Authentication of Sustainable Oil Palm Production for Protection of Tropical Biodiversity

据估计，东南亚地区拥有2710万公顷的泥炭地，占全球总量的6%，同时也生产了全球近一半的原油棕榈油。油棕榈种植可持续性的主要挑战是确定和防止在新砍伐的土地上种植，特别是在泥炭地上。将新砍伐的热带森林和任何森林泥炭地转化为油棕种植园违反了可持续棕榈油圆桌会议（RSPO）的标准和原则，RSPO是一个由商业油棕种植者组成的非营利会员组织，支持通过制定全行业认证标准来提高油棕的可持续性。为了获得认证，种植者必须遵守一套环境和社会原则和标准，其中包括避免在最近砍伐的土地和泥炭等有机土壤上种植新作物。目前，通过核查供应链的PalmTrace工具，使用基于记录的检查系统来核查是否符合这些标准。然而，这一制度目前缺乏任何外部认证机制，无法对经认证产品中的油棕榈原产地进行认证。根据RSPO的可持续性原则种植的油棕榈的公认认证和跟踪系统将大大加强对现有油棕榈种植园生物多样性的保护，并减少在最近砍伐的土地和泥炭地上新种植的利润。该项目的目的是开发一种新的分析方法，可以确定加工棕榈油的地理来源，以区分终端，来自新砍伐林地的产品与第二轮或老种植园的产品，以及来自泥炭和矿物土壤上生长的石油的最终产品之间的差异。指导性假设是，植物衍生产品的来源可以作为植物材料中元素或稳定同位素组成方面的独特化学特征或通过其代谢组学特征来检测。这将通过精确分析植物组织的极性和非极性代谢物来进行测试，包括干叶，油和加工的最终产品。该项目将与东南亚雨林研究伙伴关系（SEARRP）和RSPO合作，使用东南亚商业油棕种植园内的现场进行。博士候选人将获得一系列关键技能，包括（i）化学，气候变化和保护科学的先进概念理解，在跨越这些领域的职业生涯中取得竞争性进展;（ii）与具全球重要性的海外持份者联络的经验（iii）利用最先进的组学（特别是脂质组学平台）分析油脂的专业知识（iv）这些专家包括：（1）使用ICP-MS和其他系统进行痕量元素分析的专业知识;（2）使用专门的开源软件进行多变量建模和大规模数据集的先进专业知识;（3）分析方法验证的经验;（4）通过领导/参与为主要期刊编写出版物而获得的科学写作方面的先进专业知识。

The Southeast Asian region is estimated to have 27.1 million hectares of peatlands, or 6% of the global total, while also producing nearly half of global crude palm oil. The main challenges for sustainability of oil palm cultivation are to identify and prevent planting on newly deforested land and particularly on peatlands. The conversion of newly deforested tropical forests and any forested peatlands to oil palm plantations contravenes the criteria and principles of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a non-profit membership organisation of commercial oil palm growers supporting the move towards greater sustainability of oil palm through the development of an industry-wide certification standard. In order to be certified, growers have to commit to a set of environmental and social principles and criteria, which includes avoidance of new planting on recently deforested land and on organic soils such as peat. Currently the verification of conformity to these standards is conducted using a records-based system of checks through the PalmTrace tool, which verifies the supply chain. However, this system currently lacks any mechanism of external authentication of the origin of the oil palm in certified products. An accepted authentication and tracking system for oil palm grown under the sustainability principles of the RSPO would significantly enhance the protection of biodiversity on existing oil palm plantations and reduce the profitability of new planting on recently deforested lands and peatlands.Therefore, the aim of this project is to develop a novel analytical method that could determine the geographical origin of processed palm oil in order to differentiate end-products derived from newly deforested lands vs second rotation or older plantations, and between end products from oil grown on peat and mineral soils. The guiding hypothesis is that the origin of a plant-derived product can be detected as a unique chemical signature in the plant material in terms of elemental or stable isotope composition, or through its metabolomics profile. This will be tested through precise analyses of the polar and non-polar metabolites of plant tissues, including dried leaves, oil and processed end-products This project will be conducted in partnership with the Southeast Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP) and the RSPO using field sites within commercial oil palm plantations across Southeast Asia.The PhD candidate will gain a range of critical skills, including (i) an advanced conceptual understanding of chemistry, climate change and conservation sciences for competitive progression in a career spanning these fields; (ii) experience in liaising with overseas stakeholders of global importance (iii) expertise in the analysis of fats and oils using state-of-the-art omics and especially lipidomics platforms (iv) expertise in trace elemental analysis using ICP-MS and other systems, (v) advanced expertise in multivariate modelling and large-scale datasets using the specialised open source software, (vi) experience in analytical method validation and (vii) advanced expertise in scientific writing gained through leadership/participation in the preparation of publications for leading journals.