The impact of reading a synthesis report on perceptions of palm oil in the global conservation community

Tropical forest risk commodities including palm oil contribute to deforestation and biodiversity decline, making them a major focus of the international conservation community. Many in this community rely on scientific evidence to inform conservation decision-making, but the extent to which synthesized evidence influences perceptions across the diverse set of individuals that comprise the global conservation community remains unclear. We surveyed 470 conservation professionals living in 90 countries regarding their perceptions of palm oil, and evaluated the influence of reading a synthesis report on oil palm and biodiversity on these perceptions. We found that respondent perceptions of palm oil’s impacts on the environment tended to align with scientific evidence, with high agreement among respondents. We found less agreement regarding the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation interventions in the palm oil sector. Respondents often evaluated interventions whose effectiveness had not yet been assessed in the scientific literature. Reading the full synthesis report led to significantly less negative perceptions of palm oil production’s impacts on biodiversity and tropical rainforests but did not change perceptions of conservation intervention effectiveness. Given the substantial effort involved in developing synthesis reports about conservation, long-term studies exploring how these publications influence perceptions, knowledge, discourse, conservation decision-making, and conservation outcomes are needed.Author summary: Palm oil supplies more than a third of global edible oil demand. Development of oil palm plantations drives tropical deforestation and biodiversity loss but contributes to economies of producing countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. Since the early 2000s, the global conservation community has debated the appropriate set of interventions to improve palm oil production sustainability. Yet, the views of this community – which influence conservation policy and practice – have been unknown. We analyzed a survey of hundreds of individuals affiliated with diverse conservation organizations across the world regarding their perceptions before and after they read a situation analysis on palm oil and biodiversity prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). We found that while respondents agreed about the impacts of palm oil on the environment, they had more polarized views regarding the effectiveness of conservation policy interventions to address biodiversity loss in the palm oil sector. After reading the full IUCN report, respondents had significantly less negative assessments of the impacts of palm oil on biodiversity and tropical rainforests compared to a control group. Our findings advance understanding of how efforts to synthesize scientific evidence influence the views of decision-makers.