The Malaysian palm oil industry has been broadly accused of contributing to the dramatic decline in orangutan populations in Sabah, a state in northern Borneo, over the past 30 years. The industry has staunchly denied these charges and responded with marketing campaigns claiming the opposite: that oil palm plantations can support and nourish the great red apes. The issue came to a head last October at the Orangutan Colloquium held in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. There, confronted by orangutan biologists, the palm oil industry pledged to support restoring forest corridors along rivers in order to help facilitate movement of orangutans between remaining forest reserves across seas of oil palm plantations. Attending NGOs agreed that they would need to work with industry to find a balance that would allow the ongoing survival of orangutans in the wild. Nevertheless, the conference was marked by much of the same rhetoric that has characterized most of these meetings – chief palm oil industry officials again made dubious claims about the environmental stewardship of the industry. However, this time, there was at least acknowledgment that palm oil needs to play an active role in conservation.

“The industry wants to be part of the efforts that not only show concern for the environment, but in fact actually take an active part in its conservation, ” chairman of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), Dato’ Lee Yeow Chor, told the conference.

While several environmentalists expressed doubt of the industry’s commitment to rainforest conservation, Dr. Marc Ancrenaz, the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Hutan, the NGO that helped organize the event, was encouraged that the two sides are at least talking. As a follow up to the meeting, and some of the spin that followed, Ancrenaz answered some questions on palm oil in Sabah and the Kinabatangan river basin, where Hutan focuses its efforts.

Q: Do you agree with claims by organisations such as World Growth that the oil palm
industry is not directly responsible for the decline of orang-utan?
Dr. Ancrenaz: These claims are untrue, irresponsible and are misleading. Genetic studies in Sabah show that orang-utan population have declined by 50 to 90% over the past few decades. This severe decline is due to several causes such as hunting and pet trade, but the foremost reason is forest losses when the forest is cut down and converted to agriculture. In Borneo and Sumatra where wild orang-utans live, forest is primarily converted to palm oil and industrial tree plantations. Forest conversion results in an
extreme loss of biodiversity and the destruction of species like the orang-utans. There is no doubt about this.
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The European Commission and some EU member states hope to redefine palm oil plantations as “forests,” according to a leaked document from the EU executive.

Rules governing the use of biofuels were supposed to be designed to sort out the sustainable versions of the technology from their dirtier cousins following a massive backlash against it in 2008. At the time, an avalanche of reports revealed that many forms of the fuel source both increase greenhouse gas emissions and put pressure on food prices.

The production of palm oil was one of the most egregious examples of the problem.

In the wake of the biofuels boom, there has been a rush to chop down rainforests to make way for palm oil plantations. The UN says that the growth in such plantations is now the main cause of rainforest destruction in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Worse still are the land grabs and human rights abuses resulting from the lucrative business. In Indonesia, as EUobserver reported two years ago, when native communities complain about the loss of their lands, private security firms and police that collude with the oil companies crack down violently on protesters.

But in a manoeuvre that has shocked environmental campaigners, a draft commission communication offering guidance to EU member states on the use of biofuels has classified palm oil plantations – the source of one of the most destructive forms of biofuels – as “forests.”

Essentially, the document argues that because palm oil plantations are tall enough and shady enough, they count as forests.
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The Orangutan Conservancy (OC) wishes to extend its heartfelt sympathy to the friends and family of Lucy Wisdom, the founder of the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS), who passed away on Dec. 19 following a lengthy illness.

Wisdom was 53.

Wisdom first became involved with orangutan conservation in 1994, and established the SOS two years later. Although Sumatran orangutans account for just one-seventh of the total wild population, Wisdom once said her work became increasingly important when it was confirmed in 2000 that Sumatran orangutans and Bornean orangutans are two separate sub-species.

“Once the Sumatran orangutans are lost they are lost forever,” she told The Jakarta Post in 2009.

SOS has established the Sumatra Orangutan Society Lucy Wisdom Fund, which will help fund a scholarship for an Indonesian post-graduate to study orangutans, purchase land in Sumatra as a wildlife sanctuary, and other conservation measures. Those wishing to contribute should send donations to:

Lucy Wisdom Fund
Sumatran Orangutan Society UK,
The Old Music Hall,106-108 Cowley Road,
Oxford OX4 1JE
United Kingdom

(If you are a British tax payer then please write your name and address ( first line + postcode only) on the back of the cheque, and indicate that you are a UK taxpayer and wish this donation to qualify under “the Gift Aid scheme”. This means your donation will have an extra 25% added to it by the Gift Aid scheme fund.)

Those wishing to contribute by bank transfer should direct funds to:

Sumatran Orangutan Society
Cooperative Bank
Sort Code: 089299
Account number: 65163432
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