Land Management and Conservation of Biodiversity

There is no denying that conversion of forests to any mankind activities to certain extent causes detrimental damage on the environment. Going back to issnes of agricultural activities, the expansion of oil pahn plantations had been at the expense of pristine forests. Several reports had also pointed ont that pahn oil producers preferred to clear pristine forests for extra income from selling the timbers rather than planting on abandoned lands (WWF 2005). In other words, no matter how sustainable or environmental-friendly techniqnes have been nsed in the oil palm plantation, it is still deemed unsustainable if the activities were carried ont at the expense of forest areas. Statistics had revealed that a mere 38,000 ha of lands were used for oil pahn plantations in 1950 while more than 4.17 million ha of lands were put aside for the same activity in 2006 (MPOB 2008). This revelation is disconcerting as it indicated that the criticisms hurled by the environmentalists were somehow true. 

However, some of these observations are contradictory to the reports by Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC 2007). Oil pahn is planted on 4.17 million ha, which is less than 10 % of the total land area of Malaysia (32.85 million ha as at the end of 2006). Furthermore, out of the total land areas in Malaysia, a mere 19 % or 5.4 million ha is used for agricultural purposes. In comparison, an astounding 70 % of lands in Malaysia are still available and unexplored. The country has at least 25 milhon ha of its total land area, under forest and in national 

Malaysia and Indonesia, located at the Southeast Asia region, are currently the two major players in the pahn oil market. Together, both countries account to more than 80 % of the global palm oil production. It is also a coincidence that both countries have been identified as the world s biodiversity hotspots, which harbor high numbers of indigenous and endemic species, which mostly inhabit the forests (Sodhi et al. 2004 Peh et al. 2006). Therefore, the excessive expansion of forest areas in Southeast Asia for oil palm activities seems the greatest threat to biodiversity (Noda et al. 2005 Donald 2004). 

It was also suggested that the biodiversity of existing oil palm plantations can be improved by sustainable agricultural practices through the concept of halfplantation and half-forest . As stated by Koh, the increase of old-growth forests (from 0 to 23 %) and natural forests surrounding the oil pahn plantations resulted 

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Abstract The most important aspect of any feedstock for industrial-scale production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is market stability. One would expect the feedstock to be sustainable in terms of supply, cost and quahty. In addition, recently, there is also growing concerns over the use of food-grade feedstock for making nonedible products such as fuel and material. Therefore, the selection of a feedstock for PHA production must take into consideration the effect on global food supply. This chapter presents the current scenario of the palm oil industry along with issues such as land management and conservation of biodiversity. In order to ensure the sustainability of PHA production from palm oil, several strategies are proposed. 

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