Former US Undersecretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs under President Clinton wrote a rather succint and incisive commentary on the passage of the Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labeling - Palm Oil) Bill. Says Dr Shapiro: "A POTENTIAL new impediment to the continued economic growth of Malaysia has arisen recently in Australia, a major trade partner. New legislation has been proposed there that would single out palm oil for special food labelling, alone among all of the various types of vegetable oils."
"Moreover, this special labelling would be imposed in the context of a current public relations campaign in Australia charging that consumption of Malaysian palm oil by Australians endangers the global environment and the preservation of the orang utan. This effort is badly misinformed and dangerous to the Malaysian economy," he continues.
The danger is obvious. Malaysia is the world's second largest producer and exporter of palm oil.
Dr Shapiro pointed out that the palm oil industry in Malaysia contributed 7.5 per cent of the gross domestic product, nearly as large a share as Australia's entire manufacturing sector, and directly employed nearly 600,000 workers.
It is indispujtable that palm oil producers have not only embraced global markets, they also have introduced advanced technologies and business methods and help equip thousands of workers with new skills.
Dr Shapiro further observed: "The Australian proposal also misconstrues several important environmental issues. The principal cause of deforestation in Malaysia and elsewhere is not palm oil development, but poverty and subsistence farming which force desperate people to consume forests for fuel."
Pointing out that Malaysia's current programme for palm oil development has confronted this problem head on, with measures that have enabled thousands of landless farmers to establish their own farms to cultivate oil palm, cocoa and rubber. Moreover, the average income of palm oil industry workers is now four times the national poverty level.
He further noted that "these successes in improving the standards of living of landless farmers and other palm oil industry workers have been publicly recognised by the United Nations and the World Bank."
"Analysts also note that the focus of deforestation critics on the Malaysian palm oil industry is misplaced. The contraction of forests in Malaysia, as in other developing nations with large tracts of wooded area, is associated with broad, national modernisation efforts to expand production and economic activity, not with any single commodity. Moreover, Malaysia's development strategy includes numerous limits on deforestation that go well beyond those of most other developing nations," writes Dr Shapiro.
He acknowledges that the associated plight of the orang utan in Malaysia is also a serious matter. Notes Dr. Shapiro: "Most of the state governments of the areas in which endangered orang utans now reside agree: They have set aside half or more of all land as permanent forests and created wildlife sanctuaries and national forests as habitats for the orang utans."
The latter point appears lost on advocates like the Melbourne Zoo who appear hell bent on reigning in palm oil cultivation, raising the specter of self interest in the "Don't Palm Us Off" Campaign. It is interesting to note that the campaign has succeeded in attracting donations from the likes of corporations like Orange Power in Australia which recently announced a donation of A$150,000 for Zoos Australia to help fund the zoo's "Don't Palm Us Off" campaign.
There irresistible conclusion is that the zoo’s Conservation Director, Rachel Lowry in launching the campaign called “Don’t Palm Us Off” and calling for the mandatory labeling of palm oil on the dubious grounds that the orangutan numbers have been impacted by palm oil cultivation is either funded by the Green Lobby or is angling for funds.
Incongruous as it may seem for a zoo to be campaigning for animal rights, this ultimate exploiter of captive animals huffed and puffed in the quest for the ultimate conscience pacifier – the greenback, which despite recent tribulations with Standard and Poor’s credit downgrade is still useful for the maintenance of a discredited zoo!
Melbourne Zoo Watch enjoins with Dr Shapiro in asking "Why, then, would advocates for the orang utan target an industry and a country working so hard towards the same goal?"
The zoo does no credit to itself in proclaiming their support for the conservation of the orangutan. As at time of writing, we observe that the zoo has made no attempt to avail itself of a US$7 million Wildlife Conservation matching grant launched by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC). Its easy to launch anti-palm oil campaigns it would appear but not quite as convenient when the zoo has to put its money where its mouth is as in putting up an equivalent amount for the MPOC matching grant! Suddenly, the plight of the orangutans do not appear to be quite as exigent when the Melbourne Zoo has to put up its own funds to qualify for the matching grant!
Dr Shapiro goes on to point out thaty the Australian proposal also represents an abuse of legitimate food labelling. Such labelling of ingredients is an important tool to ensure that consumers have the information they need to make informed choices. However, the proposed measure does not involve the health and safety of palm oil products, which are widely recognised. Instead, it would promote a narrow and informed political critique of an industry in another country that is struggling to modernise itself, a country undertaking major efforts for a developing nation to make its palm oil production a form of fully-sustainable agriculture, and so protect its forests and the orang utan.
"The good news is that the Australian government opposes the legislation. The minister for foreign affairs and trade, Craig Emerson, has stated that the legislation would violate both the rules of the World Trade Organisation and existing trade agreements with Malaysia, Indonesia and Asean member nations. Emerson also estimates that the legislation would cost Australian consumers and businesses A$150 million (RM480 million) annually. The costs to the palm oil workers of Malaysia and the overall Malaysian economy would be even greater," he observed.
"In this era of globalisation, each nation's economic fate is shaped not only by its own policies and resources, but also by the policies of other nations."
"Malaysia has made considerable strides in modernising its economy, led in many areas by the palm oil industry. To be sure, further progress will require much greater commitments to education and infrastructure, and serious reforms of certain areas of regulation and the national bureaucracy. That progress must not be sidetracked by the uninformed and misguided efforts of a small clique of Australian activists," Dr Shapiro concludes. Melbourne Zoo Watch concurs.THE END
Dr Robert Shapiro is an internationally-known economist and the chairman of Sonecon, an economic advisory firm in Washington. He was the US under-secretary of commerce for economic affairs under president Bill Clinton |
