Malaysian palm oil - green gold or green wash?

Focusing on Sarawak, this paper confronts the misleading claims of the Malaysian palmoil lobby and aims to inform decision makers about the serious sustainability challenges the palm oil sector faces on the ground. Key areas of contention highlighted include that:

the Malaysian palm oil lobby claims that zero-burning is strictly enforced by Malaysia’s laws. The authors argue that this claim is false. Sarawak has in place its own environmental laws, which allow plantation companies to practice open burning to clear land for planting, even on peat soils
the Malaysian palm oil lobby states that “forests are not converted for oil palm expansion in Malaysia”. This claim is also seen as false. The report asserts that there is an overwhelming body of evidence that oil palm plantations are being expanded at the expense of tropical forests
the Malaysian palm oil lobby also claims that the Penan indigenous communities in Sarawak were given large tracts of virgin forests to sustain their nomadic way of life - which is also regarded a false claim. The “Biosphere Reserves” promised to the Penan have no legal basis and have never materialised.

To address the serious sustainability challenges of the oil palm sector in Malaysia, the paper recommends that:

the EU and Member States should limit additional demand for palm oil products by: halting the use of edible oils for energy purposes; abandoning the 10% EU target for bio-fuels and all incentives for the use of palm oil for energy purposes; promoting and supporting efforts to improve transparency; and establishing business systems that apply best practices in dealing with sustainability challenges in the sector
the Sarawak state government and the Malaysian Federal Government should recognise the full nature and stature of Native Customary Rights (NCR) of its indigenous peoples as accorded by the law, establish a system of joint-boundary demarcation with native communities to demarcate native territorial boundaries and claims, and strictly enforce a zero burning policy for commercial plantation development
the Malaysian oil palm industry, and its customers and investors should acknowledge the sustainability challenges in the sector and ensure that all the parties involved are committed to addressing them.