A study has found that patches of protected forest on oil palm plantations play an important role in helping to conserve endangered species including hornbill birds and dipterocarp trees.

The study, led by the University of York, found that patches of protected forest play an important role in helping to conserve endangered species including hornbill birds and dipterocarp trees.

The study revealed that plantations, where a tenth of the land is protected as natural forest, store up to 20% more carbon than plantations with no protected forest.

Oil palm agriculture is a key driver of deforestation, causing widespread biodiversity loss and carbon emissions — particularly in Indonesia and Malaysia, where 85% of the world’s palm oil is produced.

Lead author of the study, Susannah Fleiss, a PhD student in the Department of Biology at the University of York, said: «Our study found that these forest areas do increase carbon stored in oil palm plantations, helping to mitigate the carbon emissions associated with oil palm agriculture.

«We also found that the protected forest sites which stored the most carbon also contained the highest plant diversity, so by choosing to protect forest areas with high carbon stocks, oil palm plantations will also protect rainforest biodiversity.»

For the study, the researchers measured trees and other vegetation in 14 forest areas protected in Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)-certified oil palm plantations in Malaysian Borneo.

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