MPOGCF strengthens biodiversity conservation in oil palm landscapes
06/06/2026 (New Straits Times), Putrajaya - The Malaysian Palm Oil Green Conservation Foundation (MPOGCF) has intensified efforts to integrate biodiversity conservation into oil palm plantation management to strengthen wildlife coexistence within production landscapes.
Its Conservation and Sustainability Department manager Ahmad Shahdan Kasim said oil palm plantations, forests and wildlife could be managed as a connected landscape through structured planning rather than as separate systems.
He said such an approach allowed plantations to remain productive while improving ecological connectivity and reducing human-wildlife conflict.
"When biodiversity is integrated into plantation planning, coexistence becomes more practical, while operational safety and livelihoods are maintained," he said at the foundation's Biodiversity Forum held here recently.
Ahmad Shahdan said rising human-wildlife conflict required coordinated management across estates, smallholders and relevant agencies, as plantation workers and wildlife increasingly shared the same landscape.
Established in 2021, MPOGCF is continuing conservation work initiated under the Malaysian Palm Oil Wildlife Conservation Fund in 2006. Since then, it has implemented 29 projects involving government agencies, academia, non-governmental organisations and industry players.
The projects fall under four main areas — reforestation, wildlife conservation, biodiversity management and community engagement — covering forest restoration, wildlife corridor development, species monitoring, rescue operations and coexistence programmes.
Key initiatives include habitat restoration in the Lower Kawag, Ulu Segama-Malua Forest Reserve in Lahad Datu, Sabah, carried out with the Kampung Tampenau community, where field observations recorded the return of orangutans to restored areas.
In Sarawak, the foundation worked on peatland rehabilitation, restoring previously unproductive oil palm areas into functioning peat ecosystems to enhance biodiversity and carbon storage.
In Kelantan, it supported the Central Forest Spine Master Plan through the restoration of a 10-hectare forest reserve in Machang, which had been illegally converted to oil palm plantations.
In Sabah, research near the Binsulok-Padas Forest Reserve using 30 camera traps recorded endangered species moving through forest corridors and buffer zones within oil palm landscapes.
Ahmad Shahdan said riparian reserves, forest edges and peat zones should be treated as biodiversity infrastructure, supported by shared data between estates and smallholders to improve land management decisions.
He said studies with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia helped translate biodiversity findings into practical plantation guidelines, including maintaining understorey vegetation, native tree species and edge habitats while ensuring operational safety.
He said systematic recording of wildlife sightings and conflict incidents could help identify hotspots early, improve mitigation planning and strengthen Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil and Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil reporting requirements.
MPOGCF has also supported a community-based human-elephant conflict programme in Sungai Ara involving smallholders, including early warning systems, electric fencing and response protocols.
Ahmad Shahdan said the initiative showed that coexistence required both conservation planning and practical risk management on the ground.
On species conservation, MPOGCF has supported elephant and orangutan population surveys in Sabah and worked with the upgraded Wildlife Rescue Unit, now the Elephant Management Unit, which has carried out more than 5,000 wildlife conflict operations.
It also collaborates with the Department of Wildlife and National Parks on Malayan tiger conservation programmes, as well as the Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre on sun bear response efforts.
Ahmad Shahdan said visible conservation outcomes were important in strengthening confidence in the sustainability of Malaysian palm oil, adding that biodiversity management must be embedded at estate and landscape levels.
Moving forward, MPOGCF plans to expand landscape monitoring, increase smallholder participation and scale up restoration work involving reforestation, peat rehabilitation and wildlife corridor recovery.
He said the goal was to manage landscapes where people, oil palm, forests and wildlife could coexist.