Sabah poised to be world’s 3rd largest palm oil producer

LABUAN: If Sabah were an independent country, it would be the world’s third largest pro­ducer of palm oil.
Such a statement was an indication of how important the role palm oil has played in the state’s growth to date – and what is in store for the future.

According to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), in 2009, Sabah had the largest area under oil palm cultivation than any state, at 1.36 million hectares out of the national total of 4.69 million hectares (ha).
Yields, too, were generally stronger at an average of 4.3 tonnes per ha in 2010 – the highest of any state in the fed­eration.

Eastern Sabah has been identified as being an extremely good location for oil palm, particularly in Tawau, Lahad Datu and Sandakan.

“This area is where most plantations and smallholders are located, with two major downstream projects provid­ing increasingly sophisticated downstream services for the sector,” said Jerel Soo, managing director of Fireworks Event (M) Sdn Bhd, an event management consulting group, specialising in palm oil exhibition.

He said palm oil, being one of the federal government’s NKEA (National Key Economic Area), meant that this sector would receive special attention via incentives and programmes in the years ahead.

“Therefore, we are in the move to help organise the largest Palm Oil Exhibition (Palmex) 2012 to assist in bringing in more business to the local players,” he said.

Soo confirmed a total of 130 booths were taken up, of which more than 80 comprised overseas exhibitors.
The Singaporean government has subsidised over 10 companies to help promote downstream technologies in palm oil industries.

“The NKEA covers everything from growing trees to sophisti­cated downstream industries such as oleochemicals, alongside increasing the number of appli­cations for what was once seen as waste products like empty fruit bunches.

“Expanding the sector further would mean tackling some major challenges, however. Issues such as the scarcity of land in Sabah, challenges in seeking skilled workers, lack of mechanisation and so forth were hampering the growth of this sector, and this need to be given special attention.”

“As far as we are concerned, to combat this, several key initiatives have been put in place under the NKEA via entry point projects,” he said.

“It is noted and was made to understand that the government has an obligatory replanting scheme under way.

Through this scheme, all trees over 25 years of age must be replaced with younger ones.
“The MPOB would provide financial support for smallholders to do this, with the new trees to be of new strains, further boosting yields.

Some RM1 billion has been earmarked for this purpose,” he said.

All in all, Sabah’s oil palm industry is poised for major new developments that are set to impact industry players, from growers to exporters.

Meanwhile, Soo said, downstream processes was another segment under palm oil which was receiving great focus.

“It is learnt, however, the importance of the palm oil industry to Sabah cannot be merely measured by the direct revenue stream it generates as it has much more wide-reaching and important contributions to the state,” he said.

“The palm oil industry will have to take a leading role be­cause of the linkages it has with other sectors – from energy to construction and manufactur­ing – and of course, due to the sheer size of the industry compared with the others in Sabah.” Palm Oil Industry Cluster of Sawit Kinabalu Bhd (POIC) Lahad Datu was also promoting industries that would use the large volume of biomass generated from Sabah’s oil palm plantations.

One particular independent power producer has taken the initiative towards making POIC more environmental friendly by signing up to generate power and steam on site using biomass.

“Investors such as these thus solve two problems for POICs: providing a reliable source of power and making use of the many forms of waste from palm oil processing.” As a result, Sabah’s POICs should therefore be able to look forward to varied investors knocking on their doors in years to come, in addition to adding value to the palm oil industry in their own backyards. — Bernama

Source: http://www.sabahtoday.com/?p=8909

Photo source: http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/seventh-generation-buys-sustainable-palm-kernel-oil-credits-for-its-entire-product-line.html

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Palm oil threatens Borneo's rarest cats

Oil palm expansion is threatening Borneo's rarest wild cats, reports a new study based on three years of fieldwork and more than 17,000 camera trap nights. Studying cats in five locations—each with different environments—in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, researchers found that four of five cat species are threatened by habitat loss due to palm oil plantations.

"No other place has a higher percentage of threatened wild cats!" Jim Sanderson, an expert on the world's small cats, told Mongabay.com. Pointing out that 80 percent of Borneo's cats face extinction, Sanderson said that "not one of these wild cats poses a direct threat to humans."

The groundbreaking study, undertaken by Jo Ross and Andrew Hearn with the UK's Global Canopy Program's Bornean Wild Cat and Clouded Leopard Project, has uncovered some of the first data on Borneo's wild cats. The five cats species in Borneo include the Sunda clouded leopard, the bay cat, the marbled cat, the leopard cat, and the flat-headed cat (camera trap photos below).

A flat-headed cat in captivity. Very little is known about this species, though it is heavily adapted to catching freshwater species and likely spends a lot of time hunting in water. Photo by: Jim Sanderson.

"Sabah’s five species of wild cat are a special conservation treasure, and this study has made a tremendous contribution to knowledge about them," Director of the WildCRU Professor David Macdonald said. Having worked with wild cats around the world, MacDonald is chairing a workshop in Sabah with various stakeholders to discuss conservation measures to protect the island's embattled cats.

Ross and Hearn discovered that Borneo's cats were present in both primary forests and recently logged over forest, yet only one of the five cat species—the leopard cat—utilizes palm oil plantations. For the other four species, palm oil plantations appear to be off-limits, even for migration purposes. In addition, Ross and Hearn found no evidence of the flat-headed cat utilizing or migrating in palm oil plantations, despite claims that the cats survive there. The researchers say that their findings should give special emphasis to keeping remaining forests—even those recently logged—free from further palm oil expansion.

The researchers also succeeded in estimating population densities for the Sunda clouded leopard using camera traps, as well as radio collaring and tracking an individual clouded leopard. The Sunda clouded leopard, which is endemic to Borneo and Sumatra, has only recently been declared a distinct species from the mainland clouded leopard.

Ross and Hearn have also taken the first photographs of the elusive bay cat in Sabah, and have recorded the world's only video of the cat.

Three of Borneo's five cats are classified as Endangered by the IUCN: the Sunda clouded leopard, the bay cat, and the flat-headed cat.

"Wild cat (and wildlife) endangerment is due to a wide variety of threats including: unmitigated massive habitat loss caused by palm oil plantations, unregulated destructive logging practices including widespread small-scale illegal logging, unchecked poaching even in conservation areas and wildlife reserves, destruction of fresh water rivers and streams from logging, dumping of debris from oil palm plantations, bottom dredging for gold, and pollution caused by the use of streams as sewers, and the widespread use of nets for fishing," Sanderson explains.

Except for the leopard cat, Borneo's cats all occur in low densities. The study found that to have a viable population of 250 Sunda clouded leopards requires an area of 3,000-8,600 square kilometers (1,158-3,088 square miles). There are very places in Sabah with this much forest left.

"These wild cats, and especially the Sunda clouded leopard are important emblems of Borneo’s forests, and it is vital to conserve them as umbrella species which provide protection to forest wildlife in general," Macdonald said.

The marbled cat is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List. The leopard cat is the only one not considered threatened and is classified as Least Concern.

The workshop entitled "First Steps Towards Conserving Bornean Wild Cats" is hosted by the Sabah Wildlife Department in collaboration with Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Global Canopy Program's Bornean Wild Cat and Clouded Leopard Project. The project is largely funded by the UK government's Darwin Initiative.  

Sunda clouded leopard caught in a camera trap. In Borneo the Sunda clouded leopard is the largest cat species, but in Sumatra it competes with the Sumatran tiger. Copyright: Global Canopy Programme. Photo by: Jo Ross and Andrew Hearn.  

The leopard cat in Borneo is considered a unique subspecies. Copyright: Global Canopy Programme. Photo by: Jo Ross and Andrew Hearn.  

Researchers suspect there are less than 2,500 mature bay cats left in the wild. The species is endemic to Borneo and rampant deforestation is the main threat. Copyright: Global Canopy Programme. Photo by: Jo Ross and Andrew Hearn.  

The marbled cat: this species has never been fully studied. Very little is known of its ecology. Copyright: Global Canopy Programme. Photo by: Jo Ross and Andrew Hearn.

Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1104-hance_borneo_cats.html#ixzz1vZow7rkB

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How Eco-tourism Can Help Save Endangered Wildlife in Sabah, Borneo

Sabah, land of 'eco treasures'

Sabah, part of the Malaysian Federation of states and of the island of Borneo, attracts thousands of tourists every year. Marketed as a land of 'eco treasures', it is a place where tropical rainforest and rare species of plant and animals survive. Largely commercially unexploited until the nineteenth century, Sabah (and Borneo in general) still contains primary rainforest and, consequently, a wealth of amazing scenery and wildlife. Sustaining natural treasures while promoting economic growth is a tricky balancing act in any part of the world and Borneo is no different. Eco or conservation tourism seeks to generate income while protecting the region's most endangered species.

Forest destruction and oil palm plantation

Borneo's rich natural resources have been exploited for decades and a boom in the timber industry in the 1950s apparently created millionaires. Forest clearance has been followed in many areas by a monoculture of oil palm plantations and the past decade or so has seen the rise of another generation of millionaires who got rich by wreaking havoc on the landscape.

How much more of this destruction can Borneo take? As development and infringements on the rainforest continue the future for some wildlife looks bleak. Clearance has put inexorable pressure on forest dependent species, in particular large primates, the native Bornean orang utan. Another, smaller, primate in trouble as a result of forest clearance is the proboscis monkey, a species found only in Borneo. The fates of these animals are intertwined as habitat destruction is having huge negative impacts on both populations. Conserving the shrinking rainforest is the key to their survival.

What is the hope for the future?

Aside from preventative measures that provide protection for the forest and their inhabitants, such as the designation of national parks, perhaps the greatest hope for the conservation of the orang utan and the proboscis monkey in Borneo is the ability to generate jobs and income from the attempts to save them. This is where revenue from tourism can play a part. Two tourist destinations in particular illustrate the hope for the future; the Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary and the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, both near the city of Sandakan in eastern Sabah.

Saving a part of the mangrove forest for the proboscis monkey

The proboscis monkey sanctuary at Labuk Bay is c. 40 km from Sandakan. It is set within a huge oil palm plantation. The owners of the land became fascinated by the proboscis monkey during development of their plantation and, in 1994, decided to set aside an area of mangrove swamp as a sanctuary. The monkeys are fed twice daily and these sessions are open to tourists. It's a charming place and a truly wonderful experience to watch these monkeys interact and to hear the guides' stories about the social organisation of all the monkey groups in the sanctuary. It is also possible to stay at the centre and to go on organised wildlife watching trips. The fact that the centre can earn revenue from tourists offsets the loss of income that the owners of the plantation had to absorb when they decided not to convert all their land to oil palm cultivation. And it is not just tourists and local people who benefit, research monitoring the behaviour of the monkeys is always ongoing at the sanctuary.

A safe haven in the forest for orang utan

The Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre is a more established stop on the tourist trail. Just outside Sandakan, this centre was set up in 1964 to help return orphaned orang utan to the wild. Twice a day rangers distribute food to waiting orang utan who need a little bit of extra help getting their meals from the forest. The feeding time is targeted at animals that are not yet fully rehabilitated; visitors to the feeding station are often young, and still learning to fend for themselves, or mothers with babies. The feeding time is a good opportunity to view animals that are making the transition from being human dependent to wild animals. The food is kept deliberately monotonous to encourage the orang utan to forage for themselves. Over 100 animals have been rehabilitated at the centre to date. Some of the apes have been so successfully rehabilitated that they have been relocated to protected areas elsewhere in Sabah, in a bid to manage population size in the forest at Sepilok and to contribute to population growth in areas where there is room for more apes. A visit to the rehabilitation centre is an excellent way to fund the rehabilitation centre's valuable work, which focuses on saving wildlife, education and research into the orang utan, and conservation. It's also one of the best ways to guarantee a sighting of an orang utan; they are shy, elusive animals in the wild, whereas at the rehabilitation centre there are usually at least two apes at the feeding station every day.

These stories demonstrates how tourism creates hope for the future of these primates, and for the ecosystem of Borneo in general. If tourism can generate enough income and, hopefully, wealth, for its people, we can dream that there will be no need to ravage the landscape in the future, or that development can co-exist in balance with habitat conservation.

Source: http://voices.yahoo.com/how-ecotourism-help-save-endangered-3337162.html?cat=16

Photo source: http://thatwildbunch.com/animals/fmai/proboscis-monkey-aka-old-tongue-nose.php

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Sabah: Greening the power supply

Sabah: Greening the power supply

Asia | 28 Feb 2011

In a dramatic move on February 17, the state government halted bidding for a new 300-MW coal-fired power station in Lahad Datu, citing environmental concerns. Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman told local press that, “Sabah needs to increase power supply to meet the increasing development, but the state cannot afford to put its natural environment at risk.” He noted that protecting Sabah’s environment was crucial for the growing tourism sector, particularly given the state’s efforts to promote nature tourism.

The proposal to replace the old Lahad Datu facility with another coal plant was widely criticised both locally and internationally due to environmental concerns over the power source. Furthermore, the new plant was to be located on the shoreline, adjacent to the exceptionally biodiverse Coral Triangle and only 20 km from the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, home to several rare species of animals. However, with coal ruled out for future projects, natural gas expected to become an increasingly important part of Sabah’s energy mix. The state is working to boost power capacity, while also enhancing sustainability and environmental protection under Malaysia’s New Economic Model (NEM). With electricity demand expected to grow by an annual average of 7.7% until 2020, and supply shortages currently leading to occasional blackouts, the need for substantial investments in energy is clear and initiatives to increase supply are under way at the state and federal levels.

On February 21, national press reported that the state-owned energy giant Petronas and Tenaga Nasional, Asia’s largest electricity utility firm – also publicly owned – were working together to harness liquefied natural gas (LNG) for a replacement power project, potentially to be located near the city of Sandakan. Musa explained that utilising LNG would help tackle the state’s electricity problems and reduce the cost to Tenaga Nasional of subsidising diesel for power generation on the east coast, which he said was running to RM2m ($627,000) per day.

The state government’s proposal is to use LNG from a plant in Bintulu in the neighbouring Malaysian state of Sarawak, to Sabah’s south-west. The plan stems from a directive from Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose government is putting an increasing emphasis on sustainability and environmental protection, as well as boosting the country’s energy capacity, particularly in Sabah.

While located in Sarawak, the Bintulu LNG plant sources its natural gas from fields off the coast of Sabah. The gas is transported through a 500-km, RM1.6bn ($524.82m) pipeline stretching from a terminal in Kimanis on Sabah’s west coast, where it is brought to land. Musa has suggested that the processed LNG could be shipped back to Sabah by sea to the proposed plant and that this would obviate the need for expensive new pipeline infrastructure.

Whatever decision is taken – and given the cost of new infrastructure and the incumbent federal and state governments’ preferences, shipping LNG from Bintulu seems to be the most likely option – the new plant will add much-needed capacity to the power grid in Sabah. With the government promoting the growth of manufacturing and tourism in the state, and with domestic demand on the rise, it is not expected to be the last such project.

Outside of local considerations, the decision to opt for a greener energy sources seems set to pay dividends abroad as well. Daniel Kammen, an energy expert at the University of California, Berkeley, who directed an energy and environmental impact assessment of the power plant project, described the decision to shift away from coal as “a turning point” and said that it would increase Malaysia’s opportunities to forge international partnerships at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of the Parties, set to be held in Durban, South Africa, in December.

Sabah is diversifying its energy mix further, with a strong focus on renewable sources, which account for around 3% of the generation for Sabah Electricity, compared to 0.5% nationally. In January, Musa said that the state aimed to become a renewable energy leader through investment in a number of projects. A RM280m ($91.84m) biomass plant is already under construction at the Lahad Datu palm oil industrial cluster. The project, developed by the state government-owned Palm Oil Industrial Cluster Sabah and a South Korean consortium, will run on oil palm waste. This is expected to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as serve as a model for further clean energy development in Sabah and South-east Asia, according to Musa.

In its efforts to meet rising energy demands, Sabah is demonstrating flexibility and the ability to think creatively to address local problems with local resources. This may give it an extra edge as it seeks the investment needed to expand capacity.

Source: http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/economic_updates/sabah-greening-power-supply

Green Sabah says: Sabah does need to increase power supply and yet not affect the environment. The biomass plant from the palm oil waste will be good to recycle the waste created during the palm oil processing cycle for power generation. Hopefully it goes well.

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Musa Aman: Biogas Project Gives Positive Image for Oil Palm Industry

Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman is confident that the biogas project being explored by the plantation sector in the state, can create a positive image for the oil palm industry.

He said it would be seen as an environment friendly industry which gave serious consideration to the protection of the environment.

He said the technology for biogas production from oil palm waste was not just environment friendly but also helped in the electricity generation for the plants and in the process, reduce the dependency on fossil fuel which is a source of air pollution.

“Previously, the disposal of waste from oil palm and the oil palm mills, posed a lot of problems for us. Now, it has become a source of electricity,” he added.

Musa said this in his speech while officiating the opening of the Biogas Plant at the Sawit Apas Balung mill owned by Kumpulan Sawit Kinabalu here yesterday.

The biogas plant project is the first for Kumpulan Sawit Kinabalu, a state government agency, and in line with its aim to create sustainable wealth while taking into consideration the protection of the environment in economic operations.

Musa, who is also the Finance Minister, said the state government was committed to development without sidelining environmental protection.

“We hope this commitment will receive strong support from oil palm plantation companies in Sabah,” he added.

He also hoped that more companies would explore the production of environmental friendly energy and at the same time, contribute to the renewable energy sector in the state.

“We need to be more creative and innovative to continue the quest for new ways to drive the search for energy from sources which were previously considered useless,” he added. — Bernama

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/03/02/biogas-project-gives-positive-image-for-oil-palm-industry-says-musa/#ixzz1pWaTcl1t

 

Green Sabah says: Biogas plants significantly lower the greenhouse effects on the earth's atmosphere. The plants lower methane emissions by entrapping the harmful gas and using it as fuel. Besides that, biogas by itself can positively affect the economy of rural areas.

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Borneo Elephant Wildlife Sanctuary begin operation in mid 2012

The Borneo Elephant Wildlife Sanctuary in Kinabatangan will begin operation by the middle of this year.

Sabah Wildlife Director, Dr. Laurentius Ambu, said 2,000 hectares of land have been allocated to provide shelter and rehabilitate rescued Borneo pygmy elephants.

“We do not intend to house all the (rescued) elephants there. We will keep the animals there for treatment and then we will release them back into the wild,” he told reporters after the opening of the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium 2012 here yesterday.

The colloquium was opened by Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

Ambu said for a start, 20 elephants would be given shelter for treatment and rehabilitation once the sanctuary is operational.

He said there are 60 to 100 elephants of the pygmy species to be located and rescued using satellite tracking. The pygmy elephant is a smaller kind of the elephant species. They are considered endangered and about 2,000 remain in Sabah.

The sanctuary will be operated by the Sabah Wildlife Department and the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, and consists of a rescue facility and a research and education division.

Meanwhile, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Masidi Manjun has urged people in the state, particularly players in the oil palm industry, to help the government in protecting wildlife and the biodiversity.

He said, lately, the natural habitats of wildlife such as elephants, rhinos and orang utans have become increasingly threatened and smaller in size.

“This is due to the growth of human population that requires more space and food. Widespread activity of clearing forests for various development purposes have also contributed to decreasing wildlife habitat.

“In order to solve this problem, the Wildlife Department with the support of the Malaysia Palm Oil Council and Borneo Conservation Trust as well as non-government organisations like the Hutan-Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Programme and the Danau Girang Field Centre have organised the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium,” he said.

By the year 2025, the population in Sabah is expected to grow up to 30 per cent to reach 4.2 million.

“I do not want to think that at the same time, we will face a drop of 30 per cent in wildlife population,” said Masidi.

The two-day Colloquium attracted delegates from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, United Kingdom, United States and Australia.

Meanwhile, Dompok has urged the Malaysian oil palm industry to collaborate with the state government in implementing the Species Action Plan, particularly for the conservation and rehabilitation of Sabah’s three iconic species – the orang utan, the Borneo pygmy elephant and the Sumatran rhinoceros.

“I am optimistic that, with the cooperation of all the parties, the oil palm industry can co-exist in a sustainable manner with the environment, particularly in Sabah,” he said.

Source: http://newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/55179 

Green Sabah says: Hope that the Oil Palm industry within the state will give cooperation to the State government to help conserve and rehabilitate the Orang Utan, Pygmy Elephants and Sumatran Rhinos to prevent them from going extinct. It is possible to transform our local industry to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly. 

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Anglers support call to rein in defiant palm oil mills

The Sabah Anglers Association (SAA) said it seconds Sabah Environmental Protection Association's (Sepa) support for Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun to rein in defiant palm oil mills for tough discipline.

"Masidi himself has said that river pollution in Sabah has gone out of hand, so let's hope it won't be just rhetoric safeguarding State resources and environment but that we'll walk the talk," said SAA President, Datuk Wilfred Lingham, a former Permanent Secretary of Masidi's Ministry.

"The Sabah Anglers Association supports whatever activities the Ministry undertakes in this direction," Lingham said. "It is time to tell the oil palm industry to get their priorities right and scope of concern widened and the first priority is protection and conservation of the State's natural capital which is our under-pinning structure for adding value in all other developmental pursuits," Lingham said. "Their singular priority at the moment is making money but I do know there are friends and managers in the industry who are sensitive and very intelligent about the environmental imperative. We hope they will help drive a persuasive charge forward before radical action of jailing bosses comes to past," he said.

Lingham said he agreed with Sepa President Wong Tack that State agencies like the Environmental Protection Department under the Ministry needs support and fine-tuning to deal with a matter that has gone out of hand.
"It has been noted that 80 per cent of river water quality pollution comes from palm oil mills and plantations," he said.

"I have ventured to the Segama River and saw fish, prawns, catfish floating in the river. I asked villagers what happened and they pointed to ' kelapa sawit banyak kotor' (very dirty palm oil)," he said."What I mean local villagers depend so much on rivers for fish and prawns for both self consumption and sale for their livelihood," Lingham said."I have tried to fish in Segama where the fish we caught was very small, the big ones have gone, either because of over-fishing or because the pollutants have destroyed their habitats as well as their food chain," he argued.

"Not only that, crocodiles are now taking human and the reason is simple - they have no more fish to eat and so they go for domestic animals and human," said Lingham, citing a case when he was once forced to order the trapping of a large and very aggressive killer estuarine crocodile near Lahad Datu because it had eaten a child and many domestic dogs when he was still the Permanent Secretary.

Source: http://kepkas.sabah.gov.my/index.php/archived-news-2011/37938-anglers-support-call-to-rein-in-defiant-palm-oil-mills

Green Sabah says: The river pollution issue must be resolved and it would require the cooperation from all walks of life. Not only does the government need to take responsibility, each and everyone of us actually plays an important role in ensuring the cleanliness of our rivers. Local industries needs to ensure that their operation does not bring negative impacts to the environment.

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