Palm Oil; Basiron (COPD): Segolene Royal Minister is Wrong

(AGENPARL) – Milan, June 19 – The Council for the Malaysian Palm Oil (COPD) responds to the false accusations against the palm oil made by the French Environment Minister Segolene Royal. The CEO of COPD, Yusof Basiron said: “The Royal Minister is absolutely out of the way and sends a misleading message to the French people and the European Union. The Malaysian palm oil industry therefore calls on the French Government to confirm that the comments of the Minister of Royal do not reflect the official policy of the French government with regard to palm oil. Malaysia is the largest producer of palm oil certified sustainable, a condition which in itself shows that the country is not accessing any deforestation, contrary to what the Minister Royal and his friends green of the far left “.

“Malaysia is proud to retain 62% of the land under forest cover – a commitment to the environment without equal, recognized by the UN and the World Bank. France has, however, only a forest cover of 29% of the national area. Also – it pointed Basiron – 23% percent of our forests is reserved to the protection and conservation and 70% of the total forest area is made up of permanent forest, or an area that can not under any circumstances be used for agriculture or human development. Overall, the Malaysia boasts 205,000 km square of forest – an area which corresponds to more than double Portugal “.

“The Malaysian palm oil, produced by more than 200,000 small farmers, food is a sustainable and high quality. It is housed in an oil seed that allows for more efficient land use in the world in terms of the ratio of oil produced and cultivated land. In the coming months France will host in Paris the latest round of UN climate negotiations. It is crucial – continues Basiron – that before the meeting on climate change to the French Government, and in particular the Royal Minister, they are informed about environmental data base related to the palm. ”

“Malaysia is the second largest world producer of palm oil, and is a major exporter of this food in Europe. The Council for the Malaysian Palm Oil (COPD) represents the interests of the producers of palm oil and small farmers in Malaysia. 40% of all plantations of palm oil in Malaysia belongs or is managed by small farmers, for which these crops are a great way to get out of poverty in rural communities. Palm oil – stresses – was an important factor in Malaysia to reduce poverty, which in the sixties was about 50% of the population to less than 5% today. Today the palm oil industry is one of the largest employers in the country, with more than 570,000 people employed directly and 290,000 other industries. 
According to leading analysts of Europe Economics, palm oil contributes substantially economy of France: 4,600 jobs are, in fact, related to the import of this product, accounting for 170 million euro tax revenues and for over 320 million euro to the French national GDP. “