Balancing the Need for Sustainable Oil Palm Development and Conservation : The Lower Kinabatangan Floodplains Experience

Since the commencement of large scale planting of oil palm, Malaysia has experienced rapid growth of the industry in terms of planted area and production. In year 2000, the country produced 10.84million tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) from a total planted area of about 3.376 million ha. As the national average production has been projected to exceed 15 million tonnes for the period 2016-2020, continued expansion in planted area can be expected. Since most of the suitable agricultural land have already been utilised, new areas for expansion are likely to be in less ideal environments such as steep terrain, shallow soils and deep peat which would be very challenging within the context of sustainable development. There is concern that oil palm planting could result in the clearing of many remaining lowland forests, many of which are considered important for conservation. A case in point is the Lower Kinabatangan floodplains in Sabah where most of the logged over forest areas have been replaced by oil palm. While oil palm cultivation has brought economic prosperity to the region, it is necessary to balance development with the need to preserve the unique ecosystem of the floodplains, bearing in mind that the State Government has designated 27, 000 ha of the area as a wildlife sanctuary. The range of biodiversity in the Lower Kinabatangan has also attracted the development of a ecotourism industry. As divergent interests and activities of the logging industry, oil palm plantations and ecotourism could threaten the integrity of the wildlife sanctuary, the Sabah Wildlife Dept and WWF Malaysia formed Partners for Wetlands in 1998 to encourage stakeholders to work as partners in solving problems and ensuring wise use of the natural resources in the floodplains. Various activities have been undertaken to address problems such as flooding and human-wildlife conflicts. In the effort to gain greater commitment and participation from stakeholders towards achieving a common vision, a Forum on “Making Land Use Sustainable in the Lower Kinabatangan Floodplains was held in Kota Kinabalu in April, 2001. A structured problem solving was adopted for analysis of the current problems with the view to identify underlying root causes, after which an action plan would be developed and implemented by various stakeholders. Experience in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplains has given an insight on what could happen if economic development from upstream to downstream did not give adequate consideration to the need for conservation and protection of the environment.