Orang-utans (far left and below, left) at Sepilok in the rainforest of Malaysian Borneo; jars (top, left) containing seedlings under experimentation in the Sime Darby R&D centre at Carey Island; a palm tree (left); a worker at the plantation


a ten-year initiative, funded by Sime Darby, to assess the real impact of the rapid spread of palm oil plantations – and whether setting- aside natural forests within plantations can help to save threatened species such as the Orang-utan, Pygmy Elephant and Clouded Leopard. Around 20,000 hectares of Borneo will fall under the microscope – including pristine tropical rainforest, logged forest, a palm oil plantation and a palm oil plantation site that has retained fragments of natural for- est – in what is the largest project of its kind in the world.


Decades of logging and the establishment of new plantations have left a fragmented landscape of isolated patches of natural forest. SAFE wants to find out whether these isolated patches are able to support and sustain high levels of biodiversity – and if so, the research might be used as evidence to protect the any remaining fragments of natural rainforest and offer guidance to palm oil companies about how to minimise environmental devastation when setting up new facilities.


“The battle for primary forest is over,” says Reynolds. “What is left is under protection. But most biodiversity exists in patches within plantations – and that’s where the focus needs to be.”


Of course, the cuddly image of the Orang- utan or leopard gets the environmentalist’s heart skipping a beat. But the reality is, says Reynolds, that the world could afford to lose a mammal without much impact on the wider


biodiversity. Losing the less charismatic ter- mites or insects would be catastrophic. “We won’t focus so much on the Big Nine [ani- mals],” he says. “We’ll


be that provide


services, like ants that are incredibly sensitive to change.” It is an expensive CSR programme for Sime Darby, costing around £6.1M over the ten- year period – and it will be years before we start see the fruits of SAFE’s labours. But the work has started and could be an incredibly important source of information and data in the fight to save our natural environment.


T


he flight back to Kuala Lumpur offers time for reflection. It is a sprawling industry, of which I have seen merely a snippet. For every Sime Darby, there are thousands of smallholders that are far from adopting green principles – not necessarily because they are not interested but because they will never be reached, it is expensive and it is not a priority right now. The firm’s Smallholder Acceleration and REDD Plan (SHARP) is designed to provide smallholders with technical assistance, high-grade seeds and materials to improve yields – and the grand plan is to eventually bring them all up to RSPO standards.


Initiatives like the RSPO will also continue to drive improvement along the supply chain. And once consumers follow the handful of


retailers and manufacturers in demanding certified palm oil, change will come. But it will take time.


focusing on insects important ecosystem


Over dinner on my final night in the city, the former deputy Prime Minister and cur- rent company chairman, Tun Musa Hitam, is keen to offer some insight into the historical consequences of Malaysia’s bid for economic growth. Thirsty to express themselves after breaking free from the shackles of British control, the Malaysians made mistakes no dif- ferent from those which the West hadR been making since industrialisation more than one hundred years ago, he tells me. Deforestation has enabled economic growth and social mobility, first with the export of rubber and now with palm oil. But it has come at a price. The palm oil sector is waking up. It appreci- ates the need to up its game, more for repu- tational gains and economic competitiveness than true environmentalism. The appetite for Western ideals goes unabated, mirrored in no better way than the hundreds of shiny shop- ping malls that line the streets of downtown Kuala Lumpur.


But the opportunities provided by corpo- rate sustainability are also slowly coming into focus in this part of the world too. And for the palm oil sector, it is a case of better late than never.


Tom Idle was in Malaysia as part of a week-long press trip organised and funded by Sime Darby.


Sustainable Business | Sustainable Palm Oil | June 2011 | 5


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