13/12/2012 (Equities.com) - By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Ecology, Environment & Conservation -- Investigators publish new report on Conservation Research. According to news reporting from Singapore, Singapore, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "Colombia is the fifth largest producer of palm oil in the world. The country's government and oil-palm farmers association target a sixfold increase of crude palm-oil production by 2020."

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Singapore National University, "We model the impacts of expanding oil-palm agriculture in Colombia through a spatially explicit scenario analysis. We demonstrate that the impacts of oil-palm expansion (e.g., deforestation, conversion of natural savannahs) would be minimized by establishing new plantations on pasture lands, given the low environmental value and economic utility, and the high agricultural potential of this land use. Impacts of oil-palm expansion on beef and dairy production could be compensated by improving productivity of pasture lands elsewhere."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "However, the profitability of oil-palm production in these areas might suffer over the long term due to high land purchase costs."

For more information on this research see: Lowering environmental costs of oil-palm expansion in Colombia. Conservation Letters, 2012;5(5):366-375. Conservation Letters can be contacted at: Wiley-Blackwell, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - www.wiley.com/; Conservation Letters - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1755-263X)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting J. Garcia-Ulloa, Singapore National University, Dept. of Biol Sci, Singapore 117543, Singapore.

Keywords for this news article include: Asia, Conservation Research

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