The Kinabatangan River is the last major area in Malaysian Borneo’s Sabah state with a semblance of forest corridor linking the interior rainforest with mangroves on the east coast, according to Marc Ancrenaz, scientific director of Sabah-based NGO Hutan. It’s a hub for biodiversity, with orangutans, proboscis monkeys and pygmy elephants among the threatened species […]
  • Monoculture palm oil production has come at the cost of rainforest habitat, particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia.
  • Researchers are conducting experimental trials in Malaysian Borneo to see if native trees can be planted in oil palm plantations without significantly reducing palm oil yields.
  • While still in the initial stages, the experiment is so far showing there are no detrimental effects to oil palm growth.
  • In fact, interplanting with native forest trees may benefit oil palm, with the researchers finding oil palm trees had more leaf growth in agroforestry plots than in monoculture ones.

Well… it’s a start.

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