12/08/2011 (The Sun Daily) - WE thank Shariffa for “Treasure our forests” (Letters, July 18) and would like to clarify points raised in the letter.

Oil palm is planted on 4.85 million ha or 14.7% of the total 32.86 million ha of land in Malaysia.Close to 3.20 million ha or about 10% has been developed for urban settlement. A total of 4.85 million ha of land is planted with oil palm, which is part of the 6.77 million ha or 21% of the land that is to be used for agriculture.

About 18 million ha or 54% of Malaysia’s total land is retained under forests, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and nature reserves. Thus, Malaysia has kept its commitment made at the Rio Earth Summit of 1992 to maintain 50% of its land covered with forest.

We thank the writer for her thoughts and concerns but it is not correct to say that oil palm is the cause of deforestation. We want to say categorically that palm oil is not the major cause of deforestation or that endangers our orang utans. Therefore, for every hectare of oil palm planted, the country preserves four hectares of permanent forests.

We would also like to add that Malaysia is the largest sustainable palm oil producer and pioneer of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and CoP Sustainable Certification for palm oil.

Most of the big Malaysian oil palm estates owned by companies such as Sime Darby, IOI Group, Kulim Bhd, KLK Bhd, Felda, United Plantation Bhd, PBB Oil Palms Bhd, J C Chang Group, IJM Plantation Bhd, TDM Plantation Sdn Bhd, Genting Plantation Bhd, Malaysia Kuwaiti Investment Co, and Far East Bhd estates have complied with RSPO and/or MPOB Code of Practices Certification Scheme (CoP) sustainable principles.

These indicate that the majority of Malaysian oil palm companies are sustainable and others are continuously improving towards sustainable management.

Malaysia is also among the countries that have the largest forests compared to some other countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States and France.

According to The Global Forest Resources Report 2010 (FAO 2010), about 62% of Malaysia’s land is still covered with forest. Wise land use planning and judicious use of land has enabled Malaysia to maintain the large percentage of its land covered with forest.

We hope the facts provided clarify the issues raised by Shariffa.

Salmah Ramli
Corporate Communications Unit
Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities