Demonstrate harmonised sustainable economic development, forest conservation, decent work opportunities, and resilient livelihoods for communities through collective action.
The Southern Central Forest Spine (SCFS) is one of the most important palm oil sourcing regions in Malaysia, playing a crucial role in the industry. However, since the 1980s, significant land conversion to palm oil plantations has resulted in a fragmented forest ecosystem. Despite these challenges, the remaining forest complexes in SCFS serve as vital wildlife corridors for endangered animals, highlighting the region's ecological importance.
Unfortunately, the continued expansion of palm oil plantations puts further pressure on these last remaining forests in Peninsular Malaysia, often leading to conflicts between palm-growing farmers and displaced wildlife. Additionally, social issues such as forced and bonded labour are still present in the palm-growing region of SCFS. The SCFS stands out as a key player in Malaysia's palm oil industry while simultaneously showcasing the pressing need for sustainable practices to preserve both its ecological and social integrity.
Integrates economic growth with forest conservation, improving livelihoods for farmers and well-being of workers.
Drives traceability and NDPE action planning with palm oil actors.
Multistakeholder initiatives across thematic work to engage government, supply chain actors, and local communities to achieve scalable, sustainable and replicable landscape management.
The project is systematically monitored and evaluated on a quarterly and an annual basis, using Earthworm’s Global Impact Framework Tool (GIFT ).
A total of 47 mills has NDPE time bound action plans, 30 mills are 100% traceable to plantations while 67 mills are making progress towards achieving 100% TTP.
8,433 ha covered by human-elephant coexistence program through various stakeholder engagement, capacity buildings and patrolling.
A total of 625 smallholders outreached through income diversification, series of seminars and capacity building program; 1 village mapping, covering estimation of 2000 ha of land and is undergoing land application process.
Through the Ethical Recruitment Due Diligence (ERDD) and Operational Grievance Mechanism work, Earthworm has reached over 2000 workers in mills and plantations providing improved working environment.
Promote human-wildlife coexistence
Achieve supply chain transparency
Multistakholder dialogue: improving traceability within national systems
Improve workers' wellbeing
Collaborate with palm oil refineries and key producers to support the improvement of labour practices in supplier companies within the landscape to safeguard workers’ well-being.
SCFS Landscape Coordinator
Manager - Smallholder and Community Transformation
Project Lead - Smallholder and Community Transformation
Project Lead – Social and Human Rights
Project Lead - Social and Human Rights
Project Lead – Smallholder and Community Transformation
Beyond our on-the-ground field teams, our technical specialists in Malaysia play a pivotal role in supporting and advancing the landscape initiatives.
Southern CFS is one of the key ecosystems where Earthworm Foundation works through its landscapes approach.
Click on the icons to learn more about Earthworm's work on the commodity: