Assessment of Land Use Land Cover Change Effects on Water Resources in The Oil Palm Plantation Catchment Area That Supplying Water to The Palm Oil Mill

Research Grant, 2021

Abstract

The Palm oil industry requires a considerable amount of water for the mills to extract palm oil from the harvested fruit. Continuous and consistent water supply is vital for the sustainable operation of palm oil mills, where the main water supply is typically from surface water, such as rivers, lakes, and catchment ponds. This indicates that the palm oil mills located inland are especially vulnerable to water supply since tap water from water utility providers is infeasible due to cost and location constraints. Hence, the inland palm oil mills rely heavily on the availability of water resources nearby the mills. The land management in the plantation, especially the region encloses water catchment area supplying water to the mills, thus plays an important role in securing the sustainable operation of palm oil mills. It has been confirmed by various studies that the land use and land cover change (LULCC) has a significant impact on the water resource in the catchment area. Improper planning of LULCC could disrupt the hydrologic and water availability in a region, resulting in a water scarcity issue that threatens the community, industry, and ecosystem relying on it. Though the studies on LULCC related to the palm oil industry have been conducted in the past few years, most of the studies have been focusing on deforestation and consequent greenhouse gas impacts and loss of biodiversity. The impact of LULCC in oil palm plantations on the water catchment area supplying water resources to the mills has received much less attention. There is not a comprehensive study that looks into this aspect.

Project Leader