Sabah
Malaysia's largest palm oil producer (4.27M tonnes, 22.1% of national output) pursuing full RSPO certification by 2030.
Sabah sits atop two immense biological inheritances: tropical rainforest covering 65% of its territory, and oil palm plantations that made it Malaysia's largest crude palm oil producer (4.27 million tonnes in 2024, 22.1% of national output). These competing land uses define the state's economic and ecological tensions.
The palm oil industry represents Malaysia's agricultural transformation—converting biodiverse forest into monoculture commodity production. Between 2002 and 2017, land clearing for plantations reduced Sabah's orangutan population by 30%. The state hosts critically endangered species including pygmy elephants and proboscis monkeys. Conservation pressure intensifies as global markets increasingly demand certified sustainable products.
Sabah's response is jurisdictional certification. The JASPO initiative (Jurisdictional Approach for Sustainable Palm Oil) aims to achieve full RSPO certification across all oil palm operations by 2030—the first Malaysian state to attempt this transformation. Under the 2025 Malaysia-US trade deal (ART 2025), certified sustainable palm oil enjoys improved market access.
Beyond agriculture, Sabah pushes for greater resource autonomy. Constitutional revenue rights over oil and gas resources remain contested with the federal government. The Sabah Development Corridor targeted RM63.2 billion state GDP by 2025 through RM105 billion in investment. The biological pattern is resource extraction under sustainability constraints—attempting to maintain commodity flows while preserving the ecological capital that global markets increasingly value.