Stories from the field

The world needs “a major breakthrough” to slow the pace of climate change and build resilience to protect the most vulnerable from increasingly severe and frequent climate impacts, the deputy UN chief told a crucial high-level meeting on Wednesday, looking ahead to November’s COP26.

Early March, Greenpeace released a report on deforestation that came with a scorecard measuring different certification schemes against their own analysis and judgement.

Sarawak state at 12.4 million hectares is one of the biggest states in Malaysia. The state government has allocated 3 million hectares for agriculture which includes a plan to increase its oil palm areas to 2 million hectares with the rest being allocated to different agricultural products. Support for the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) scheme has been exceptional with all stakeholders including the state government, industry and small holders pledging to obtain certification under the scheme.

Human-elephant conflicts have been widely reported in Sabah this year. An estimated two thousand Pygmy elephants roam the landscape in Sabah and have been known to wander into areas with human activities which is when human-elephants conflicts arise.

Of all the things we took away from a lengthy meeting with Sawit Kinabalu, one statement stood out.

“Waste into wealth.” This was repeated several times by the Group Managing Director, En Masri Pudin. What he meant was that the company looks at every little detail in their operations, including operational wastes and tries to convert that into profits!

Kampung Tok Muda in Kapar district, Selangor has retained much of the original charm and culture of the original people who settled down here after the Second World War. The original settlers were each given four acres of land upon which they built simple houses and survived off their farm produce. Tall slender coconut trees that swayed gracefully in strong winds served as reminders of what the early farmers grew.

There is undoubtedly an urgency to move quickly towards reduced emissions if we are to reduce the catastrophic consequences of climate change. Renewable energy is clearly needed in the transition from dirty energy to clean energy but as this report from Stanford University shows, it will take an enormous effort and strong commitments from industrialized countries to break away from the cheap but toxic convenience of fossil fuels.

The Dayaks represent one of the most interesting group of small holders in Malaysia. They are one of the most visible indigenous groups that contribute to the supply of Malaysian palm oil. Data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board which regulates all smallholders in Malaysia show that there are some 28,000 indigenous families in Sarawak that are active palm oil farmers.

Ugak Sanggau is on a mission to bring regenerative agriculture to Sarawak. His efforts are producing doubled benefits in saving the local environment and enriching local farmers at the same time.