The Malaysian government has formed a special committee to lead the country’s response to the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), the New Straits Times reported.
Aimed at ensuring continued access to the European Union (EU) market and strengthening sustainability compliance across key export sectors, the committee’s main priority would be to secure Malaysia's classification as a low-risk country under the EUDR framework, the 26 June report said.
The EUDR requires companies selling or exporting seven commodities – cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soyabean, cattle, rubber and timber – in the EU to ensure they are deforestation-free and legally sourced.
Under the EUDR’s benchmarking system, countries are classified as low, standard or high risk to minimise the EU’s role in global deforestation, with lighter checks for low-risk countries.
Chaired by Plantation and Commodities minister Johari Abdul Ghani, the committee comprised three key ministries: the Ministry of Plantation and Commodities (MPC); and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES); and Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI).
As part of its work, the committee was examining how countries like Thailand had attained a low-risk classification, a separate New Straits Times report on 28 June said.
“The first step is to review and understand why Malaysia is categorised as standard risk, while countries like Thailand have achieved a low-risk status,” Abdul Ghani was quoted as saying.
“We need to identify the differences and work on improving them. Eventually, we too will attain a low-risk classification.”
To attain low-risk status, Johari said Malaysia must align its forest governance, certification systems and monitoring practices with international standards.
Cooperation from state governments would be crucial, given their role in forest land management, he added.
Asked about when Malaysia might achieve low-risk status, Johari said some areas “may have exceeded deforestation thresholds, so they will need to be reviewed carefully”.
The government effort underscored Malaysia’s commitment to sustainability across key commodities, including palm oil, rubber, timber and cocoa, which collectively generated MYR186bn (US$43.76bn) in export value last year, the report said.
