Natural Resource Governance Amid Competing Interests

Abstract

This chapter examines the contested legal and policy landscape surrounding palm oil through the lens of comparative trade law. While palm oil has created substantial economic opportunities for developing countries like Indonesia, it has increasingly faced criticism for its environmental impacts, particularly deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. The chapter identifies three distinct policy eras reflecting the evolving relationship between palm oil, development priorities, and environmental concerns: the “GATT era,” which emphasized state sovereignty over natural resources and their use in development strategies; the “early WTO period,” during which biofuels were promoted as renewable energy under the emerging banner of sustainable development; and the “current climate-focused era,” marked by more restrictive measures—especially from the European Union—that target palm oil-based biofuels. Drawing on the concept of legal transfer, the chapter explores how sustainability narratives and trade measures shaped by Global North priorities have been transmitted to, and at times internalized by, Global South states, often producing asymmetrical legal and economic effects.