Wild Asia believes that an understanding of the social and environmental issues is fundamental to developing new models for plantation development. We work directly with the producers of natural resource commodities (such as rubber and palm oil), assisting them in understanding and implementing the principles of sustainable production to ultimately meet the expectations of the global community.

One of our longest standing areas of interest has been our Palm Oil Initiative. Our involvement has been through active participation with the RSPO and we have grown to be one of the accredited training providers for the organisation. Since 2008, we introduced our Technical Support Programme, specifically designed at finding technical solutions to promote sustainability across the entire oil palm supply chain.

Wild Asia’s technical programme provides professional support in four core work streams:

✓ Consulting or Advisory Support (evaluation and management support);

✓  Social and Environmental Assessments (HCV, SEIA, EIA);

✓ Risk Assessments and Assurance Programmes (supply chain mapping, due diligence or supporting internal assurance programmes);

✓ Training & Capacity Building (raising awareness amongst consultants, management, work teams).

One of the challenges for many commodity-related industries is ensuring that global standards do not marginalise small producers. Wild Asia pioneered a scheme for small palm oil producers through a programme called Wild Asia Group Scheme for Small Producers or WAGS. WAGS was created to address the challenges faced by independent small farmers by  providing the necessary technical assistance, training and capacity building for small farmer groups.  The focus is to help them improve their farming practices and support them towards reaching international standards (for example, RSPO). Today, more than 200 small farmers are currently managed under WAGS, which spans over 1,800 hectares of palm oil production area.

Two of our producer groups are currently RSPO Certified (Bintulu, Sarawak and Beluran, Sabah) and we are actively developing new partnerships to support other groups across Malaysia. WAGS is a community development initiative that provides the working model for independent small farmers to ultimately improve their livelihoods by improving yields, reducing environmental or social risks and ensuring access to the international market of sustainable palm oil. Consequently, by helping smallholders increase their production levels, the Group Scheme will also enable smallholders to improve their level of income.  We hope to develop a working model that could be implemented on a global scale.

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