Green policy ensures palm industry will not affect environment: Malacca CM

MALACCA: The green policy practised by the country and states are effective measures in ensuring that the palm industry will not affect the environment, said Malacca Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Idris Haron.
Citing an example, he said Malacca itself had strict green policy especially to ensure the sustainability of its flora and fauna, besides encouraging the utilisation of technology that is capable of assuring environmental sustainability.
Hence, he said the export restriction against palm oil to the European Union (EU) countries as the industry was linked to deforestation and destroys biodiversity, was not acceptable.
"The green policy that we practise have attracted the attention of non-governmental bodies in Europe, in fact, I am frequently invited to talk about Malacca's green policy in countries in Europe ... So, this is not consistent with EU's stance.
"Why do you ask people from Malacca to speak about green policy if (you) want to discriminate (against palm oil). They don't know that we cleared the forests and plant oil palm which is also green and able to produce oxygen," he told a media conference in conjunction with the organisation of the 11th Malacca River International Festival here today.
Yesterday, Bernama reported that Malaysia and Indonesia viewed the export restriction against palm oil into the EU very seriously, in fact, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said he and Indonesian President Joko Widodo raised the issue during the Asean-EU Summit which was also attended by EU President Donald Tusk.
In April this year, the EU Parliament approved a resolution whereby only environmentally sustainable palm oil can be imported into the EU after 2020.
It called for a single certified sustainable palm oil scheme for Europe-bound palm oil exports to ensure that the oil was produced using environmentally sustainable methods and prevented deforestation.
The resolution said the current certification scheme was flawed and did not meet internationally accepted standards on sustainability. — Bernama