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Making palm oil sustainable for people and wildlife

Deforestation for palm oil plantations has endangered the Borneo elephant. Our teams at WWF-Malaysia are helping to create ecological corridors to allow species to move more freely.

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© Chris J Ratcliffe / WWF-UK
Borneo elephant in the jungle
© Chris J Ratcliffe / WWF-UK

Borneo elephants, the smallest elephant species

A Borneo elephant emerges from the forest in Sabah. With an estimated population of just 2,040 Borneo elephants left in the central, eastern and southern ranges of Sabah, the main threat facing this endangered species is habitat loss. The conversion of forest into agriculture plantations has left smaller pockets of forest in between, isolating wildlife from larger forest blocks. 

© Chris J Ratcliffe / WWF-UK

Deforested land on an oil palm plantation

Home to the oldest jungles in the world, Malaysia and Indonesia produce over 85% of the world's oil palm. However, the cultivation and production of palm oil has the potential to cause serious environmental issues such as deforestation, water pollution, air pollution, land degradation, and human wildlife conflict. 

© Chris J Ratcliffe / WWF-UK

Oil palm plantations sit in front of natural jungle

Young and mature oil palms sit in front of natural jungle in the state of Sabah, Borneo. Here, the government has now committed to certifying all of its palm oil to RSPO standards by 2025, no further deforestation for oil palm expansion, and has pledged to increase protected area coverage to 30% of Sabah's land by 2025.

© Chris J Ratcliffe / WWF-UK

Palm oil and people

There are more than 3 million smallholder farmers who depend on producing palm oil for their livelihood, making it an important crop for the GDP of emerging economies. The growing demand for palm oil stems from it being extremely versatile and able to extend product shelf-life, without altering the look or smell of food products. 

© Chris J Ratcliffe / WWF-UK

An oil palm fruit and the kernel inside

Palm oil is an incredibly efficient crop, producing more oil per land area than any other equivalent vegetable oil crop. To get the same amount of alternative oils, such as soybean or coconut oil, would require between 4 and 10 times more land, which would shift the environmental problems to other parts of the world. 

© Chris J Ratcliffe / WWF-UK

Borneo elephants walk through an oil palm plantation

Borneo elephants walk through an oil palm plantation and eat trunks of 'chipped' old palm trees in Sabah Softwoods Berhad in the state of Sabah, Borneo. When fully grown, Borneo elephants will eat up to 150kgs of vegetation per day, feeding mostly on oil palms, grasses and wild bananas.

© Chris J Ratcliffe / WWF-UK

Wildlife corridors for elephants

After facing significant issues with human-elephant conflict, Sabah Softwoods Berhad began to work with WWF-Malaysia and neighbouring plantations to find effective, sustainable solutions.Transboundary, ecological corridors within agricultural landscapes are vital to the survival of Borneo elephants, and allows humans and nature to live harmoniously together. 

© Chris J Ratcliffe / WWF-UK

Establishing new wildlife corridors

With support from WWF-Malaysia, Sabah Softwoods Berhad is working on establishing a wildlife corridor of 1,067 hectares, linking the Ulu Segama and Ulu Kalumpang Forest Reserves, of which 500 hectares have so far been replanted with native trees and fruit trees. Elephants travel a great distance daily and depend on forest connectivity, such as natural wildlife corridors, to enable them to access larger foraging grounds. 

Our work

In the Malaysian state of Sabah, the government has committed to certifying all of its palm oil to RSPO standards by 2025, no further deforestation for oil palm expansion and  has pledged to increase protected area coverage to 30% of its land by 2025. 

Recognising the importance of a sustainable palm oil industry on a global scale, WWF is supporting palm oil growers to transition towards sustainable production and create wildlife corridors that allow wildlife to move more freely, reduce crop damage and ensure humans and species can thrive together.

We need your help to fund projects like this as well as our other projects worldwide. Become a member today so we can help end deforestation and protect our species.

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