Recognising the importance of forests for sustaining life on Earth, CIMB Foundation through partnership with Planters aims to protect and restore forests in Kelantan. Playing an active role as a responsible corporate citizen, this initiative is a joint effort in protecting biodiversity in the fight against climate change.
More native trees will be planted and managed to help the ecosystem recover from past clearing, thereby increasing the potential for carbon sequestration. This is in view of how deforestation has defaced the Earth’s greatest landscapes, which led to many natural disasters such as landslides, severe flooding, polluted water sources, as well as displacements of wild animals.
As a premier nature-based carbon sequestration project developer in Malaysia, Planters has been entrusted with spearheading several projects hand-in-hand with the Forestry Department to conserve degraded land within the state. Through large-scale reforestation efforts, Planters is working towards recovering and restoring damaged land and ensuring existing trees and land remain healthy and safe from future threats. The forest is managed by Planters with a clear goal in mind, which is to make it habitable for wildlife. The conservation of trees, restoration of water catchment, and giving wildlife their natural habitat to live is vital for their survival. In addition, Planters also carries out replanting activities of wild fruit-bearing trees, providing wildlife food for their survival and healthy growth.
To improve efficiency and efficacy, Planters has developed innovative technology which will provide a fail-safe method of reforestation that can be used for various locations, beginning in their home base, Malaysia. Planters’ technology includes drones as a mode of surveillance to monitor tree growth and detect wildlife. They will deploy thermal drones to ascertain the animals’ species for ground observation. Additionally, the system will also identify live animals such as tapir, elephants, foxes and serows to name a few, through the latest high- precision thermal imaging technology. This exercise allows Planters to identify the animals’ whereabouts and the areas they roam and explore.
Forest conservation and rehabilitation falls within one of CIMB Foundation’s key focus areas, which is Climate & Environment. This further echoes the Foundation’s on-going efforts to continue creating sustainable long-term positive impacts within the surrounding community, in-line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG).
Through this conservation programme, Planters has been able to provide job opportunities to locals since the pandemic due to the climate crisis that has hit Kelantan which affected their agriculture activities. Given the current situation, the programme is expected to provide more than 1,380 job opportunities to lower income communities or also known as the B40 group, helping them overcome poverty and to attain better quality of life. The jobs include supervisory roles, multifunctional hydraulic arm crawler operators, surveillance drone operators, GeoInt GNSS equipment operators, and tissue culture lab operators.