10 May 2022. Work Better Innovations will attend the first joint workshop organised by academics and practitioners from Malaysia, the U.K., and Thailand to reflect on current issues and challenges facing the palm oil sector. The event will be held, on 12 May, both online and at the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn in centre London.

The workshop marks the first network between academics and industry experts in Malaysia, the United Kingdom and beyond on the palm oil sector. In the future, the Institute of Malaysian International Studies will serve as the knowledge hub and mediator to continue the transformation of the sector through a high-level forum, experts’ dialogue, exchange of scientific research and policy advocacy. Additional output from the workshop will be a prospective joint publication plan based on the discussions from the London workshop.

Work Better Innovations Executive Director Dr Bonny Ling will serve as a discussant for the first panel at this international workshop focusing on the palm oil sector. This first session will examine existing sustainability efforts and challenges in the palm oil sector, focusing on sustainable development, particularly the issues of deforestation and the loss of biodiversity.

Focus will be placed on labour rights violations, including reports of child and forced labour. In the past two years, two large palm oil conglomerates in Malaysia were issued with Withhold Release Orders (WRO) by US customs authorities for reports of forced labour on the remote palm oil plantations.

Organisers:

• The Institute of Malaysian International Studies (IKMAS)
• Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
• Malaysian Palm Oil Board MPOB-UKM Endowment Chair
• University of Portsmouth
• International Institute for Trade and Development (ITD, Thailand)

Event link for registration and information, here.