09/01/2012 (New Strait Times) - The Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium, which begins today, will address wildlife issues in Malaysia with emphasis on Sabah and funding from corporate and non-corporate bodies.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu said 250 people, including stakeholders and international participants,   would take part in the colloquium.

"Although Sabah is  rich in wildlife and has many success stories in terms of conservation, much needs to be done to rectify the  broken landscape of its forest reserves.

"We have conducted  studies. We know what we need to ensure the survival of the species .

"We are looking for funding, especially from the private sector in order to achieve our objective," he said in a statement.

The colloquium is  organised by the department and  Malaysian Palm Oil Council.

It will be opened by Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

A five-year action plan for three species -- orang utans, elephant and rhino -- will also be launched at the opening ceremony.

An Australian senator, Nick Xenophon, who had pushed for a mandatory food labelling bill in his country last year, will be present.

Xenophon had  pushed for the bill, which targeted Malaysia as one of the world's main producers of palm oil  in the Australian Parliament, based on claims of deforestation and the destruction of the wildlife's natural habitats.

However, the anti-palm oil move was rejected by the Australian government.

Malaysia is the world's second largest palm oil producer after Indonesia.

It has embarked on a mission  to ensure that the wildlife in  oil  palm plantations are not destroyed.

Efforts from the government  include ensuring more than 50 per cent of the country's land is gazetted as forest reserves, while  oil palm  companies have been urged to set aside a piece of their land as corridors or linkages between fragmented forests.

Most of the country's oil palm  plantations are located in Sabah where wildlife endemic to Borneo such as the orang utans,  proboscis monkeys and  Borneo Pygmy elephants, are  found.