Commodities Minister says critically endangered animals could possibly be handed over to nations that purchase palm oil from Malaysia.
Malaysia has mentioned it plans to start out an “orangutan diplomacy” program for nations that purchase its palm oil.
The Southeast Asian nation is the world’s second-largest producer of edible oil after Indonesia, however critics say the trade’s large growth has fueled deforestation and destroyed the habitat of orangutans and different iconic critically endangered species in one of many world’s biodiversity hotspots.
Orangutans stay solely on the island of Borneo and the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
The Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature’s Pink Listing estimates that the orangutan inhabitants in Borneo, which is shared between Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, will decline to round 47,000 by 2025 because of human pressures and habitat loss. . There are an estimated 13,500 orangutans left in Sumatra.
Plantations and Commodities Minister Johari Abdul Ghani mentioned the orangutan program was impressed by China’s panda diplomacy and would concentrate on nations that buy palm oil to “reveal” Malaysia’s dedication to conservation and biodiversity.
He mentioned main importing nations, corresponding to China, India and a few members of the European Union, would possible obtain the orangutans. He didn’t elaborate on how this system would work or when it will start.
“Malaysia can’t be defensive about palm oil,” he informed delegates at a biodiversity discussion board in Genting, east of Kuala Lumpur, which he later shared on social media. “We have to present nations around the globe that Malaysia is a sustainable oil palm producer and is dedicated to defending forests.”
Beijing, which operates a large panda breeding program, typically lends out pandas for 10 years, so long as nations meet sure circumstances for his or her care. Malaysia took in two pandas in 2014 and constructed them a multimillion-dollar air-conditioned enclosure on the Nationwide Zoo in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia doesn’t have an orangutan breeding program, though there are conservation facilities for them in Sarawak and Sabah in Borneo. NGOs additionally run conservation applications to revive their habitat.
Johari urged giant palm oil producers to collaborate with NGOs on conservation and sustainability.
Palm oil is utilized in all kinds of merchandise, from shampoo to ice cream and bread.
The trade has been attempting to enhance sustainability amid strain from activists over its impact on the setting by teams such because the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).