Tuesday October 27, 2009
Reconnecting forests
THREE months after Yusuke Saraya was questioned by a Japanese broadcast journalist if his utilisation of palm oil had caused misery to elephants in Sabah, the president of Saraya Co Ltd sent an investigator to the state to find out.
“I didn’t know the situation. So I got someone to verify it,” he said, recalling the incident in August 2004 where he was shown footage of human-elephant conflict in the Kinabatangan region.
A year later, the family business which Saraya inherited from his father joined the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), as it wanted to support the production of ecologically responsible palm oil. At the 2005 RSPO general assembly, Saraya proposed a resolution for a 1km riparian reserve for conservation but it was rejected as members questioned the scientific credibility at a time when the industry was only beginning to deliberate on the criteria of the RSPO certification scheme.
Undeterred, Saraya brought the message of the need for wildlife corridors to his fellow countrymen – the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), palm oil buyers and consumers. JICA facilitated discussions with the Sabah government and as a result, the Borneo Conservation Trust was set up in 2006. A parallel body was set up in Japan to raise funds for purchasing alienated land along river banks for the envisioned corridors.
Saraya’s company, which produces toiletries and detergent, contributes 1% of sales on the latter to Borneo Conservation Trust. The company, on its own, is acquiring land around the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, playing its role in reconnecting fragmented forests.
The company, which ranks fourth in the Japanese household cleaning products sector and holds a 3% market share, will start purchasing certified sustainable palm oil by January for its detergent products.
“Currently, we are using 50 tonnes of palm oil annually and we are aiming for 10 tonnes of certified palm oil for a start,” said Saraya.
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