Malaysia plans to give orangutans as gifts to countries that buy its palm oil as part of an “orangutan diplomacy” strategy to ease concerns about the commodity’s environmental impact.
The Southeast Asian country is the world’s second largest producer of palm oil, which is found in more than half of supermarket packaged goods – from pizza and cookies, to lipstick and shampoo. Global demand for palm oil is blamed for deforestation in Malaysia and neighboring Indonesia.
Malaysia’s Minister of Plantations and Commodities, Johari Abdul Ghani, said on social media that the country could not “take a defensive approach to the issue of palm oil”.
He said: “Instead, we need to show the countries of the world that Malaysia is a sustainable oil palm producer and is committed to protecting forests and environmental sustainability.”
Giving orangutans to trading partners such as the EU, China and India will “demonstrate to the global community that Malaysia is committed to biodiversity conservation”, the minister said, comparing the strategy to China’s “panda diplomacy”.
He also called on palm oil companies to partner with NGOs to help conserve and provide technical expertise on wildlife in Malaysia.
Malaysia faces pressure from the EU, which last year approved an import ban on commodities linked to deforestation. Malaysia criticized the law as discriminatory.
The Bornean orangutan, which is endemic to the island of Borneo, is listed as critically endangered by the International Union. Conservation of Nature.
It is estimated that 100 years ago there were probably more than 230,000 orangutans in total, but the Bornean orangutan’s population is thought to be around 104,700, while the Sumatran orangutan, found in the north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, is thought to ‘ a population of around 7,500, according to the conservation group WWF.
Wildlife organizations have called on the Malaysian government to consider other ways to signal its commitment to protecting the species.
The environmental group Justice for Wildlife Malaysia said: “While we understand that orangutan diplomacy is one of many options to address this issue, it is also crucial to explore alternative diplomatic measures to improve relations between the EU and the country.” The idea of orangutan diplomacy would require extensive scientific and legal research, the nonprofit research group said.
“Protecting the forest, which is the natural habitat of orangutans, is the most important step to take. The funds that would be spent on orangutan diplomacy should be directed towards in situ conservation efforts for these primates and the preservation of their forest home.”
The Malaysian Primatology Association‘s scientific adviser, Dr Felicity Oram, welcomed the government’s commitment to supporting coexistence with Malaysian wildlife, but said: “While the ‘panda diplomacy’ model has successfully promoted and funded the conservation of one iconic species, does malaysia have the potential to work together. in our own way to facilitate wildlife conservation through habitat conservation, habitat rehabilitation and coexistence with wildlife where they still survive in the wild, potentially having a much greater impact and setting an example for others elsewhere to implement holistic conservation management on site promote within their natural habitats.”
Beijing has long used panda diplomacy as a form of soft power, usually loaning the animals to foreign zoos, usually at a cost of $1m (£801,250) a year for a pair, with this money going towards conservation become The pandas and their offspring are later returned to China to continue breeding.