15/01/2018 (The Star Online) - PALM oil is again being persecuted as the bad boy in the ongoing climate change debate. It is being blamed for deforestation, contributing to global warming.

The palm oil industry in Malaysia is being taken to task for apparently decimating the population of orang utan. But there is no mention being made of the fact that palm oil helps the orang miskin (poor).

One thing is for sure, though. Palm oil smallholders are rattled by this new episode and this is understandable because any big reduction in palm oil import by a major market can have negative implications on their revenue. To these smallholders, palm oil was their saviour from an earlier impoverished livelihood.

It is unfortunate that these palm oil smallholders are mainly in South-East Asia, Africa and Latin America. There is no palm oil smallholder in France so nobody there appreciates the pain this new attack can unleash.

Ironically, the pioneer oil palm planter in Malaysia was a French man named Frauconeer. And now France is leading the charge to obliterate palm oil from the EU market especially as biofuel.

I have spoken to a few smallholders about this latest episode. Some are beginning to doubt climate change itself. Is it really happening, they are asking. Is it a ploy by the West to take control of the destiny of the developing world?

Some are now saying that Donald Trump, the controversial President of the United States, may be right in his pronouncements on climate change. He thinks climate change is fake news.

His rejection of the climate change arguments has rattled the scientists and politicians who have been championing for the reduction of carbon emissions. He has taken the US out of the much publicised Paris Agreement. He has vowed to revive the coal industry in his country.

That incidentally may have been the promise that won him the presidential election. Many scientists think he is crazy. They have all the data to provide concrete proof that climate change is real. But then again, the recent major Arctic-like weather that hit the US may have tipped the balance in favour of climate change supporters.

Notwithstanding the above, we have all the evidence to support the fact that palm oil is overwhelmingly an asset to the world. It is undeniably an asset that all of humanity should be proud of.

Take the case of food for the world. Whatever the global profiling over climate change – where there is still no global consensus – food is central to the sustainability of humanity. Nobody would dispute that. Without enough food, the world cannot last very long.

With the global population approaching eight billion, we are already hearing concerns over whether we will have enough food for the world. Food security has for years been a global agenda. All countries treat food sufficiency as a top policy. Add to that the fact that there is now a real concern on whether the world will have the capacity to grow enough food for the world.

There is obviously a limit to the land that we can have. This is made worse by restrictions on opening up new areas because of the climate change factor.

This explains why initiatives to develop technologies to increase crop yields are on the rise globally. Genetic engineering, for example, is one which has demonstrated promise.

In the early days, genetically modified (GMO) crops were vehemently objected to by the panicking environmentalists. This has somehow dissipated after all the GMO trials show no adverse effects on the environment and food safety.

But palm oil is unique. It does not need genetic help to rise above all others in the yield game. By nature, palm oil yield is almost 10 times higher than the other rival edible oils. Therefore, growing oil palm requires less land. Why there are still goons out there who cannot appreciate this is beyond me. Palm oil is definitely an asset to humanity.

PROFESSOR DATUK DR AHMAD IBRAHIM

Fellow Academy of Sciences Malaysia

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2018/01/15/palm-oil-an-asset-to-humanity/#WuctrsaGsMKJsrGS.99