MPOGCF: Leading Palm Oil Green Conservation in Malaysia

MPOGCF remains steadfast in its commitment to championing biodiversity conservation and environmental sustainability within Malaysia’s palm oil sector. These initiatives are in line with the broader national aspiration to position palm oil as a carbon-neutral industry.

Key programmes under the foundation include the Forest Rehabilitation of Orangutan Habitat, Malayan Tiger Conservation, and Borneo Elephant Sanctuary Project. MPOGCF also actively partners with local universities to support research on biodiversity management within plantation landscapes. Its leadership in these critical areas plays an instrumental role in safeguarding the long-term viability and global competitiveness of Malaysia’s palm oil industry.”

Dato’ Yusran Shah bin Mohd Yusof
Chairman MPOGCF

RESEARCH AND STUDY

• As an endangered and wide-ranging species of elephants in Sabah, reliable population estimates are critical for guiding conservation strategies, managing habitat, and reducing human-elephant conflict.
• This project aims to improve and update the population size estimation of Bornean elephants in Sabah, producing scientifically sound data to support a long-term management plan for Sabah in the Bornean Elephant Action Plan 2020-2029.

• The Barn Owl for Oil Palm Smallholders Initiative (BOSI) is a collaborative effort between MPOGCF and Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Barn Owl and Rodent Research Group (BORG) to promote natural, eco-friendly rodent control using barn owls in oil palm smallholders.
• By installing nest boxes to attract barn owls, the initiative offers an effective alternative to toxic rodenticides, which harm the environment and wildlife.

REFORESTATION

• Restoring of degraded forest in Lower Kawag, part of Ulu Segama-Malua Forest Reserve in Lahad Datu to be planted with fast-growing indigenous forest tree species and native fruit trees for the orangutans habitat.
• Engaging the nearby local communities which also offers them an opportunity for an additional income stream and at the same time helps preserve the forest landscape.

• The Peat Rehabilitation Project aims to create a model to restore unproductive ex-oil palm peatlands into functioning peat ecosystems.
• Essential ecological services and strengthen landscape connectivity particularly with the adjacent Labang Forest Reserve with our collaboration partners Sarawak Tropical Peat Research Institute (STROPI), UPM Sarawak, and Forest Department Sarawak.
• The project takes a holistic approach involving peat soil investigation, tree planting programme across 50 hectares, water and fire management, biodiversity assessments, stakeholder engagement and carbon removal initiative.

SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES

• This research aims to conduct a biodiversity inventory for groups of wildlife such as mammals, birds, and herpetofauna.
• Collaborative effort between the Malaysian Palm Oil Green Conservation Foundation (MPOGCF) and UKM involves sampling in oil palm plantations owned by FGVPM.
• The selected study areas represent three different landscape types which are plantations adjacent to forests, forest fragments/patches within plantations High Conservation Value areas and plantations without any forest located across four states Pahang, Terengganu, Johor, and Kelantan.
• The output of this research is crucial in designing sustainable and wildlife-friendly plantations and to provide guidelines for wildlife-friendly plantation models to be adopted in other plantations.

• The Achieving Coexistence with Elephants in Sungai Ara, Johor project supports smallholders in managing human-elephant conflict through training, physical barriers, and simple technology like the Early Warning System (EWS).
• The project empowers smallholders to lead patrols, respond to elephant alerts, and take part in workshops and decision-making through the Human-Elephant Coexistence Committee promoting safer and more sustainable coexistence in oil palm areas.

• The project was initiated by MPOGCF to address issues regarding compliance of oil palm plantations with regards to biodiversity and conservation.
• The main thrust of the whole project was to provide a simple but impactful guideline that would help stakeholders to deal with issues of human-wildlife conflicts specifically in oil palm plantation.
• UPM’s role in this project is to provide an academically sound science based orientation in the whole veri?cation and write up processes, collation of data and composition of the final publication.

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

• The conflict between humans and elephants stems from the diminishing and fragmented habitats caused by land-use activities, including agriculture and settlement.
• Aims to assess the feasibility of establishing an elephant corridor in Jeli District.

• The Malayan Tiger Conservation Programme is a five-year collaboration between MPOGCF and PERHILITAN focused on increasing tiger numbers through ex-situ conservation.
• The programme combines natural breeding efforts, guided by hormone profiling and genetic assessments with Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) such as artificial insemination and cryopreservation to overcome breeding challenges.

• Establishing a dedicated Bornean elephant clinic, new enclosure facilities and an elephant raceway inside the Bornean Elephant Sanctuary at Kinabatangan.

• The Tabin Sun Bear Project (TSBP) is a long-term, field-based initiative focused on researching, rehabilitating, and reintroducing wild and rescued sun bears in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve (TWR) and nearby oil palm plantations.
• This project is part of BSBCC’s broader wildlife conservation efforts in these areas. BSBCC plans to build a Sun Bear Rehabilitation and Research Field Station at the TWR Headquarters to serve as a permanent base for the project.

• This preliminary study seeks to understand the communities residing in palm oil plantations, focusing on their knowledge, attitudes, emotions, and behaviors toward the Malayan Tapir and related issues.
• It will explore their experiences with Human-Malayan Tapir con?ict situations, their perceptions of the ecological and economic value of the Malayan Tapir and their willingness to participate in conservation initiatives.

Source: The Edge Malaysia