Oil palm yield in Southeast Asia impacted by management and climate change

Oil palm is a primary commodity in the Southeast Asian region and has replaced a substantial portion of natural forests in this area, resulting in a shift in regional ecosystem and ecosystem-climate interactions. Previous site-level evidence suggested that oil palm activities (i.e., production yield) are influenced by social, biological, and climatic factors, however, it remains unclear how oil palm yield has changed across Southeast Asia and the dominant driver for the changes. In this study, we used ground survey of oil palm yield, in combination of remote sensing of near-infrared reflectance (NIRv), to examine the dynamics of oil palm yield from 2001 to 2017 in Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia. Utilizing multiple sources of open datasets, we investigated the roles of management (i.e., smallholder and industrial), biotic (i.e., stand age) and climate in influencing oil palm yield in Southeast Asia, and provide a quantification of their respective contributions to yield changes. The study advances our understanding of the historical changes in oil palm yield and their dominant factors, providing guidance to the future management of oil palm for sustainable production and ecosystem services.