Logging in Malaysia's Permanent Forests Declines
10/18/99
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Title: Logging Activity in Permanent Forests Declines
Source: The New Straits Times
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 18, 1999
KUALA LUMPUR, Sun. - Logging in permanent forest reserves dropped by
11.6 per cent last year but tree-felling in areas outside these
boundaries remained significant.
Last year's timber quota for permanent forest reserves (PFRs) in
Peninsular Malaysia was 46,040ha but only 30,408ha were cleared. This
was 34 per cent below the annual quota and 11.6 per cent lower than
1997.
Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Selangor,
Terengganu and the Federal Territory all logged less than the limits
set for PFRs.
However, the felling of trees for timber in forested stateland and
alienated land was 1.7 times more.
Sizeable chunks of these forests were cleared in Terengganu,
Kelantan, Pahang and Johor.
For instance, forested stateland and alienated land cleared in
Kelantan was more than four times the hectarage logged in its PFRs.
Nevertheless, the Forestry Department's 1998 annual report states
that there was an overall drop of 17.7 per cent in the hectarage of
state and alienated forests cleared for timber compared to 1997.
The decline in logging activities was due to weak demand from wood-
based industries affected by the Asian financial crisis.
Also, the easing of logging pressure in PFRs was in line with the
conservation policy and commitment to the International Tropical
Timber Organisation Year 2000 objective of sustainable forest
management.
Besides forest harvesting, the various states cleared another 21,260
ha of PFRs for purposes such as development and plantation.
Logging is carried out in the production forests of the PFRs,
stateland forests and alienated land.
Harvesting in production forests is regulated by an annual quota set
by the National Forestry Council. This is based on the carrying
capacity of an area and the objectives of the National Forestry
Policy.
The council is headed by the Deputy Prime Minister and presided over
by the respective State Government heads. It has no jurisdiction over
stateland and alienated land.
As of last year, 44 per cent of Peninsular Malaysia's 13,153,208 ha
of land area were forested. The bulk of these forests were in Pahang,
Perak, Kelantan and Terengganu. Of this, 4,730,216 ha (81 per cent)
had been gazetted as PFRs "to be managed and kept as renewable
resource" by the Forestry Department. Of the PFRs' hectarage, 1.8
million ha, mostly those with an altitude of 600m and above, had been
designated as protection forests.
While logging is allowed in the production forests, the areas
designated for protection are to "ensure sound climate and physical
conditions, safeguard water supply, soil fertility and environment
quality."
They are to minimise flood damage and soil erosion to rivers and
agricultural land. The PFRs comprise 4,397,143 ha of inland forests,
170,894 of peat swamp forest, 88,587 ha of mangrove forest, and
73,592 plantation forest.
Within these forests are also pockets of Virgin Jungle Reserves
(VJRs).
These areas, gazetted by the various state Forestry departments, are
to act as permanent nature reserves or natural arboreta. They are to
be kept as undisturbed natural forests for general ecological and
botanical studies. Since 1950, 80 such reserves covering 22,102 ha
have been established on the peninsula.
According to the annual report, these reserves are samples of the
various types of virgin forests found in the country.
They include mangrove forest, peat swamp forest, beach forest, heath
forest, lowland dipterocarp forest, hill dipterocarp forest and upper
hill dipterocarp and montane forest.
The Government is carrying out an inventory of flora and fauna in all
VJRs on the peninsula to ensure natural resources are effectively
conserved and safeguarded.