us/what-do-sociologists-study/ live 2020-12-08 UNC Greensborough, also investigate its nutritional impact, although using different evidence: interviews, ethnography, survey research, and systematic observation. They typically use household surveys, presenting structured questionnaires to households chosen by multistage random sampling proceduresObidzinski Krystof Andriani Rubeta Komarudin Heru Andrianto Agus 2012 Environmental and Social Impacts of Oil Palm Plantations and their Implications for Biofuel Production in Indonesia http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/es-04775-170125 Ecology and Society 17 1 10.5751/es-04775-170125 1708-3087. thumb|237x237px|Making Palm Oil in the Democratic Republic of Congohttps://www.flickr.com/photos/87578095@N00/2872707599/|left The collected data is then analysed to form descriptive and inferential statistics, which mostly demonstrate positive impacts on producing communities. Household surveys were utilised to investigate farm household diets. Unlike nutritionists who find quantitative evidence, sociologists collected face-to-face interview responses to a structured questionnaire to estimate and record calorific consumption and dietary composition of oil farm workers – utilising social, rather than scientific, indicators for wellbeingSibhatu Kibrom T. 2019 Oil Palm Boom and Farm Household Diets in the Tropics https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2019.00075/full Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems English 3 10.3389/fsufs.2019.00075 2571-581X. Researchers may employ the Social Life-Cycle Assessment to examine the social impacts of a product’s productionLife Cycle Initiative Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) – Life Cycle Initiative https://www.lifecycleinitiative.org/starting-life-cycle-thinking/life-cycle-approaches/social-lca/ live 2020-12-08 en-US. In Malaysia, researchers identified two key stakeholders, palm oil plantation workers and local communities. These stakeholders completed a set of questionnaire interviews regarding topics including discrimination, health and safety, and social benefitMuhammad Khairul Izzuddin Sharaai Amir Hamzah Ismail Mohd Mansor Harun Rosta Yien Wong Siew 2018-10-18 Social implications of palm oil production through social life cycle perspectives in Johor, Malaysia http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11367-018-1540-y The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 24 5 935–944 10.1007/s11367-018-1540-y 0948-3349. Questions were structured on a five-point Likert Scale to examine the difference between expected and perceived quality of each criterion. Once descriptively analysed, the data suggested production has positive impacts, with affirmative outcomes in most sub-categories. Disciplinary Tensions Finding cohesion in the evidence presented by individual disciplines is the biggest challenge to understanding the impact of the palm oil boom with an interdisciplinary approach. This is due to the disparity between disciplines themselves: Economics studies decision-making within markets, organisations, and countriestutor2u 2020-12-09 Nature of Economics - Introductory Concepts https://www.tutor2u.net/economics/reference/nature-of-economics-introductory-concepts 2020-12-10 tutor2u en; sociology, human social behaviour; ecology, the relationship between living organisms and ecosystems; and nutrition, nutrients in relation to an organism's functioningNewman Tim 2020-01-09 Nutrition: Nutrients and the role of the dietitian and nutritionist https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/160774 live 2020-12-10 www.medicalnewstoday.com en. Therefore, each discipline examines divergent aspects of the issue. Consequently, methodologies and the evidence collected in each discipline often conflict, creating difficulties in integrating the disciplines to form a conclusion regarding the impact of the palm oil boom. For example, nutritionists and sociologists examine the dietary implications of palm oil; however, while nutritionists use quantitative methods like clinical trials to study the biological impact, sociologists use qualitative research like interviews to examine different indicators, such as households' fruit and vegetable intake. Integrating these findings is difficult as they have conflicting focuses and types of evidence. Tensions also arise between disciplines with inherent methodological differences, complicating combining data. Economics uses models that simplify reality, limiting the number of variables considered and externalities accounted forStiglitz Joseph E. 2002 Information and the Change in the Paradigm in Economics https://www.jstor.org/stable/3083351 The American Economic Review 92 3 460–501 0002-8282. Applying a simplified model like GDP when analysing the palm oil sector contrasts with research in the natural sciences, specifically ecology, where raw data provides positivist evidence, relative to a more constructivist economic approach. Assumptions between disciplines may also conflict. Economics fundamentally assumes human rationalityHayes Adam 2020-02-26 Rational Behavior Definition https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rational-behavior.asp live 2020-12-12 Investopedia en. Sociologists reject this idea, instead explaining human behaviour as a product of social factors, thus not always rationalRadford University Why Study Sociology Sociology Radford University https://www.radford.edu/content/chbs/home/sociology/why-sociology.html#:~:text=Sociologists%20study%20group%20life%20and,very%20broad%20field%20of%20study. live 2020-12-12 www.radford.edu. They suggest, for example, that social forces influence the diet of palm oil farmers. This highlights the problem - to what extent can we integrate two disciplines whose findings don't necessarily conflict yet have opposing fundamental assumptions? While it is difficult to compare the outcomes of research due to the nature of the evidence itself, taking an interdisciplinary approach to this issue allows a more complete understanding. Integrating evidence to tackle this issue allows an inter-disciplinarian to interpret that despite negative ecological impacts, there are important positive social, economic, and nutritional impacts of the palm oil boom to consider. References