The Malaysian Palm Oil Certification Council (MPOCC) has introduced a series of blogs to expand its media outreach.

The Chief Executive Office of the MPOCC, Mohammad Hafezh Abdul Rahman explained the rationale behind the blogs.

“We are approaching the goal of certifying 100% of Malaysia’s palm oil production under the national scheme Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO). Getting to this point has been an arduous task with numerous challenges to overcome. With the goal in sight, we thought it might be good to share some of what we went through and why Malaysia is so determined to ensure that every drop of palm oil we produce is certified.”

The series of blogs covers an expansive range of topics from certification as an element for sustainable land use in Malaysia to how the industry should aim higher to provide a sustainable source of palm oil for growing human populations.

Other topics covered the importance of palm oil certifications to meet global biodiversity goals as ambitioned by the United Nations. 

CEO Mohammad Hafezh explained further that the use of blogs would be an effective addition to its media platform.

“Certification is a very dried and technical issue which bores most people to sleep. Yet the dynamics behind certification which includes the protection of human rights and biodiversity is such an important issue especially in these times of climate change.”

The MPOCC published a series of real-life stories on Malaysian palm oil aptly named “Stories From The Field” as an effort to share the trials and tribulations of the palm oil industry and successes from certification.

As a global pioneer in certifying vegetable oil production under a national scheme, the MPOCC felt there was a communication gap that needed to be filled. According to the MPOCC,

“Malaysia has invested heavily into the certification of its palm oil as a mandatory scheme. This fits the strictest of requirements from markets like the European Union or the United States of America which have displayed a less-than-friendly approach to their imports of palm oil.

Based on what we have learnt, their allegations of severe deforestation or human rights abuses have been based on popular media reports. We have refuted these allegations in official responses with hard facts and data but apparently these do not carry the same weight as online content.

The introduction of the blog series is therefore meant to express the thoughts and opinions of the MPOCC which goes into the certification of Malaysian palm oil and beyond.”

To address the problem with the information gap on Malaysian palm oil, the MPOCC hopes that the blogs will address the gap in communications with its blog.