SANDAKAN, (Malaysia): Companies that import palm oil from Malaysia will be able to adopt orangutans but they will not be able to leave the country, the commodities minister said on Sunday, in a revised version of a conservation scheme announced earlier this year.

Plantations and Commodities Minister Johari Abdul Ghani also pledged to halt deforestation in Malaysia, saying 54% of the country was forested and that the level would not fall below 50%.

In May, the minister put forward a plan to send orangutans abroad as trading gifts in an effort to allay concerns about the impact on the animals’ habitat of palm oil production, which tends to involve clearing forest land.

The plan raised objections from conservation groups fearful for the welfare of the orangutans that are critically endangered. “The animals cannot leave their natural habitats. We have to keep them here. And then we will meet the countries or the buyers of our palm oil if they want to work together to ensure that these forests can be looked after and preserved forever,” Johari told a news conference in Sabah, northern Borneo.