Fig. 3: Country- and sub-national-level analyses of PLANTdex for oil palm and soybean.
From: The multi-dimensional environmental impact of global crop commodities
a,b, Country-level plots for two crops (oil palm (a) and soybean (b)) and the top 15 countries for their specific production. a(i),b(i), Crop production across n = 9,331,200 independent 5 arcmin resolution grid cells, split by country. Box plots display the median (centre line), interquartile range (IQR, box) and whiskers (minimum and maximum values within 1.5 × IQR, unless outliers are present). Red dots indicate total national production, which is not derived from this study but obtained from ref. 23. a(ii),b(ii), Normalized emissions for individual indicators, highlighting dominant emissions and variability within countries, with total impact as a linear sum, unlike PLANTdex. a(iii),b(iii), Distribution of PLANTdex scores across n = 9,331,200 independent grid cells at a 5 arcmin resolution, split by countries, where larger box-plot distributions indicating greater regional variability for impact per tonne (PLANTdex) with mean (cross) display the median (centre line), IQR (box) and whiskers (minimum and maximum values within 1.5 × IQR, unless outliers are present). The average PLANTdex per tonne of dry mass generally varies between 0.35 and 0.60 and overlaps the median of the distribution at the country level, indicating a normal distribution. Red dots indicate share of total global impact pertaining to a country. a(iv),b(iv), Each country’s ratio contribution of total impacts (production multiplied by PLANTdex) versus production and the correlation between production and PLANTdex within each country at the grid-cell level. A country’s ratio contribution of impacts versus production indicates whether the country is excessively causing high environmental impacts in relation to its contribution to global crop production. c–f, PLANTdex scores across example countries for oil palm and soybean crops. c,d, Southeast Asia (c) and France (d) have impacts versus production contribution ratios above 1. e,f, Western Africa (e) and the United States (f) have impacts versus production contribution ratios below 1.
