
Palm trees dominating shoreline at Palmyra Atoll. Photo credit: Gary Andrew.
A first of its kind study shows coconut plantations have led to deforestation on over 80 percent of Pacific atolls, with coconut palms now covering over half of their forested areas.
The Nature Conservancy and UC Santa Barbara have released the first comprehensive maps of coconut agriculture, and the subsequent loss of native forests, on atolls throughout the tropical Pacific.
Coconut palms are king throughout the tropics, serving as the foundation for human lives and cultures across the Pacific Ocean for centuries.
However, 200 years of planting by colonial interests transformed the palm from the revered “Tree of Life” to a cash crop monoculture grown on Pacific atolls for a singular purpose—production of coconut oil (copra) for export around the world.
Despite wide interest in the global footprint of palm crops, the distribution of coconut palms across tropical Pacific atolls has received little attention until the recently published research map.
Lead author Michael Burnett of UC Santa Barbara says coconut oil used to be essential to atoll economies, but today most coconut palm plantations are abandoned and overgrown.
“With the growing climate threats facing Pacific atolls, it is critical to figure out where these abandoned plantations are using up critical land and water resources, and where there may be opportunities to restore the native forests to the benefit of islands and islanders,” Michael says.
Coconut palms now represent over half of the tree cover on these low islands, confining formerly widespread native broadleaf trees to small fractions of their natural range.
“That’s a problem,” says Michael, “because replacement of broadleaf forests with coconut monocrops has been linked to groundwater depletion, declining seabird populations, and adverse impacts on adjacent coral reefs.
“Understanding the present extent of coconut plantations is crucial for confronting sustainability challenges facing communities across the Pacific’s 266 atolls.”
This loss of unique ecosystems on Pacific atolls is staggering.
It even exceeds the rate of deforestation due to oil palm production, at least in relative terms, in other parts of the world.
For instance, 10.8 percent of Borneo’s land area had been converted to oil palm monocrops by 2015.
Meanwhile, coconut palms presently cover 58.3 percent of the mapped atolls’ total forested area and 24.1 percent of their total land area.
What is more, 51.2 percent of these coconut canopies occur in monocultures indicative of plantation agriculture and drastic ecological changes.
Despite the abandonment of many plantations in recent decades, the authors found coconut palms still surpass native broadleaf trees in terms of canopy area.
Yet, forest conversion on Pacific atolls has scarcely received a fraction of the scholarly attention devoted to mapping oil palm-driven forest conversion.
“As the world comes to terms with trade-offs associated with converting primary forest to croplands, we should not ignore atoll forests and the opportunity to recover these dynamic, resilient systems,” says Alex Wegmann, Lead Scientist for The Nature Conservancy’s Island Resilience Strategy and an author on the paper.
“There is increasing evidence atolls play an important role in ocean health as nodes of biological connectivity and as nutrient concentrators – restoring and protecting atoll ecosystems should be an ‘ocean health’ priority.”
Fortunately, coconut palm plantations have untapped potential for ecosystem restoration, resource conservation, and climate resilience.
The paper’s vegetation maps are a first step in helping Pacific atoll communities visualise the state of their forests and evaluate the potential best uses—for coconut production, broadleaf forest restoration, or any path in between.
Elizabeth Terk, Micronesia Conservation Director for The Nature Conservancy says coconuts and coconut trees are deeply woven into the lives and livelihoods of Pacific peoples and communities, symbolizing resilience, and sustenance.
“However, restoring abandoned copra plantations on atolls to native forests offer invaluable ecological benefits, such as biodiversity recovery and climate resilience,” she says.
“Striking a balance between cultural heritage and environmental stewardship is essential for a sustainable future.
“Mapping the extent of copra plantations on atolls is a crucial step for informed decision-making.
“Helping to provide a clearer picture of land use, enabling us to balance economic needs with ecological restoration and climate adaption efforts.”
Ecosystem management projects, including the conversion of abandoned coconut plantations to native forests and the restoration of seabird colonies, have shown great promise on atolls, however, such efforts must be pursued with urgency by local stakeholders to achieve resilience in the face of accelerating climate impacts.
Source: The Nature Conservancy.