ETH News
All stories by PhD student John Garcia-Ulloa, ETH Zurich
Of pastures and oil palm
Zukunftsblog
![oil palm with seeds](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2015/03/of-pastures-and-oil-palm/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.2096517746.jpg)
Using pasture lands to develop oil palm cultivation can create a competitive advantage to producers in South America while sparing natural ecosystems, but it will require improvements in the ranching sector to avoid negative indirect effects.
Oil palm in Africa: an opportunity too good to miss?
Zukunftsblog
![Conversion of primary rainforest for palm-oil production in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2014/10/oil-palm-in-africa-an-opportunity-too-good-to-miss/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.903547453.jpg)
After becoming Southeast Asia’s second-largest crop, oil palm is heading to Africa on an industrial scale, and a wave of high-profile investments have raised concerns on the environmental impacts of this expansion. Understanding the opportunities for oil palm in the African context is key to ensuring that oil-palm expansion develops more sustainably.