• 3 months ago
Companies that import palm oil from Malaysia will be able to adopt orangutans but they will not be able to leave the country, Plantation and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said on Aug 18 in a revised version of a conservation and diplomacy scheme announced earlier this year.

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Animals
Transcript
00:00Malaysia said Sunday, companies that buy its palm oil can adopt an orangutan as part of
00:06a scheme to protect the endangered apes.
00:08However, in a key revision of an earlier plan in May, the orangutans will not be allowed
00:13to leave the country.
00:15Plantations and Commodities Minister Johari Abdul Ghani came under fire for that earlier
00:20plan, where he proposed what he called an orangutan diplomacy scheme, sending them overseas.
00:26It came after the EU announced a ban on commodities like palm oil, linked to deforestation, a
00:31law Malaysia called discriminatory.
00:34Abdul Ghani's original idea was to give orangutans as trade gifts, as part of a response
00:39to fears over the forest clearing often used in producing palm oil.
00:44He spoke about the new plan on Sunday.
00:48We have to keep them here, and then we will engage with the countries or buyers of our
00:52palm oil.
00:53If they wish to collaborate in ensuring that the orangutans are protected and preserved
00:57forever, we invite them to come and participate in the conservation of their natural habitat
01:02here in Sabah.
01:05Sabah is one state of East Malaysia, a part of the country located on the island of Borneo
01:10that also includes the state of Sarawak.
01:12Abdul Ghani said the money from companies adopting orangutans will go to non-profits
01:17and Sabah's government to monitor the forests and ensure orangutans' safety.
01:22He also committed to stopping deforestation, ensuring forest cover stays above 50%.
01:29Marc Ancrenas is the scientific director of Hutan, a non-profit with a focus on orangutan
01:34research.
01:35He hopes the funds will help conserve habitats in ways that include corridors between fragmented
01:41forests.
01:42With the new technology, with drones, with satellite imagery, it becomes possible.
01:46So this is the first step of this entire idea.
01:50Once we know where are the forests, the small forest patches and where we have orangutans,
01:55we can start approaching the owner of the patches of forest, explain to them why it's
02:01important to create corridors of forest, where to set them up and so forth.
02:06To do that, we need funding, we need money, we need financial resources.
02:10According to the conservation group WWF, fewer than 105,000 orangutans remain on Borneo,
02:17mostly on the Indonesian side.
02:19However, Abdul Ghani says Sabah currently has around 15,000 of them, while Sarawak has
02:25around 2,000.

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