16/01/2012 (News Straits Times) - The palm oil industry, which generated RM80.4 billion in export earnings last year, is set to propel Malaysia into a high-income nation.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok (centre) receiving
a portrait as a gift from Malaysian Palm Oil Council chairman Datuk Lee Yeow Chor (right)
at the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium recently. With them is Sabah Tourism, Culture
and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun. Pic by Zunnur Al Shafiq

The country is  the second largest palm oil producer and exporter in the world, after Indonesia.

Besides its contribution to the economy, the palm oil sector has also created  jobs, particularly for  locals  in Sabah and Sarawak. It has  brought hundreds of thousands of small producers out of poverty and provided them with a better standard of living.

Despite this, the palm oil industry has received many unfavourable comments and criticisms, especially from the European Union and Australia, on the industry's impact on wildlife.

There were also reports of oil palm planters having to endure false allegations of massive deforestation and lies about orang utan killings from Western non-governmental organisations.

Australia even came up with a Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling -- Palm Oil) Bill 2010, where it does not want palm oil to be listed as vegetable oil.

After years of debate between Malaysia and the EU as well as Australia on the wildlife issue,  Sabah has come up with three five-year State Species Action Plans  for  orang utans, elephants and rhinoceros.

These action plans will provide  for better protection of the three  species.

The plans were announced during the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium (SWCC), which was held here, last week.

The two-day SWCC was jointly organised by Sabah Wildlife Department and Malaysian Palm Oil Council, together with the Borneo Conservation Trust, Danau Girang Field and HUTAN-Kinabatangan Orang Utan Conservation Programme.

HUTAN is a French grassroots NGO, which  develops and implements solutions to conserve  orang utans in Sabah.

Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun had urged Sabahans, particularly oil palm industry players, to work with the state government in protecting wildlife and biodiversity.

He said Sabah had learnt a lot from the discussions during the SWCC and that the state was open to  suggestions that could be  implemented.

"We have been blessed with  mountains, islands and the sea. We would like to keep them intact.

"And we need your assistance,  guidance and feedback.

"If we deserve to be scolded, by all means scold us.

"But while doing that,  tell us what needs to be done," he said during the colloquium.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said  palm oil producers were doing their best to subscribe to international requirements, such as abiding by sustainability practices and certification, including the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and International Sustainability and Carbon Certification.

Last year, Malaysia held a general assembly of the RSPO to ensure that its members, who are palm oil players, commit to deadlines for producing or purchasing certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO).

Speaking at the SWCC, Dompok said there was  ample supply of CSPO.

However, there was an insufficient uptake of it.

According to industry figures, demand for CSPO had peaked to nearly 400,000 tonnes in September, but slumped to just over 100,000 tonnes two months later.

CSPO is an assurance to consumers that the products purchased come from environmentally-friendly and socially-responsible sources and suppliers.