Monkeys to stay home as Malaysia changes orangutan diplomacy

Kuala Lumpur, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 19th Aug, 2024) Malaysia is urging countries that buy its palm oil to adopt orangutans but leave them in their natural habitat, local media reported, tweaking a plan I was originally trying to send a little. out of.

In a scheme modeled on China’s “panda diplomacy,” Malaysia announced in May that it would send the great apes as gifts to palm oil-buying countries, sparking an outcry among conservatives.

Orangutans are critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and have lost habitat to export and agricultural expansion – especially palm oil plantations.

Plantations and Commodities Minister Johari Abdul Ghani said on Sunday that any orangutans that were adopted would remain in Malaysia, the official Bernama news agency and other local media reported.

“All conservation activities will be carried out in forest areas or in forest areas in oil palm plantations with high conservation value,” he said, according to Bernama.

“These … areas provide space for orangutans to move freely, find food, and reproduce without interference from humans or other activities.”

Buyers of Malaysian palm oil from around the world can “sponsor” one or more orangutans, and the funds raised will be used to implement conservation programs for the animals, the minister said, according to the Star newspaper.

The programs include “collaboration with a team of rangers, including experts, to monitor the presence, safety and condition of these wild animals,” he said.

Beijing’s panda diplomacy, to which the scheme has been widely compared, has long served as a source of soft power, with pandas loaned to foreign zoos under strict conditions, including the return of any offspring to join to China’s breeding program.

Palm oil is used in foods such as cakes, chocolate and margarine, as well as in cosmetics, soap and shampoo.

Malaysia and Indonesia together produce most of the global output.