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Guatemala is now the third-largest palm oil producer after Malaysia and Indonesia (which produce 88% of the global supply) and is often seen as a more sustainable alternative. Today, more than 60% of Guatemala鈥檚 plantations are certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). High certification rates are largely attributed to plantations owned by a handful of producers, making it easier to certify large chunks of the industry, according to RSPO.

But聽thousands of traditional rural Guatemalan families are being negatively impacted by the country鈥檚 fast-growing palm oil industry. Plantations now cover about 450,000 acres, accounting for nearly 2.5% of the nation鈥檚 total arable land.聽The palm oil industry鈥檚 expansion in Guatemala is causing a huge transfer of rural territory from traditional subsistence farming communities to a handful of palm oil mill owners. Local populations are cornered into working for these companies for low wages and often poor working conditions.

Meanwhile, a recent study co-authored by Benjamin Goldstein, Adjunct Professor in 69热视频's Department of Bioresource Engineering, found that certification in Guatemala did not drastically improve deforestation rates. Between 2009 and 2019, certified plantations showed 9% forest loss compared with 25% on noncertified plantations.

Certification does not stop deforestation

In Guatemala鈥檚 main palm-producing northern region, a total of 215,785 acres鈥攁lmost twice the size of the Island of Montreal鈥� were converted to palm oil plantations between 2009 and 2019, a聽聽published earlier this year in the聽Journal of Environmental Management听蹿辞耻苍诲.

The results showed that 17,868 acres were deforested in key biodiversity areas and 12,854 acres in protected areas. Almost two-thirds of farms accessed in the region were certified by the RSPO, the world鈥檚 leading sustainable palm oil certifier.

For Benjamin Goldstein, the results of the satellite analysis exposed the risk of deforestation and the inadequacy of overrelying on the RSPO in addressing unchecked oil palm expansion. 鈥淚 am concerned that this is just the tip of the iceberg,鈥� he told Mongabay in a telephone interview. 鈥淕uatemala is set to become one of the world鈥檚 top palm oil producers. I fear the encroachment on KBAs will go unnoticed until the problem becomes much larger.鈥�

Between 2009 and 2019, noncertified plantations showed 25% forest loss compared with 9% on certified plantations, according to the study鈥檚 satellite imagery analysis. Any deforestation after 2004 in these areas is illegal in Guatemala.

RSPO told Mongabay in a video interview that the organization is not a silver-bullet solution but has made huge strides to set an acceptable industry standard for palm oil. 鈥淭here isn鈥檛 one sector, country or community that is fully sustainable,鈥� Yasmina Neustadtl, RSPO鈥檚 Latin America market transformation manager, said in the interview. 鈥淎gricultural commodities are difficult to put in black or white. Our job is to be in the middle and find the right path.鈥�