The objective of this manual from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is to provide a set of practical guidelines for Best Management Practices (BMPs) that are important for enhancing the management of existing oil palm cultivation on tropical peat while at the same time reducing environmental impacts especially greenhouse gas emissions and subsidence. This BMP manual is applicable to existing large plantations and also medium and small-scale cultivation of oil palm on peat.

This manual draws on more than 30 years experience in South East Asia of cultivation of oil palm on peatlands as well as drawing on recent research on greenhouse gas emissions and water management. It also draws on and refers to existing national regulations and guidelines especially from Malaysia and Indonesia – the countries with the largest areas of oil palm cultivated on peatland.

This manual is an initial step taken by RSPO to guide its members, particularly producers in responding to stakeholder concerns to promote the implementation of BMPs and reduce negative impacts related to oil palm cultivation on peat. It is also hoped that readers of this manual will better understand the constraints of oil palm cultivation on peat and the long term implications especially of subsidence, which will in many sites limit the potential long term life span of plantations. Implementation of BMPs will reduce subsidence but will not stop it, leading over time to long term drainability problems. Therefore in the medium to long term (depending on local hydrological circumstances), alternative uses will need to be identified for many of the areas now developed as plantations may need to be identified.

Access the manual here: RSPO manual on best management practices for existing oil palm cultivation on peat.

Download the executive summary here: Summary: RSPO manual on best management practices for existing oil palm cultivation on peat.

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