Integrating Space And Terrestrial Assets For Palm Oil Sustainability Monitoring

Land resource use problems and environmental sustainability issues pose a serious risk to the palm oil sector. The sector has been under increasing public scrutiny and pressure whereas the rapid expansion of planted area to meet the growing demand can have significant environmental and social impact. Much of the criticism has focused on the establishment of oil palm plantations at the expense of high conservation value areas and high carbon-stock lands (e.g. intact forests and peat land). In response to this, efforts are underway on the certification of environmental sustainability of palm oil production, reporting of carbon footprints, and efforts to increase productivity of existing plantations, among others. Challenges remain in demonstrating compliance as well as credible carbon stock assessment. Moreover, the fragmented character of production areas, with a large number of smallholders distributed over large areas, often presents problems for ground audits as well as for a cost-effective assessment of productivity and fertiliser needs The PalmOilVision service aimed to strengthen corporate environmental sustainability and carbon footprint reporting, and to increase production efficiency in the palm oil sector. PalmOilVision supports growers, consumer product manufacturers and other stakeholders using integration of optical and radar satellite remote sensing technologies, unmanned aerial vehicle systems (UAVS) and satellite positioning.