| Date | Progress |
| September 2017 | 04 September 2017:
An NGO email was sent directly to us, alleging deforestation in Papua New Guinea (PNG), by Bewani Oil Palm Plantations (BOPPL) with alleged ownership ties to the Prosper Group of Companies/ Far East Holdings Bhd (1,146 hectares of alleged deforestation since July 2017). |
| October 2017 | We contacted Prosper Group via an official letter to understand and request for information on the ownership of Bewani Oil Palm Plantations. |
| Prosper Group denied ownership links to the Bewani Oil Palm Plantations and highlighted that the source of information received was inaccurate. | |
| February 2018 | We wrote to Prosper Group again via an official letter to request for a meeting. |
| March 2018 | Prosper Group wrote to us reiterating that they do not own Bewani Oil Palm Plantations Ltd and have no relations with them. |
| May 2018 | We met Prosper Group and sought clarifications on the report and their sustainability initiatives. We also await an upcoming meeting with Far East Holdings. |
| Prosper Group explained the nature of their relationship with Far East Holdings Bhd and stated that they are committed to sustainability and have embarked on obtaining the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil certification (MSPO). | |
| June 2018 | Prosper Group formally informed Musim Mas that they neither have any relationship with the Bewani Oil Palm Plantations Ltd nor do they have any operations, outside of Peninsular Malaysia.
They also confirmed that they have a sustainability policy in place. |
| September 2018 | 19 September 2018:
Greenpeace published a report titled, “Final Countdown: Now or Never to Reform the Palm Oil Industry”, alleging that BOPPL cleared some 13,460 hectares of forest between 25 January 2015 – 28 July 2018. |
| December 2018 | Our last purchase date was in December 2018. |
| April 2019 | On 5th April 2019, a letter written by Mr. Tee Kim Tee admitted his involvement in the Bewani Oil Palm Project starting from 1st January 2016 up until his divestment on 1st February 2019.
Land Use Change Assessment was then conducted to identify the total deforestation liability for the period of this involvement. Prosper published its first Sustainable Palm Oil Policy. |
| June 2019 | Prosper re-introduced themselves as ‘Prosper Palm Oil Mill Sdn Bhd’ (PPOM).
Moving forward, the Management of PPOM will no longer refer to “Prosper Group” to represent any of the entities in connection to PPOM. |
| October 2019 | Prosper revised its Sustainable Palm Oil Policy by adding more comprehensive No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE) elements.
Prosper is working on a recovery plan which includes various options such as re-forestation, wildlife conservation, or contributing to a trustee for environmental conservation projects. |
| March 2020 | A recovery plan is finalized by establishing a partnership with the Global Environment Centre (GEC). Through this partnership, Prosper is financing a Recovery Project in a conservation initiative located in the North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest (NSPSF), Selangor State, Malaysia.
The project will focus on the protection and rehabilitation of the Bukit Belata (Extension) Forest Reserve (BBEFR). It will cover an area of 3,140 ha of lowland dipterocarp and peat swamp forest in the southeast portion of the NSPSF. For more information, please refer to Prosper’s statement here. |
| April 2020 | Prosper published the Proposal for its Phase 1 Recovery Project in Bukit Belata (Extension) Forest Reserve. |
| June 2020 | Prosper published its Recovery Project Joint Statement with GEC.
The objective of Phase 1 of the project (April 2020-March 2023) is to develop and implement a specific forest and peatland protection and rehabilitation program for BBEFR with the following sub-objectives: a. To develop a rehabilitation strategy for at least 1,000 ha of forest and peatland degraded by fires and encroachment; b. To rewet and rehabilitate at least 200 ha of degraded peatlands and forests; c. To prevent future fires and degradation, in partnership with local communities and stakeholders. |
| August 2020 | Prosper published the revised Recovery Project Joint Statement with GEC.
As identified based on ground and remote sensing assessment, more than 350 ha (from previously estimated more than 1,000 ha) of forest and peatland in BBEFR have been degraded by fires, drainage, and encroachment in recent years. During the course of the first phase, Prosper and GEC will design additional phases to extend and/or expand the activities with support from Prosper and other stakeholders. |
| October 2020 | Prosper published its first progress report of the Recovery Project (March-September 2020). |
| May 2021 | Prosper published its second progress report of the Recovery Project (October 2020-April 2021). |
| June 2021 | Prosper published the revised the Recovery Project Joint Statement with GEC.
By March 2023, building on the experience of the First Phase, Prosper and GEC will expand the Recovery Project to cover the total target area of 10,000 ha with support from Prosper and other stakeholders. |
| December 2021 | Prosper published its third progress report of the Recovery Project (April-November 2021). |
| May 2022 | Prosper published its fourth progress report of the Recovery Project (December 2021-April 2022). |
| July 2022 | Prosper published an updated version of its Sustainable Palm Oil Policy. |
| December 2022 | Prosper published its fifth progress report of the Recovery Project (April-November 2022).
GEC submitted a formal request to Prosper for a six-month extension of the Phase 1 Recovery Project period (extended until October 2023). |
| April 2023 | Prosper published the revised Recovery Project Joint Statement with GEC.
The recovery project with GEC will cover a total area of 12,415 ha. This covers the total identified deforestation liability. Phase one was extended to six months due to COVID-19 pandemic and unseasonal high rainfall. |
| June 2023 | On 22 June 2023, Musim Mas was invited to attend the Prosper stakeholder site visit of Recovery Project Phase one in BBEFR. During the visit, we and other stakeholders visited the location of a degraded forest that has been restored in the past three years (2020-2023).
Earthqualizer (EQ) as the Project’s external assessor concluded that the rehabilitation of BBEFR by GEC in the past three years has delivered results indicated in its proposal and met the necessary conservation and community development requirements for a Recovery Plan. |
| July 2023 | Prosper published its sixth progress report of the Recovery Project (December 2022 – July 2023).
For more information, please refer to this link. We will continue to monitor the progress of the Recovery Project implementation. |