Malaysia’ officials wage a war of words over the country’s rainforests.
Will politics save them?
Environmentalists have fought a
dogged battle with Malaysian politicians and big business interests in recent
years. Results, however, have been mixed, as much of the country’s rainforests
have been lost to the planting of palm oil and rubber plantations. With an
election due, campaigners hope to put the environment, and the damage it has
endured, back on the political agenda.
This intention to revive debate
about environmental issues was made clear by Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim at
a recent rally in Kuala Lumpur. The rally was attended by tens of thousands of
supporters who were calling for an end to government corruption and a serious
effort to clean up the country’s environment.
The large turnout was a wake-up
call for Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has upset plantation owners by urging
them to halt the planting of oil palms on peat lands, pending studies on carbon
emissions. Wetlands International and Greenpeace claim that these practices
result in large greenhouse emissions after the water involved drains from the
soil.
Meanwhile, Anwar is also
targeting a rare earths processing plant being built by Australia’s Lynas
mining group in the Peninsular Malaysian state of Pahang. This project has
faced fierce opposition from locals and has emerged as a lightning rod for
environmentalists who are facing-off against big business.
But logging, legal or otherwise,
and the habitat destruction it causes; alongside the close ties between politicians
and plantation owners, are at the core of Malaysian politics. If left
unaddressed, these issues could form the basis of many electoral gripes and
translate into lost votes at the polls in June.
Claims of corruption
Last September, environmental
politics came to a head when illegal logging almost caused a diplomatic
incident. Britain’s Prince William was urged to abandon an official visit to
Borneo by campaigners who have accused Malaysian leaders and their business
partners of earning millions of dollars from illegal logging in the Malaysian
states of Sabah and Sarawak.
The timing of the planned royal
visit was unfortunate. A month earlier, Musa Aman, Chief Minister of Sabah and
a man with extensive ties to Najib, was named as a key figure in an
investigation by Swiss authorities into allegations that UBS Bank was involved
in laundering U.S. $90 million made via illegal logging in Sabah.
The Basel-based Bruno Manser
Fund, which campaigns for tropical rainforests and the rights of indigenous
people, has helped to build international credibility for local environmental
groups. The Fund has accused Musa of having ties to illegal logging. In
response, Musa dismissed the charges as political conspiracy.
Opposition leader Anwar expressed
concern that Malaysian authorities used the royal tour to drum-up publicity “at
a time that these revelations are coming out.” In light of the Swiss Attorney
General’s criminal investigation, he suggested that it was incumbent upon the
Malaysian authorities to investigate Musa’s involvement.
To date, the Malaysian government
has done nothing to assist in the investigation.
Alongside its investigation into
the practice of illegal logging, the Bruno Manser Fund has also drawn attention
to Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud from the neighboring state of Sarawak.
Another staunch supporter of Prime Minister Najib, Taib’s family has an
estimated net worth of U.S. $21 billion.
Companies linked to Taib’s clan
have been tied to the construction of the massive Bakun Dam – a project that
has been called a “monument to corruption” by Transparency International. Under
Taib’s watch, there are plans to build up to 12 dams by 2020. If completed,
they would displace thousands of native residents.
Switzerland has said that it will
push for a freeze on the Taib family’s Swiss-held assets, and have declared his
family a criminal organization.
“Monkeys or Gold”
Rainforests are often referred to
as the lungs of the Earth, given their role in filtering greenhouse gases from
the atmosphere. As scientific research has shown, with less forest cover more
carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere, heating Earth’s atmosphere in turn.
Alongside its wealth of green,
East Malaysia’s rainforests are also home to a staggering range of rare birds
and animals, including orangutans, clouded leopards, pygmy elephants, sun bears
and the nearly extinct Javan rhinoceros.
Yet despite this wealth of
biodiversity, politicians, businessmen and local tribes – particularly in
Borneo – eagerly cut swathes of Malaysia's primary forests in the 1970s and
1980s. At the time, they justified the mass clearing as part of the nation’s
quest to become a developed country by 2020.
Despite this, Borneo's rainforest
remains one of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. On Peninsular Malaysia,
however, there is little left of the forests and wildlife that once dominated
the land.
A former federal minister for
mines and primary industries once angered environmentalists when he asked:
“What do you want: monkeys or gold?” The loaded question appeared to sum up the
prevailing attitude of Malaysia’s political establishment.
Today, the decrease in primary
forest cover has become increasingly evident in Sabah, where scientists believe
a spike in annual average temperatures has led to a change in local weather
patterns. This includes increased storm activity and erratic seasonal changes.
According to a recent paper
presented by Glen Reynolds of the South East Asia Rainforest Research Program
(SEARRP), run by the Royal Society in the UK, there was a sharp decline in
lowland forest between 1990 and 2010. Over the same period, palm oil
plantations increased almost five-fold, and now cover about one-fifth of Sabah.
Palm oil can be found in one out
of ten products on supermarket shelves, from biscuits and salad dressing to
lipstick and soap. Analysts have estimated that exports of palm oil add U.S.
$20 billion to Malaysia’s bottom line and indirectly support about two million
jobs across the broader economy.
But that windfall must be stacked
against the disappearance of forested areas, which coupled with an increased
demand for prized wood is leading to higher timber prices. This, in turn, is
fueling a scramble for lumber.
The spike in demand has had a
particular impact on the market for more sought-after types of wood, such as
damarminyak, used to make bar tops, and ramin, favored for wood paneling. To
meet demand, these rare timbers are now harvested with scant regard to law,
creating a vicious cycle.
Greenwashing Malaysia
Countering the claims that
surround rain forest destruction, Malaysian officials insist that Sabah enjoys
6,000 square kilometers of fully protected forest. They also claim that
deforestation rates are acceptably low and emphasize the state’s intentions to
keep natural forest cover around 50 percent.
Officials also claim that
greenhouse gas emissions are not a major issue in Malaysia. They have even gone
as far as using homespun mathematics and imaginative science to make the case
that Malaysia is a “net carbon sink country” with 80 percent tree cover.
These claims have led to charges
of “greenwashing” – a term used to describe efforts to paint an overly optimistic
environmental picture.
To reinforce their message, the
Malaysian government and business interests are keen to convince themselves and
the wider world that mono-culture plantations should be classified as “forests”
when scientists and environmentalists classify the country’s habitat.
Some hope that Malaysia will be
able to raise capital by registering its plantations in carbon emission schemes
under the UN’s Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
program (REDD).
This plan was not lost on Anwar
when he addressed the crowds at the recent rally in the nation’s capital.
Addressing this issue, he argued that Malaysians have suffered from government
mismanagement for long enough, and pledged to bring this to an end.
“Under our rule we will not
permit stealing from the people or corruption,” Anwar said at the rally. “If we
can control it, the people’s lives can change and the welfare and livelihood of
Malaysians nationwide, from Perlis to Sabah, up to Putrajaya, will be improved.”
A coherent and honest
environmental policy alone is unlikely to get Anwar elected. But a combination
of strong political opposition, international legal action, and local activism
has at least put those who control the forests on notice.
Luke Hunt
Business & Investment Opportunities
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