Sustainable Palm Oil Developments In Malaysia, Part 3: Planet

In line with the element of protecting the planet, Malaysia places strong emphasis on the planet’s needs and is signatory to several international conventions, including the Convention on Biodiversity 1992 (CBD2), the International Tropical Timber Agreement, and the Charter of the Indigenous-Tribal Peoples of Tropical Forests.

The oil palm cultivation in Malaysia, is on legally designated agricultural land, and is only planted on land that is deemed suitable for long-term cultivation of this perennial crop. The rights of indigenous people’s and their land rights are protected by law. Hence, oil palm:

• is not cultivated on land gazetted as forest reserves, national parks, wildlife or game reserves. Permanent forests, covering 55.6% of Malaysia’s land remains devoted to wildlife habitat and biodiversity conservation.
• has seen fewer new plantings on degraded logged-over land zoned for agriculture
• does not cause wanton forest destruction
• is often converted from other agricultural land uses (Table 3)

As part of the commitment towards preserving biodiversity, the Malaysian Palm Oil Wildlife Conservation Fund (MPOWF) of RM 20 million had been set up and has contributed toward programmes to protect the wildlife surrounding oil palm plantations, surveys on orang utan populations in Sabah, the establishment of Orang Utan Island Infant care centre and toward the improvement of riparian reserves. The Malaysian oil palm industry is also working with WWF on the Kinabatangan - Corridor of Life. The Kinabatangan River is the longest river in Sabah and its landscape is very important for its biodiversity. It is home to over 250 bird, 50 mammal, 20 reptile, and 1,056 plant species. It is one of two places on earth where 10 primate species can be found together, including the orang-utan, proboscis monkey and the Bornean gibbon (the other apparently being in the Cuyabeno Reserve in Ecuadorian Amazonia).

The Malaysian oil palm industry has shown that conservation and development are two complementary objectives that can balanced through sustainable resource management, supported by a regulatory framework. Indeed, the oil palm industry is well and truly regulated with a series of legalisation that covers land, environment, wildlife, labour and employee matters as well as the use of pesticides.

Sustainable Palm Oil Developments In Malaysia, Part 2: People

One major element of the Bruntland Commission’s definition of sustainability is that the needs of the poor in all nations must be met – hence, sustainability efforts should address the eradication of poverty. In this, respect, Malaysia’s oil palm industry is a great success story. The Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), set up just over 50 years ago, was tasked with carrying out land development and resettling the landless in the country, and now has developed 853,313 ha of land and resettled 112,635 families (Ahmad Tarmizi, 2008).

More interestingly, Felda’s efforts have very successfully helped eradicate poverty amongst settlers, as illustrated by the data in Table 1. The success of the Felda scheme has helped ensure that the income levels of the scheme’s settlers has remained well above the national poverty line, with the gap between settlers’ mean income and the national poverty line widening consistently. 

The oil palm industry is a major source of employment, and as the planted area grew from 1.2 million hectares in 1980 to 4.69 million hectares in 2009 (a 3.9-fold increase) , the industry generated a 4.9-fold increase in employment (Table 2). Based on an estimated 5-persons per household, the total number of people in Malaysia dependent on the oil palm industry could well be around 2.26 million.

Hence, over the years, the oil palm industry has consistently contributed towards poverty eradication and narrowing of the income gap between rural and town-folk, created rural townships where workers reside and enjoy good quality of life with adequate social infrastructure (e.g. housing, health, religious facilities), contributed to social security and peace and reduced migration of labour force from the rural to urban areas.

Sustainable Palm Oil Developments In Malaysia, Part 1: Introduction

Sustainability, is a holistic concept, and encompasses three key elements, often referred to as the 3Ps. – the people, planet and profit. These key concepts are derived from the ‘Brundtland Commission’ (Brundtland, 1987) which stated that “sustainable development seeks to meet the needs and aspirations of the present generation without compromising the ability to meet the needs of those in the future.” Based on this definition, sustainability is all about the efficient management of present resources to meet future needs. In the context of the Malaysian oil palm industry, “sustainability is all about the long-term security of the supply chain if the oil palm business is to continue with brand values and consumer trust. The Malaysian oil palm industry strives to strike a holistic balance between social, environmental and economic needs of country and people by in addressing the need for

• Social development of the Malaysian people
• Conservation and management of the environment
• Ensuring progress of the nation as a whole via economic development

Proper management of natural resources would help protect their biological production potential and help maintain future options for their use. Indeed, a major objective of sustainable land management is the harmonization of agricultural priorities with economic and environmental concerns (Dumanski and Smyth, 1993).

Sustainability Of The Oil Palm Industry In Malaysia

Given the holistic approach of the Malaysian government and the country’s oil palm industry towards sustainability, it is essential to consider how the 3Ps, namely People, Planet and Profits are addressed.