The Ulu Muda Forest Reserve in Kedah is home to a huge number and diversity of plants and animals. — Mukhriz Hazim / WWF-Malaysia.
Sometimes, building a project is best achieved by working together. That is how the World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia (WWF-MY) planned the Ulu Muda Forest Complex in Kedah, one that focuses on enhancing forest governance and improving forest management.
The project, which covers roughly 170,000ha, is threatened by activities that affect the river water quality, such as logging, or the forests being converted into plantations. The forest there is home to a huge number and diversity of plants and animals, including a large population of endangered Asian elephants. Many local communities depend on its ecosystem for their livelihoods and as a source of water.
Building up a forest’s sustainability
For 20 years, WWF-MY has worked with local communities and state authorities to preserve the landscape there. It recently extended its partership with Switzerland-headquartered packaging solutions provider SIG in a three-and-a-half year project.
WWF-MY said it collaborated with SIG for the shared commitment both organisations have for sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation. Besides ensuring 100% of its liquid paperboard is obtained from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified sources, SIG is also investing in forest landscape conservation efforts that support its “Forest+” targets.
Lu: A long-term vision for the partnership is important: conservation and restoration doesn’t happen overnight.
The project helps accelerate Kedah state’s preparedness in tackling threats to national food and regional water security, alongside mitigating climate change impacts, by improving the management of both production and protection of forests—this strengthens the biodiversity and resilience of the Ulu Muda landscapes.
SIG Asia Pacific president and general manager Angela Lu said, “We are moving towards a regenerative future to ensure that growth helps people and the planet to thrive.
“To work towards that goal, we set a target to create more thriving forests than it takes to make the products. That’s 650,000 additional hectares of thriving forest (to protect or restore by 2030).”
Clear benefits for all
Lu added that partnering with WWF-MY allows SIG to create positive impacts for at-risk forests and local communities globally. She outlined a few benefits in forming partnerships:
> technical guidance and tools: SIG has been able to tap into WWF-MY’s global network of experts in international policy, supply-chains, local conservation programmes and community engagement
> trust: working with a recognised and trusted NGO leader like WWF-MY requires companies to fulfil rigorous criteria.
> reach and visibility: with WWF-MY’s extensive six-million-member reach in over 100 countries and 30 million followers, SIG is able to telegraph the success of the partnership
> tackling shared challenges: WWF-MY’s Forests Forward programme also convenes partner companies to enable collaboration and innovation on key relevant topics, such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation, certification and more.
Boers: As with most close partnerships, trust and true cooperation don’t develop overnight. NGOs require transparency, open communication and patience.
WWF-MY said partnering with SIG helps it scale up conservation action, while engaging a leading global packaging company in efforts to halt nature loss may inspire other companies to make similar commitment levels.
The project enhances Kedah’s capacity to address food security, forest conservation, and catchment degradation while tackling climate change through a three-pronged approach:
> safeguarding agricultural productivity by piloting restoration of degraded water catchments
> helping maintain catchment integrity, preventing degradation and enhancing climate change resilience
> empowering local communities by engaging them in conservation.
Achieving goals together
SIG Malaysia country manager Nicolas Tan said, “With the support of local partners, the project aims to improve the management of over 170,000ha of forest and pilot the restoration of 25ha of degraded area in the landscape.
“It will support work to ensure the landscape continues to provide vital ecosystem services, ensuring water security, regional growth and contributing to the nation’s food security and resilience in the face of climate change impacts, and empowering local communities to champion conservation.”
SIG group corporate responsibility head Karina Boers explained that the company’s FSC certification meant all wood used in its cartons comes from responsibly managed forests where biodiversity is protected, ecosystems are preserved, and local communities are respected.
Tan: With the support of local partners, the project aims to improve the management of over 170,000ha of forest and pilot the restoration of 25ha of degraded area in the landscape.
For that to happen, WWF-MY works with companies with the greatest influence on reducing the most pressing threats to Earth’s diversity and on finding innovative solutions to key conservation challenges.
It engages in partnerships with companies like SIG that allows it to work with the private sector, in order to help reduce their ecological footprint, encourage industry and market shifts towards sustainable solutions.
Validating trustworthiness
For conservation and restoration projects, WWF-MY expects companies it partners with to engage in transforming their supply chain, in certain industries.
The projects proposed are designed and run according to WWF-MY’s principles for high integrity for conservation, project management standards and environmental and social safeguards.
Companies need to have a sufficient scale and time commitment to have an impact and are able to contribute to national sustainability targets. The chosen geographies need to align as well—while a selected landscape may align with the company, ultimately the projects are in WWF-MY’s priority regions where action is most urgently needed and impact can be maximised.
Boers pointed out that working with highly recognised and trusted NGOs, like WWF-MY, requires SIG to undergo strict due diligence before agreeing to the partnership.
“As with most close partnerships, trust and true cooperation don’t develop overnight. NGOs require transparency, open communication and patience. Having a shared vision and clear goals is also helpful,” she said.
Lu added, “A long-term vision for the partnership is important—conservation and restoration doesn’t happen overnight. SIG has had to be flexible and patient when it comes to finding the right landscape project and results, as some conservation programmes require a lot of building blocks to be in place before the expected results can be demonstrated.”
WWF-MY said it partners with companies under the principle of “together possible”, working to reshape the nature of business to create an equitable, net-zero, nature-positive future for all.
