The past 25 years has seen extraordinary growth in global demand for the myriad products obtained from the processing of the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) crop. Most of the land conversion required to grow the oil palm crop has occurred in Southeast Asia, predominantly in Indonesia and Malaysia....

The Indonesian government has used oil palm as a major tool of rural socio-economic improvement, doing this through 'nucleus estates' operated by estate companies and through assisting individual smallholdings. The initiatives have together raised the incomes of more than 500,000 farmers, and...

Over recent years, systems of civil or private regulation have emerged across several commodity sectors in developing countries. This paper compares two regulatory systems applied to parallel food and forestry problems: the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm...

In negotiation and conflict management situations, understanding cultural patterns and tendencies is critical to whether a negotiation will accomplish the goals of the involved parties. While differences in cultural norms have been identified in the current literature, what is needed is a more...

Over recent years, systems of civil or private regulation have emerged across several commodity sectors in developing countries. This paper compares two regulatory systems applied to parallel food and forestry problems: the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm...