**1. Introduction**

Oil palm (*Elaeis guineensis* Jacq), a palm of African origin produces palm oil accounting for 30.8% of today's global production of oils and fats [1]. The versatility of the oil palm in oleo-chemical applications, food and biodiesel production makes it a sought after commodity in food and non-food industry. Globally, it is by far the most productive oil-bearing crop per land use and is capable of fulfilling the large and growing demand of vegetable oil that is estimated to reach 240 million by 2050 [2, 3]. While 56.2 million tons of palm oil were extracted from 17.24 million hectare of land under oil palm cultivation, only 23.6 million tons were produced from rapeseed grown on 36.4 million ha and cost of production for these two commodities stood at US\$ 700 and US\$ 850 per metric tons respectively, indicating lower cost of production for oil palm [4].

The oil palm is significantly more productive, versatile and most economically viable among the leading vegetable and fat crops due to its cost-effective production, wide use, extreme yields and profitability. It is the ideal crop to address several of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Economically, it has the capacity to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty, lifting millions of people out of poverty in Indonesia and other parts of the world where it is produced on

a large scale. In Indonesia, the livelihood of 25 million people depend on oil palm cultivation while in Malaysia, the number of people employed increased from 92, 352 in 1980 to 570,000 in 2009.

The oil palm is a profitable crop and when coupled with good government policies have the capacity to transform the livelihood of millions of people and as well improve health care and education in rural areas [5–7]. In Brazil specifically, Paha, the average yearly investment return on oil palm cultivation is US\$ 2,000 per hectares [8].

The production of palm oil is dominated by Indonesia and Malaysia which together accounts for 85–90% of total palm oil production. Indonesia, the top producer and exporter of palm oil has over 14 million hectares of oil palm plantations in 2018, out of which 55.09% are from the large private companies, 40.62% from small holder plantations and 4.39% from state large estates. Indonesia produced 48.3 million metric tons of palm oil in 2020 [9, 10]. Malaysia, the second producer of oil palm has over 5 million hectares of oil palm plantations and also produced 19.14 million tons of palm oil in 2020 [11].

Countries that have devoted large tracts of land for oil palm production have increased their economies greatly. Indonesia and Malaysia made over USD 18.7 billion and USD 9.8 billion from the export of palm oil in 2017 respectively.

Globally, the area planted with oil palm is 27 million ha with Africa accounting for 2 million ha and a recorded production of 0.27 gigatons of fruits and 71.4 megatons of palm oil produced globally [12–14]. The economic impact of the oil palm industry in general is not contributed solely by large plantation companies, it is estimated that smallholders cultivate about 50% of the oil palm area globally [15]. However, in Africa, the smallholders account for approximately 70% of the oil palm cultivated [16]. The cultivation of oil palm by small holders have resulted in increased farm and employment incomes, reduced poverty rates at local, regional and national levels [17].

Irrespective of the socioeconomic impact of the oil palm, great criticism has emanated from international groups such as Green peace, Rainforest Action Network and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for unsustainable practices that have led to deforestation, increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the loss of biodiversity [18, 19]. Lim et al. [20] defined sustainable palm oil production as the production that protects the natural environment, promotes intra and inter-generational equity, while enhancing commercial operations and sharing economic growth with the local community through employment and fair trade. The negative impacts raised by these pressure groups may include forced labour, food safety and environmental issues etc. However, this chapter aims at bringing some of the negative impacts on the environment on oil palm cultivation and expansion to light and as well suggest some strategies that can be adopted to ensure the sustainability of the oil palm industry.

#### **1.1 Environmental concerns**

Globally, the area under oil palm has increased from 5 million ha in 1980 to more than 20 million ha in 2018 [21] with this expansion coming from Malaysia and Indonesia although 240 million ha of available land are suitable for oil palm cultivation, excluding intact forest landscapes, high carbon stock forest conservation hot spots and protected areas. Although the oil palm is the driver of the growth of most economies of countries producing on a large scale, the expansion has also led to tropical deforestation and associated biodiversity loss, greenhouse gas emissions, land degradation, forest and peat land fires as well as air and water pollution [18, 19]. Overall expansion of annual crops e.g. soybean, maize, paddy rice, and sorghum has been more rapid and more wide spread than expansion of perennial crops especially in South America, Africa and tropical Asia from 1999 to 2008 creating more biodiversity loss with oil palm noted to be the fifth on the list of biodiversity loss [22].
