The primates will be able to remain in their natural habitat. On Monday, August 19, Malaysia called on the countries to which it had once promised to offer orangutans to renounce these gifts, and finally let these animals go free. Last May, Kuala Lumpur announced that it would offer these great apes, threatened with extinction, to the powers that buy its palm oil, notably the European Union and India.
The world’s second largest producer of palm oil, Malaysia thus weighed this very lucrative activity for its economy against the protection of primates. Its “orangutan diplomacy” had caused an outcry among environmental defenders, despite the Malaysian Minister of Raw Materials’ appeal to the entire sector: he invited them to collaborate with biodiversity protection associations to preserve the species’ habitat. Palm oil is notably used in processed food products as well as in cosmetics.
Beyond this announcement, the Malaysian Minister of Raw Materials, quoted by several Malaysian media, also reports that plots of forest “with high conservation value” will now be preserved on oil palm plantations. “These areas allow orangutans to move freely, find food and reproduce without interference from humans or other activities,” he said.
