Over the last five decades, the growing demand for ecosystem services, such as food, water and fuel has led to the most rapid and extensive changes in ecosystems in human history. Examples for these transformations include the agricultural intensification at the habitat and landscapes scale. In...

Dramatic land-use change in tropical regions due to oil palm expansion has recently raised controversies in the broader public. Indonesia is one of the countries where such rapid land-use change is happening. In many parts of Indonesia, oil palm is increasingly replacing forests and also more...

I: Palm oil production creates negative externalities, e.g., through intensive fertiliser application. Policies to limit externalities need an effective, sustainable and efficient measure We use a business simulation game in a framed field experiment in Indonesia to test ex ante different...

Through contract farming schemes between cohorts of farmers and private companies the Indonesian government intended to spur rural economic development. In particular within the oil palm sector, such community-company 'partnerships' are commonplace. Yet, empirical evidence of the success of...

This study evaluates the effects of two environmental policy instruments on the adoption of native tree planting in oil palm plantations. The first instrument is an information campaign on tree planting in oil palm. The second instrument combines the information campaign with a structural...

The conversion of biologically rich areas into agricultural land undermines the capacity of these lands to sustain and maintain vital ecosystem functions. This is mostly the case when the conversion includes the simplification to a monoculture system such as that of oil palm. Oil palm grows best...

Agri-food systems in developing countries are undergoing a rapid transformation, characterized by modernizing supply chains and the rising importance of highervalue products. Participation of smallholder farmers in the emerging modern and high-value marketing channels is considered a crucial...