Palm Oil and the Green groups' faulty navigational system by palmoiltruthfoundation

Have you ever wondered how an airplane pilot knows how to get from point A to point B whilst flying through the vast expanse of empty skies?

Most likely, he uses VOR, short for VHF Omnidirectional Radio Range, a navigational system invented in the early fifties. It still guides many aircraft to their destinations today. The pilot sets the course of the aircraft on his dial. If the aircraft drifts from that set course, the instrument will show the pilot that the plane has deviated, so he can take corrective action to align the aircraft to the set course again.

Green groups like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are so badly off course with their anti-palm oil campaigns, that unless they take corrective action their misguided actions will result in unintended consequences.

Close to 40% of palm oil production in Indonesia and Malaysia are produced by smallholders, the latter the product of a land distribution and successful poverty eradication scheme launched in rural Malaysia in the 60s called FELDA schemes.

More than 3 million workers in Indonesia and more than a million in Malaysia depend on the palm oil for jobs and their livelihood.

Says Malaysian Nature Society president Tan Sri Dr Salleh Mohd Nor: "Public trust and integrity are the essence of any NGO should we want to stay true to our purpose and remain relevant in today's context."

"In the last decade, we've seen an increasing presence of foreign green NGOs in Southeast Asia.

"The objective of these foreign green and animal rights NGOs in setting up affiliates here is questionable," he told the New Straits Times in an interview.

"In fact, we don't agree with Greenpeace, FOE, Wetlands, Sawit Watch and WWF's biased approach, specifically their anti-palm oil lobby Dr. Salleh said.

Examples include Amsterdam-based Friends of the Earth (FOE) giving financial support to Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Swiss-headquartered WWF funding anti-palm oil lobbyist Wetlands, which in turn contributes to Global Environment Centre, a non-profit organisation set up in Malaysia to support the protection of the environment and the sustainable use of natural resources.

There is also the UK-based Oxfam International giving money to Indonesian NGO Sawit Watch that purports to "highlight the negative social and environmental impacts of oil palm".

"We're a green NGO but we do not lobby against select industries or seek representation at negotiating tables to set up trade barriers disguised as environmentally-friendly me-asures."

Admitting that he did question the agenda of the environmental NGOs, Dr. Salleh clarified a week later that his statement had been largely taken out of context when he issued the statement.

The newspaper had since published denials from Wetlands International and Global Environment Centre that they were fronts for the anti-palm oil campaigns.

In response to this public spat among the anti-palm oil NGOs in Malaysia, UK-based Progressive Vision Director and Green Monitor Campaign Founder Shane Frith released the following statement:
"Green Monitor condemns Western activists for ignoring the warning at Copenhagen that any effort to impose environmental regulations which obstruct efforts to reduce poverty will fail.

Instead of listening to the developing world, bickering has begun among various NGOs such as Wetlands International, World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), and Global Environment Centre - feverishly denying receiving financing from one other and funding anti-palm oil campaigns in Malaysia.

"Headlines over this 'green' he-said-she-said continue to overshadow the reality that palm oil - the commodity at the center of this funding dispute - is vital for alleviating poverty in the developing world and is an effective tool for managing greenhouse gas emissions. Green Monitor's research has shown that the palm oil industry employs over 5 million people in Southeast Asia, and anti-palm oil efforts by the European Union and these NGOs will deny palm oil workers the opportunities to secure wealth and increase living standards. Amidst this media drama and NGO in-fighting, it's the poor in the developing world who have fallen victim.

"Activist NGOs - specifically Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and WWF - have intensified anti-palm oil activity singling out this important industry for inaccurate claims that palm oil contributes to deforestation and have urged companies to cease palm oil use in products. These NGOs would be more productive if they end such campaigns and work together to foster greater economic growth in the developing world. It is hypocritical of these western NGOs to be lecturing nations such as Malaysia.

"Green Monitor's report in September last year, dramatically demonstrated the consequences of these organisations' past errors. Previous campaigns in the developing world have led to the deaths and impoverishment of many. Governments - in both the developed and developing world - would be best to ignore the advice of these zealots."

In the final analysis, the green NGOs owe a responsibility to their fund donors and supporters to ensure that their agenda be strictly non-partisan.

The Palm Oil Truth Foundation takes the view that fear mongering and smear campaigns are neither warranted nor a constructive platform from which to deal with the putative problem of reconciling a legitimate economic activity for a developing country versus out and out conservation. All parties - environmentalists and the palm oil industry should work together to find solutions that are fair to all. THE END.

About the Author

Palm Oil Truth Foundation is an international non-governmental and not-for-profit organisation, without strings to the world of commerce and power. We are a people organisation, organised for the people and founded upon the principles of integrity and responsibility as a global citizen with the sole purpose of representing TRUTH to the global community about health, environmental and economic benefits of palm oil.