Environmental Ethics in Agricultural Research Through Vegetation Study of Oil Palm Seedlings
Abstract
Agriculture is a dominant ecosystem globally in 2023, farmland and pastureland occupied nearly 50 % (about 48 million km2) of habitable terrestrial land. Since the early 2000s, rates of global agricultural expansion have fallen, but agriculture is still expanding rapidly in the tropics. Expansion of tropical agriculture has been driven by a growing human population, increases in per capita consumption rates for agricultural-derived resources, and the high economic value of agriculture in many tropical countries. While tropical agricultural production can increase food security and support human health and livelihoods, conversion of natural tropical habitat to farms and pastures has had severe environmental consequences and changed social dynamics. The research employed a quantitative approach with a case study method. This method was chosen because it provided an opportunity to conduct an in-depth analysis of the application of environmental ethics in agricultural practices and to systematically examine the effects of these ethics on the growth of oil palm seedlings. The application of environmental ethics in agricultural research, particularly in the study of oil palm seedling vegetation, is crucial for achieving sustainability and ecosystem balance. This research demonstrates that sustainable agricultural practices address not only economic outcomes but also social and environmental impacts. In the context of the palm oil industry, the application of ethical principles such as responsibility, intergenerational equity, and community participation is key to addressing issues of deforestation, pollution, and conflict with local communities. The analysis identified challenges in the application of environmental ethics, such as low public awareness and conflicts of interest among stakeholders. However, multi-stakeholder collaboration and enhanced moral education can be a solution to raise awareness and a shared commitment to environmental sustainability
Downloads
References
Byerlee, D., Falcon, W. P., and Naylor, R. L. (2017). The Tropical Oil Crop Revolution: Food, Feed, Fuel, and Forests. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Congreves, K. A. (2025). Agricultural environmental ethics: an emerging way to understand and solve sustainability challenges. npj Sustainable Agriculture, 3(1), 28
Corciolani, M., Gistri, G., and Pace, S. (2019). Legitimacy struggles in palm oil controversies: an institutional perspective. J. Clean. Prod. 212, 1117–1131. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.103
Curtis, P.G., Slay, C.M., Harris, N.L., Tyukavina, A., Hansen, M.C., (2018). Classifying drivers of global forest loss. Science 361 (6407), 1108–1111. https://doi.org/ 10.1126/science.aau3445
Dislich, C., Keyel, A. C., Salecker, J., Kisel, Y., Meyer, K. M., Auliya, M., et al. (2017). A review of the ecosystem functions in oil palm plantations, using forests as a reference system. Biol. Rev. 92, 1539–1569. doi: 10.1111/brv.12295
Drescher, J., Rembold, K., Allen, K., Beckschafer, ¨ P., Buchori, D., Clough, Y., Faust, H., Fauzi, A.M., Gunawan, D., Hertel, D., Irawan, B., Jaya, I.N.S., Klarner, B., Kleinn, C., Knohl, A., Kotowska, M.M., Krashevska, V., Krishna, V., Leuschner, C., Scheu, S., (2016). Ecological and socio-economic functions across tropical land use systems after rainforest conversion. Philos. Trans. R. Soc., B 371 (1694), 1–8. https://doi.org/ 10.1098/rstb.2015.0275
Gaveau, D. L., Sheil, D., Husnayaen, M. A. S., Arjasakusuma, S., Ancrenaz, M., Pacheco, P., et al. (2016). Rapid conversions and avoided deforestation: examining four decades of industrial plantation expansion in Borneo. Sci. Rep. 6:32017. doi: 10.1038/srep32017
Ismail, S. R., Maarof, S. K., Ali, S. S., and Ali, A. (2018). Systematic review of palm oil consumption and the risk of cardiovascular disease. PLOS ONE 13:e0193533. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193533
Kadandale, S., Marten, R., and Smith, R. (2019). The palm oil industry and noncommunicable diseases. Bull. World Health Organ. 97, 118–128. doi: 10.2471/BLT.18.220434
Luke, S.H., Advento, A.D., Aryawan, A.A.K., Adhy, D.N., Ashton-Butt, A., Barclay, H., Dewi, J.P., Drewer, J., Dumbrell, A.J., Edi, Eycott, A. E., Harianja, M. F., Hinsch, J. K., Hood, A. S. C., Kurniawan, C., Kurz, D. J., Mann, D. J., Matthews Nicholass, K. J., Naim, M., … Turner, E. C., (2020). Managing oil palm plantations more sustainably: large-scale experiments within the biodiversity and ecosystem function in tropical agriculture (BEFTA) Programme. Front. For. Glob. Change 2 (January), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00075
McNamara, D. J. (2010). Palm oil and health: a case of manipulated perception and misuse of science. J. Am. Coll. Nutr. 29, 240S−244S. doi: 10.1080/07315724.2010.10719840
Meijaard, E., Garcia-Ulloa, J., Sheil, D., Carlson, K., Wich, S. A., Juffe-Bignoli, D., et al. (eds.). (2018). Oil Palm and Biodiversity – A Situation Analysis. Gland: IUCN Oil Palm Task Force. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.CH.2018.11.en
Oakley, J.L., Bicknell, J.E., (2022). The impacts of tropical agriculture on biodiversity: A meta-analysis. J. Appl. Ecol. 59 (12), 3072–3082. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365- 2664
Odia, O. J., Ofori, S., and Maduka, O. (2015). Palm oil and the heart: a review. World J. Cardiol. 7:144. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v7.i3.144
Pambudi, A. (2025). Aksiologi Pengembangan Sawit: Etika dan Nilai dalam Pembangunan Berkelanjutan. Jurnal Etika Lingkungan, 12(1), 45-67. https://doi.org/10.1234/jel.2025.12345
Ramankutty, N., Mehrabi, Z., Waha, K., Jarvis, L., Kremen, C., Herrero, M., Rieseberg, L. H., (2018). Trends in global agricultural land use: implications for environmental health and food security. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 69 (1), 789–815. https://doi.org/ 10.1146/annurev-arplant-042817-040256
Santika, T., Wilson, K.A., Law, E.A., St John, F.A.V., Carlson, K.M., Gibbs, H., Morgans, C. L., Ancrenaz, M., Meijaard, E., Struebig, M.J., (2020). Impact of palm oil sustainability certification on village well-being and poverty in Indonesia. Nature Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00630-1
Saputra, H. Y., Syah, N., & Azhar, A. (2025). Penerapan Prinsip Etika Lingkungan pada Kebijakan Pembangunan Berkelanjutan: Studi Literatur. RIGGS: Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Business, 4(3), 2972-2979
Sinaga. (2022). Aplikasi PGPR dan nanosilika terhadap pertumbuhan bibit kelapa sawit. Jurnal Agroekoteknologi, 20(1), 45–53.
Song, X.P., Hansen, M.C., Stehman, S.V., Potapov, P.V., Tyukavina, A., Vermote, E.F., Townshend, J.R., (2018). Global land change from 1982 to 2016. Nature 560 (7720), 639–643. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0411-9
United Nations. (2017). 6th Meeting of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators.
Waniatri, W., Adhya, I., Herlina, N., Nurdin, N., Az-zikra, AF, & Alamsyah, F. (2025). Etika Lingkungan dalam Tradisi Cingcowong pada Masyarakat Luragung Landeuh, Kecamatan Luragung. Hidroponik: Jurnal Ilmu Pertanian Dan Teknologi Dalam Ilmu Tanaman , 2 (3), 13-23.
Copyright (c) 2026 BIOPENDIX: Jurnal Biologi, Pendidikan dan Terapan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this Journal agree to the following terms:
- Author retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a creative commons attribution license that allow others to share the work within an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship and initial publication of this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangement for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal’s published version of the work (e.g. acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal).
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their websites) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published works
2
