Publications
Scientific articles published in scientific peer-reviewed journals
Recent Publications
Past Publications
2026
- Stanton, D.W.G., Manin, A., Evin, A., Linderholm, A., Drinkwater, R. and Meijaard, E. (2026). Genomic and Morphometric Evidence for Austronesian-mediated Pig Translocation in the Pacific. Science, 391(6780). doi:https://doi.org/10.1126/
science.adv4963.
2025
- van Strien, A., Nardiyono, Meijaard, E., Suief, S. and Zaini, S. (2025). Occupancy Estimation of Wild Species in a Palm Oil Plantation Using Unstructured Data. [online] doi:https://doi.org/10.1101/
2025.07.11.664290. - Meijaard, E. and Sheil, D. 2025. No Oil Crop Is Inherently Bad — But Our Thinking Might Be. Cell Reports Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crsus.2025.100524
- Frantz, L. et al., 2025. Genomic analyses reveal the complex histories of pig translocation across Wallacea and the Pacific. Science (soon to be online)
- Descals, A., Sheil, D., Wich, S., Ozigis, M., Meijaard, E., 2025. Extensive unreported non-plantation oil palm in Africa. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2976-601X/adff89
- Slavin, J., Meijaard, E., Sheil, D., 2025. Bringing some balance to fat bashing. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1606617
- Sheil, D., Descals, A., Meijaard, E., Gaveau, D.L.A., 2025. Rubber planting and deforestation. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06642-z
- Meijaard, E.M., Carlson, K.M., Sheil, D., Zaini, S., Meijaard, E., 2025. Does palm oil really rule the supermarket? an assessment of three western supermarket chains. DOI 10.1088/2976-601X/ae12f6
- Scriven, S.A., Butarbutar, R.B., de Vos, R.E., Lucey, J.M., Reynolds, G., Newing, H., Scholtz, O., Lasmana, F., Meijaard, E., Hill, J.K., in review. Addressing the challenges of biodiversity conservation within oil palm landscape. (soon to be online)
- LaPorte P.S., Meijaard E, Carlson K.M. 2025. Perceptions of palm oil in the global conservation community: The impact of reading a synthesis report. PLOS Sustainability and Transformation. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pstr.0000183
- Omar, M.S., Dennis, R., Meijaard, E.M., Sueif, S., Zaini, S., Mohamdih, M., Erman, A., Meijaard, E., 2025. Centering Communities in Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation: Insights from a Citizen Science Initiative in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Diversity. https://doi.org/10.3390/d17100679
- Henley, D., Gaveau, D., Meijaard, E., 2025. The end of nature in Borneo: a concise contemporary history. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. (soon to be online)
- Meijaard, E., Wich, S.A., Ancrenaz, M., Dennis, R.A., Ni’mattulah, S., Sherman, J., 2025. Interpreting the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standard 6 for the management of orangutans, p. 38. Borneo Futures, Brunei Darussalam Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15274102
- Sherman, J., Voigt, M., Ancrenaz, M., Meijaard, E., Oram, F., Williamson, E.A., Russon, A.E., Seaman, D.J.I., Caurant, C., Refisch, J., Byler, D., Wich, S.A., 2025. Outcomes of orangutan wild-to-wild translocations reveal conservation and welfare risks. PLOS ONE https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317862
- Lieb, Z. et al., 2025. Mapping multiple wild pig species’ population dynamics in Southeast Asia during the African swine fever outbreak (2018-2024). Conservation Letters. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.13105
- Ozigis, M., Wich, S., Abdolshahnejad, M., Descals, A., Szantoi, Z., Meijaard, E., Sheil, D., 2025 Characterizing Crop Distribution and the Impact on Forest Conservation in Central Africa. Remote Sensing. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17111958
- Sheldon, F.H., Irham, M., Kho, D.G.S., Meijaard, E., Shakya, S.B., Prawiradilaga, D.M., van Balen, S.B., 2025. History, annotated gazetteer, and bibliography of ornithology in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Museum of Natural Sciences Journal Occasional Paper No. 94, issue 1. https://doi.org/10.31390/opmns.094
- Ancrenaz, M.P.G., Dennis, R., Said, S., Wich, S., Sherman, J., Rahman, H.A., Oram, F., Traeholt, K., Ventie, Silmi, M., Meijaard, E., 2025. New insights for managing orangutans in oil palm landscapes. The Planter.
2024
- Ozigis, M., Wich, S., Descals, A., Szantoi, Z., Meijaard, E., 2024. Mapping Oil Palm Plantations and the Implications on Forest and Great Ape Habitat Loss in Central Africa Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation. https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.428
- Descals, A., Gaveau, D.L.A., Serge, W., Szantoi, Z., Meijaard, E., 2024 Global mapping of oil palm plantation age for 2021. Earth System Science Data. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5111-2024
- Candellone, E., Aleta, A., Ferraz de Arruda, H., Meijaard, E., Moreno, Y., 2024. Understanding the Vegetable Oil Debate and Its Implications for Sustainability through Social Media. Communications Earth & Environment. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2308.07108
- Ariffin, T., Khalid, S., Dennis, R., Said, S., Unus, N., Husaini, N., Carson, R.A., Meijaard, E., 2024. Baseline Study of Sun Bear in Brunei Darussalam, p. 41. Borneo Futures, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. https://borneofutures.org/assets/pdf/sunbearReport.pdf
- Meijaard, E., Erman, A., Ancrenaz, M., Goossens, B., 2024. Pig virus imperils food security in Borneo Science. 19 Jan 2024. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn3857
- Meijaard, E., Virah-Sawmy, M., Newing, H.S., Ingram, V., Holle, M.J.M., Pasmans, T., Omar, S., van den Hombergh, H., Unus, N., Fosch, A., Ferraz de Arruda, H., Allen, J., Tsagarakis, K., Chidozie Ogwu, M., Diaz Ismael, A., Hance, J., Moreno, Y., O'Keeffe, S., Slavin, J.L., Slingerland, M., Meijaard, E.M., Macfarlane, N.B.W., Jimenez, R., Abiguna, A., Wich, S., Sheil, D., 2024. Exploring the future of vegetable oils. Oil crop implications - Fats, forests, forecasts, and futures. IUCN and SNSB, Gland, Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.2305/KFJA1910
- Meijaard E, Azhar B, Persio M, Sheil D. 2024. Oil palm plantations in the context of biodiversity conservation. Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, 3rd edition 4: 752-773.
- Calebe et al. 2024. CamTrapAsia: 210 full wildlife capture lists from camera trapping studies. Ecology.
- Seaman, D.J.I., Voigt, M., Ancrenaz, M., Bocedi, G., Meijaard, E., Oram, F., Palmer, S.C.F., Santika, T., Sherman, J., Travis, J.M.J., Wich, S., Humle, T., Supriatna, J., Struebig, M.J., 2024. Capacity for recovery in Bornean orangutan populations if both forest fragmentation and offtake are limited. Diversity & Distributions.
2023
- Front. Cons. Apes and Agriculture.
- Oryx. High readership on academic social platforms may poorly reflect conservation interest
- Anecdotal pre-and post ASF population trends in Sus barbatus in Borneo. Preliminary report published on behalf of the IUCN Wild Pigs Specialist Group’s working group on African Swine Fever. Brunei Darussalam
- Encyclopedia of Biodiversity. Oil palm plantations in the context of biodiversity conservation.
- Global Change Biology. Drivers of habitat availability for terrestrial mammals: unravelling the role of livestock, land conversion and intrinsic traits in the past 50 years
- Earth System Science Data. High-resolution global map of closed-canopy coconut
- Communications in Earth & Environment. Replanting unproductive palm oil with smallholder plantations can help achieve Sustainable Development Goals in Sumatra, Indonesia
- Conservation Science and Practice. Killing of orangutans in Kalimantan - Community perspectives on incidence and drivers
- Environmental Science & Policy. Public opinion on protecting iconic species depends on individual wellbeing: Perceptions about orangutan conservation in Indonesia and Malaysia
- Front. Publ. Health. Sustainable nutrition and the case of vegetable oils to match present and future dietary needs
- Remote Sensing. Empowering Wildlife Guardians: An Equitable Digital Stewardship and Reward System for Biodiversity Conservation using Deep Learning and 3/4G Camera Traps
2022
- Oryx. Restoring the orangutan in a Whole- or Half-Earth context
- Bioscience. Safeguarding imperiled biodiversity and evolutionary processes in the Wallacea center of endemism
- Comm. Converting tropical forests to agriculture increases fire risk by fourfold.
- Biol. Cons. Orangutan killing and trade in Indonesia: Wildlife crime, enforcement, and deterrence patterns
- Curr. Biol. Effectiveness of 20 years of conservation investments in protecting orangutans
- Persp. Ecol. Cons. Deforestation projections imply range-wide population decline for critically endangered Bornean orangutan
- PLOS ONE. Slowing oil palm expansion and deforestation in Indonesia coincide with low oil prices
- Front. Nutrit. Dietary fats, human nutrition and the environment: balance and sustainability
- Front. Nutrit. A need for a paradigm shift in healthy nutrition research.
- J. Biog. Expert range maps of global mammal distributions harmonised to three taxonomic authorities.
2021
- Earth Syst. Sc. Data. High-resolution global map of small and large-holder mature oil palm plantations
- Landsc. Ecol. High-resolution global map of small and large-holder mature oil palm plantations
- Cons. Biol. Testing a global standard for quantifying species recovery and assessing conservation impact
- Biol. Cons. Forest loss in Indonesian New Guinea: trends, drivers, and outlook
- PLOS ONE. The historic range and drivers of decline of the Tapanuli orangutan
- Earth Systems Science Data. First high-resolution global map of small and large-holder mature oil palm plantations
- Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. Importance of Small Forest Fragments in Agricultural Landscapes for Maintaining Orangutan Metapopulations
- Nature. Reshoring EU agriculture risks undermining SDGs
- Oryx. Saving the Tapanuli orangutan requires zero losses
- Raffles Bull Zool. Extreme ecological specialization in a rainforest mammal, the Bornean tufted ground squirrel, Rheithrosciurus macrotis Gray, 1857.
2020
- Nature Plants. The environmental impacts of palm oil in context
- Nature Sustainability. Impact of palm oil sustainability certification on village well-being and poverty in Indones
- Cons. Biol. Coconut oil, conservation and the conscientious consumer
- Nature Ecol. Evol. Tapanuli orangutan endangered by Sumatran hydropower scheme
- Cons. Lett. How many bird and mammal extinctions have been prevented through recent conservation action?
- Cons. Lett. African Swine Fever threatens Southeast Asia’s endemic wild pig species
- Glob. Env. Ch. Interannual climate variation, land type and community effects on wildfires in Kalimantan, Indonesia
- Env. Res. Lett. Compounding impact of deforestation on Borneo's climate during El Niño events
- Bioscience. Severe lack of evidence limits effective conservation of the world’s primate
- Land Use Policy. Beyond the Community in Participatory Forest Management: A Governance Network Perspective
- Science. Underestimating global biodiversity loss
- Cons. Biol. Ex situ management as insurance against extinction of mammalian megafauna in an uncertain world
- Cons. Biol. How amusing memes in social media can raise concern for an ugly species
- Env. Res. Lett. Compounding impact of deforestation in Borneo's climate during El Nino events
- Cons. Sc. Prac. Toward improved impact evaluation of community forest management in Indonesia
- J. Nat. Cons. Memindahkan Kera: Hasil Konservasi dan kesejahteraan dari penyelamatan dan pelepasan orangutan Borneo di Kalimantan, Indonesia
- J. Nat. Cons. Shifting apes: Welfare and conservation outcomes of Bornean orangutan rescue and release in Kalimantan, Indonesia
- Biodiversitas. Envisioning a Future for Bornean Orangutans: Conservation Impacts of Action Plan Implementation and Recommendations for Improved Population Outcomes
2019
- Front. For. Glob. Ch. The moral minefield of ethical oil palm and sustainable development
- Nature. A dam or an ape - Indonesia faces a stark choice
- People and Nature. Conservation and the social sciences: beyond critique and co-optation. A case study from orangutan conservation
- Nature Ecol. Evol. Rediscovery of the silver-backed chevrotain in Vietnam
- Nature Sustainability. Larger gains delivered by improved management over sparing-sharing for tropical forests
- World Development. Does oil palm alleviate rural poverty? Insight from a landscape-scale multidimensional assessment
- Remote Sensing. Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) mapping with details: smallholder vs. industrial plantations and their extent in Riau, Sumatra
- Biol. Cons. Cost-benefit based prioritisation of orangutan conservation actions in Indonesian Borneo
- Land Use Policy. Changing landscapes, climate, livelihoods and human-wellbeing in the context of oil palm development
- People and Nature. Heterogeneous impacts of community forest management on multiple aspects of human-wellbeing
- Biol. Cons. Top 100 research questions for biodiversity conservation in Southeast Asia
2018
- Curr. Biol. Orangutan populations are certainly not increasing in the wild
- Nature. Create and empower lead authors from the global south
- Curr. Biol. Global demand for natural resources eliminated more than 100,000 Bornean orangutans
- Glob. Env. Ch. Offsetting the impacts of developments at a landscape scale reveals tough choices
- Env. Res. Lett. Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives
- Science Adv. Orangutans venture out of the rainforest and into the Anthropocene
- Env. Res. Lett. Forest loss and Borneo's climate
- Tr. Ecol. Evol. Saving the world with satire
- Cons. Biol. Quantifying Species Recovery and Conservation Success: a practical framework for an IUCN Green List of Species
2017
- Report. An impact analysis of RSPO certification on Borneo forest cover and Orangutan populations
- Strategic Rev. The trillion dollar gamble on Borneo
- Scientific Rep. First integrative trend analysis for a great ape species in Borneo.
- Curr. Biol. Morphometric, behavioural, and genomic evidence for a new orangutan species
- PNAS. Canopy structure drives orangutan habitat selection in disturbed Bornean forests
- Strategic Review. Getting community forest reforms right
- Glob. Env. Ch. Community forest management in Indonesia: Avoided deforestation in the context of anthropogenic and climate complexities
- Glob. Ecol. Cons. Not more, but strategic collaboration needed to conserve Borneo's orangutan
- J. Appl. Ecol. Mixed policies give more options in multifunctional tropical forest landscapes
2016
- PLOS Biology. Conservation Research Is Not Happening Where It Is Most Needed
- Int. J. Natural Res. Ecol. Manag. Exploring Conservation Management in an Oil-palm Concession
- An Introduction to Primate Conservation. The role of multifunctional landscapes in primate conservation
- Mamm. Rev. Ebola in great apes – current knowledge, possibilities for vaccination, and implications for conservation and human health
- Env. Res. Lett. Rising floodwaters: mapping impacts and perceptions of flooding in Indonesian Borneo
- J. Mamm. Book Review - “Phillipps’ Field Guide to the Mammals of Borneo and Their Ecology”
- Scientific Rep. Rapid conversions and avoided deforestation: examining four decades of industrial plantation expansion in Borneo
- Enhancing feasibility: Incorporating a socio-ecological systems framework into restoration plannin
- Charisma counts: the presence of great apes affects the allocation of research effort in the paleotropics
- American. J. Primatology. South to South Learning in Great Ape Conservation
2015
- Cons. Biol. Geographic bias in citation rates of conservation research
- Global. Ch. Biol. Anticipated climate and land-cover changes reveal refuge areas for Borneo’s orang-utans
- Better land-use allocation outperforms land sparing and land sharing approaches to conservation in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia
- Nature Comms. Alternative futures for Borneo show the value of integrating economic and conservation targets across borders
- Oryx. Of Pongo, palms and perceptions a multidisciplinary assessment of Bornean Orangutan in an oil palm context
- Diversity and Distributions. Mapping perceptions of species’ threats and population trends to inform conservation efforts: the Bornean orangutan case study
- Curr. Biol. Targeted Conservation to Safeguard a Biodiversity Hotspot from Climate and Land-Cover Change
- Ecosystem Services. Spatially explicit perceptions of ecosystem services and land cover change in forested regions of Borneo
2014
- Nature. Conservation - focus on implementation
- Trends Ecol. Evol. Maintaining ecosystem function and services in logged tropical forests
- Ecol. Appl. Ecosystem services from a degraded peatland of Central Kalimantan: implications for policy, planning, and management
- Env. Res. Lett. Restoring degraded tropical forests for carbon and biodiversity
- Curr. Zoology. Foraging site recursion by forest elephants Elephas maximus borneensis
- PLOS ONE. Conservation Strategies for Orangutans: Reintroduction versus Habitat Preservation and the Benefits of Sustainably Logged Forest
- Diversity and Distributions. Forecasts of habitat suitability improve habitat corridor efficacy in rapidly changing environments
- PLOS ONE. Four Decades of Forest Persistence, Clearance and Logging on Borneo
- Systematic Biology. Borneo and Indochina are Major Evolutionary Hotspots for Southeast Asian Biodiversity
- Biol. Cons. Secrecy considerations for conserving Lazarus species
- Scientific Rep. Coming down from the trees: Is terrestrial activity in Bornean orangutans natural or disturbance driven?
- PLOS ONE. Synergies for Improving Oil Palm Production and Forest Conservation in Floodplain Landscapes
- Ecosystem Services. What scope for certifying forest ecosystem services?
- PLOS ONE. Through the Eyes of Children: Perceptions of Environmental Change in Tropical Forests
- PLOS ONE. People’s Perceptions about the Importance of Forests on Borneo
- Cons. Lett. Conservation in a wicked complex world; challenges and solutions
- J. Indonesian Nat. History. Think before you plan: Introducing preplanning considerations in conservation
2013
- PNAS. Ten principles for a landscape approach to reconciling agriculture, conservation, and other competing land use
- PLOS ONE. It’s not Just Conflict That Motivates Killing of Orangutans
- PLOS ONE. Breaking the Link between Environmental Degradation and Oil Palm Expansion: A Method for Enabling Sustainable Oil Palm Expansion
- PLOS ONE. Reconciling Forest Conservation and Logging in Indonesian Borneo
2012
- Report. An impact analysis of RSPO certification on Borneo forest cover and Orangutan populations
- Strategic Rev. The trillion dollar gamble on Borneo
- Scientific Rep. First integrative trend analysis for a great ape species in Borneo
- Curr. Biol. Morphometric, behavioural, and genomic evidence for a new orangutan species
- PNAS. Canopy structure drives orangutan habitat selection in disturbed Bornean forests
- Strategic Review. Getting community forest reforms right
- Glob. Env. Ch. Community forest management in Indonesia: Avoided deforestation in the context of anthropogenic and climate complexities
- Glob. Ecol. Cons. Not more, but strategic collaboration needed to conserve Borneo's orangutan
- J. Appl. Ecol. Mixed policies give more options in multifunctional tropical forest landscapes
2011
- Biotropica. A Modest Proposal for Wealthy Countries to Reforest Their Land for the Common Good
- Asian Primate J. First sighting of Bornean Orang Utan Twins in the wild
- PLOS ONE. Quantifying Killing of Orangutans and Human- Orangutan Conflict in Kalimantan, Indonesia
- PLOS ONE. Why Don’t We Ask? A Complementary Method for Assessing the Status of Great Apes
2010
- Ecol. Appl. Conserving biodiversity in production landscapes
- PLOS ONE. Recent Surveys in the Forests of Ulu Segama Malua, Sabah, Malaysia, Show That Orang-utans (P. p. morio) Can Be Maintained in Slightly Logged Forests
- Biotropica. Purity and Prejudice Deluding Ourselves About Biodiversity Conservation
- PLOS ONE. Declining orangutan encounter rates