With regards to The Malaysian Oil and Gas Biodiversity Stakeholders Dialogue taking place on March 8 and 9 in Kuala Lumpur, members of the Oilwatch South East Asia Network, would like to reject the alliance between conservation organisations and oil companies.

Such alliances undermine the effort of organisations and communities working for the conservation of their lands (historically plundered by oil companies) and also weaken the role of the governments in the conservation of protected areas and fragile zones.

Oil companies and organisations for conservation have always spoken different languages because oil-related activity has one of one the most destructive impact on biodiversity. The companies, whose purpose is to extract oil, have never respected the environment wherever they have and are operating.

Petronas, which is sponsoring the aforementioned Stakeholders Dialogue is not and exception, neither in Malaysia nor outside of this country. Grave concerns have been raised about Petronas' environmental and human rights record.

The accusations of polluting the environment and the increasing consciousness about the importance of biodiversity conservation have placed the oil companies on the defence.

They have invest in public relations campaigns to improve their image and to neutralise communities' rejection besides attempting to fortify the global psychological dependency
on oil.

In this process of 'green make-up' some conservation NGOs have lent their credibility to the oil industry and thus allowing the oil companies to gracefully present themselves as saviours of biodiversity.

When they become partners with the conservation NGOs, they not only improve their image but also target new businesses this time related to the environment.

The NGOs taking part in the Kuala Lumpur dialogue are the WWF Malaysia, the Malaysian Nature Society, the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns, Wetlands International Malaysian Chapter and the environmental group Pacos from Sabah.

While the organisers have also announced the participation of state entities and academia, it is clear that the alliance will leave these sectors on the outside.

To sum up, the Malaysian Oil and Gas Biodiversity Stakeholders Dialogue is but an effort to 'improve' the corporate image of Petronas. For the company, it is more convenient to promote a conference than to take direct action to face and solve the environmental problems they generate.

A dialogue between oil companies and conservation NGOs allows them on one hand to polish their image and on the other, to weaken the prohibitions and restrictions that exist in protected areas.

The dialogue or other such initiatives will not at all change policies and practices within the oil industry in dealing with or reducing the impact to the environment ie, land use, indigenous rights, protected areas, air pollution/carbon emission, displacements etc.

This type of initiative puts at risk biodiversity conversation and facilitates the expansion of the oil frontier towards fragile ecosystems. It also weakens the effort that local, national, and international organisations and communities are putting in place for these companies to take responsibility for the negative impact they have cause.

It conspires against the efforts of the entire planet to avoid the climatic change and to limit the extracting of oil and even more oil from the subsoil.