KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today launched the revised National Policy on Biological Diversity, which he hailed as an important guide to the nation’s biodiversity management over the next decade.
Speaking to the participants of the Fourth Plenary of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) here, Najib said the revised policy emphasised the need for continued conservation and the sharing of benefits from biodiversity in a fair and equitable manner.
“It has clear targets and actions and timelines for implementation and calls for active participation by all stakeholders,” Najib said when opening the conference at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here today.
This revised policy, he said, complemented Malaysia’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.
“As you can see, Malaysia tries very hard to forge a balance between socio-economic development and environmental wellbeing, in particular conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services.”
Present were Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, the prime minister’s Science Advisor and IPBES chairman Tan Sri Zakri Abdul Hamid, former prime minister Tun Abdullah Badawi and his wife Tun Jeanne Abdullah, and United Nations Environment Programme deputy executive director Ibrahim Thiaw.
IPBES is a world body that convenes biodiversity science experts and policy makers. Its first ever assessment report, to be launched on Friday, constitutes the most authoritative review of the health and value of pollinators.
One of the primary focuses during the conference was the survival of pollinator species, which include bees, butterflies, beetles, birds and bats, and their significance to food production. The conference found that pollinator populations were under threat by human activities in many parts of the world.
“If indeed pollinators are under threat, we must find a way forward to address those problems and we look to you, the scientific community and the body of your work for the options to ensure that these species survive and thrive,” said Najib during his keynote address.
The prime minister also paid tribute to an insect from Africa, which has helped the country’s palm oil industry save over US$10 billion in its role as an effective pollinator.
“In the early years of our palm oil industry, pollination was done by hand, much of it by women -- a time-consuming and ineffective practice. After years of study, a group of researchers found a highly effective pollinator for oil palm trees in the form of a weevil from Africa.
“This development led to a significant increase in oil palm production. And the total amount of money saved by the Malaysian palm oil industry in the period 1982-2015 through using this insect pollinator instead of human labour is believed to be in the magnitude of some US$10 billion.”
Najib, during the conference, outlined to scientists and policy makers a series of other measures taken by the Malaysian government to protect biodiversity within its own jurisdiction and through regional agreements.
He said Malaysia was embarking on the Central Forest Initiative, which covers an area to create linkages between the four main forest areas covering the central mountain range in Peninsular Malaysia.
Najib said at a regional level, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei were working together under the Heart of Borneo Initiative to conserve approximately 200,000 square kilometres of forest together. About 30 per cent of the protected area, he said, was in Malaysian territory.
“The services that nature provides sustain humanity: food, shelter, clean air and clean water. And yet, recent scientific assessments indicate that at least 60 per cent of natural resources are being degraded globally due to human activity, most particularly those occurring during the last half-century.”