Holly Gibbs, Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) affiliate and associate professor of geography, is a co-author on the recent Nature Sustainability paper, “Impact of palm oil sustainability certification on village well-being and poverty in Indonesia.” This paper investigates the effectiveness of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification in reducing poverty among villages with oil palm plantations.
In this study, Gibbs and her colleagues compared the rates of poverty across 36,311 villages over 18 years, specifically looking at the change in poverty rates before and after oil palm plantations were certified by RSPO. Overall, the research indicates that RSPO certification does correlate with reduced poverty, but village location and baseline village livelihood conditions before certification were factors.
Read the full article at: https://sustainabilitycommunity.springernature.com/posts/does-certifying-oil-palm-help-alleviate-poverty-lessons-from-rspo-in-indonesia