Malaysia’s tropical forest ecosystems are a vital carbon reserve, removing some 250 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere and supporting incredible biodiversity – but 3.9 million hectares have been cleared for oil palm plantations since 1990.

Although this has helped to meet global demand for products from lipstick to pizza dough and brought greater prosperity to the country, de-forestation has also depleted Malaysia’s forests as carbon sinks and havens for wildlife.

With the right investment and approach to conservation, though, Malaysian forests can make an important contribution towards the Paris Agreement target of limiting the increase in global temperature to 2c above pre-industrial times.

Keynote Speakers:

- YB Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Economic Affairs
- Fraziali Ismail, Assistant Governor, Central Bank of Malaysia
- Karina Litvack, Non-Executive Director, Oil & Gas major Eni S.p.A
- Datin Sunita Rajakumar, Malaysian Chapter of the World Economic Forum’s Climate Governance Initiative

Non-Governmental Organisations Speakers:

- Dr Kalanithi Nesaretnam, Non-Executive Director, FGV Holdings
- Luanne Sieh, Head of Group Sustainability, CIMB
- Dr Glen Reynolds, Director, South East Asia Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP)
- Dr Dzaeman Dzulkifli, Executive Director, Tropical Rainforest Conservation & Research Centre
- Norizan Mohd Mazlan, Head of Conservation Peninsular Malaysia, WWF-Malaysia

Voices from Business:

- Arsalaan Ahmed (Oz), Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Amanah Malaysia
- Michael E. Long, Asia Regional Head of Sustainability, Lendlease
- Cheng Jew Ken, Head, Sunway Group's Sustainability Task Force, Sunway Group
- Rashyid Redza, Head, Group Sustainability, Sime Darby Plantation Berhad

Time:

8:30   New York
13:30 London
20:30 Kuala Lumpur