Recent expansion of oil palm plantations into carbon-rich forests

Deforestation arising from oil palm expansion in the tropics poses threats to forest ecosystem services. Using high-resolution satellite maps, we show that oil palm expansion into forests in Indonesia and Malaysia during 2001–2015 caused a forest biomass loss of 50.2 ± 21.9 TgC yr−1. Large-scale plantations dominated the expansion area. But the encroachment of oil palm plantations from low to high biomass density forests is particularly obvious for small-scale plantations after 2007. This work provides new data for targeting policies to restrict oil palm encroachment into carbon-rich regions, including into protected areas.