[Committee] Palm oil & peat: A Simple Model plus reply from Gail from Unilever

[Stephen Stretton]

 <http://www.zerocarbonnow.org/cam/News.html>What happens when peat is
drained to grow oil palm (simple model).
http://www.wetlands.org/getfilefromdb.aspx?ID=b16d46c5-ea7b-469a-a265-408b59aab5d1

["Philip" <philip.sargent at cambridgeenergy.com>, Cambridge Energy Forum]


Reply: [Smith, Gail <Gail.Smith at unilever.com>]
Its what happens when peat is drained anywhere. Not just in the
tropics. However,

a) only a small proportion of oil palm is planted on peat. Mainly in Sabah I
think. There is a lot of publicity about the stupidity of planting on peat
for many reasons - especially the Carbon issue. And from some of the
anti-oil-palm publicity you would think that a very high proportion of palm
is planted on peat......
b) the peat areas have high water tables (which is why they are still peat),
and are generally thought to be better areas for sago palm, which copes well
with waterlogged soils.
c) the peat usually sits on top of a relatively impermeable layer (which is
why it is still waterlogged) and so the peat layer is  thin in Sabah - often
less than 1m. This limits root formation in palms and they  tend to fall
over - i have seen a photograph of a worker applying fertiliser around the
crown of a fallen-over palm (still producing fruit) in the mistaken
impression that this was the best place to put it, rather than around the
roots.
d) fire isnt really a problem when there is a torrential rainstorm at 1 pm
every day

But yes, draining peatlands to plant oil palm is a bad thing.
Removing rainforest on land other than peat is a bad thing for Carbon
release too, and palm gets planted in the deforested areas.

Gail
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