• Oil palm plantation workers harvest precious fruit

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    Francisco Milcoc hoists an oil palm fruit to the top of a trailer truck at a plantation in Sayaxche, Guatemala.

    Palm oil harvested from the African oil palm is a key ingredient in half of all packaged food, and Guatemala has been recognized as being one of the most efficient producers of this edible product.

    It's also used in biofuel and Guatemala’s plantations have kept up with demand increasing production 146% since 2005 according to the National Institute for Agrarian and Rural Studies.

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    An oil palm plantation worker sharpens his machete that he uses to loosen fruit bunches of the African oil palm in Sayaxche, Guatemala.

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    Felipe de Jesus, 20, hauls bunches of fruit from the African oil palm at a plantation in Sayaxche, Guatemala.

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    An ox pulls a cart filled with the fruit of the African oil palm, along a plantation dirt road in Sayaxche, Guatemala.

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    Fruit bunches from the African oil palm are transported from a plantation to an extraction plant, in Sayaxche, Guatemala.

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    Oil palm plantation workers are transported back to their pickup point after a day of work in Sayaxche, Guatemala.

  • Beawiharta / Reuters

    A forest in Indonesia's southern Sumatra province is shown on Oct. 16. Indonesia's plans to halt forest clearing will slow the aggressive expansion of plantation firms in the world's top palm oil producer, leading to higher costs as firms will need acquisitions or improved yields to boost growth.

    Beawiharta / Reuters

    A truck carries logs in a forest in Indonesia's Sumatra island, Oct. 16.

    Beawiharta / Reuters

    A palm oil plantation in Indonesia's southern Sumatra province, Oct. 16.

    View from the top

    These aerial pictures have nice texture and/or composition that when published together do a good job in showing the changes in parts of the Indonesian landscape.