Does certifying oil palm help alleviate poverty? See the latest evaluation for Indonesia – the world’s biggest palm oil producer…led by Truly Santika with others. Freely to access @naturesustainab https://rdcu.be/b9Bzy  @DICE_Kent @RSPOtweets /1

To understand poverty we need multiple measures of wellbeing, beyond just economic. Applying matching methods to gov’t census data reveals patterns in villages with oil palm compared to those without. See previous work for Kalimantan in @WorldDevJournal https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X1930097X /2

Since 2000 oil palm had both positive & negative impacts on villages in Kalimantan. Village livelihood systems and forests nearby were key. Communities with large-scale farming were ready for the market, so largely benefited. Those still reliant on forest subsistence did not. /3

Our new evaluation covers most Indonesia. 36,311 villages in Kalimantan, Sumatra & Papua! Latest census; latest maps. 18 indicators over 18 years, tracking changes from b4 plantations were even planted to years after they were RSPO certified.The matching is really complicated! /4

Similar patterns for Kalimantan found across Indonesia. Socioeconomic indicators improved in oil palm villages with market-based livelihoods (more common in Sumatra & Papua), but socioecological indicators declined across the board, so overall impact of oil palm was negative. /5

Yet outcomes for certification varied across Indonesia. RSPO reversed negative trends in Sumatra where market-livelihoods dominate, but not in Kalimantan where more RSPO-plantations still reliant on forests /6

The timing of RSPO certification really matters. Poverty improvements were more prominent after plantations had been certified for several years. It therefore takes time for the potential benefits of oil palm and certification to accrue /7

So, lots to learn from both positive & negative impacts of oil palm & certification to date, incl conditions that helped reduce poverty. Note, @RSPOtweets recently improved its P&C, so we could expect further benefits to come. See the full analysis: https://rdcu.be/b9Bzy  /8