Sabah's Totally Protected Areas well above global standard: CM
Published on: Saturday, May 23, 2015
Sandakan: The State Forestry Department has embarked on many important programmes and formulated policies to attain good forest governance, apart from the implementation of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM).One of the policies was the phasing out of the short-term forest licences in forest reserves, which was not sustainable.The small number of short-term licences that remains currently covers mostly non-forest reserves, state land and alienated lands, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.
ADVERTISEMENT
He said another was the decision to implement the pioneering Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) of dipterocarp forest in the Natural Forest Management (NFM) areas."RIL, which reduces damage by at least 50 per cent, is currently the standard operating procedure for NFM areas on a statewide scale and this system is currently being patented," he said."Another initiative undertaken by the department is to increase Totally Protected Areas (TPAs), now covering over 1.5 million hectares or some 22 per cent of Sabah, which is more than the global recommended standard of 10 per cent," he said.The new TPAs are attributed to the increase of Class 1 Forest Reserves, and the target was to achieve 30 per cent of Sabah's land area under TPAs by 2025 or 2030, covering over 2.2 million hectares, he said at the launch of the Sabah Forestry Department Centennial Time Capsule, here, Friday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Also present were Deputy State Secretary Datuk Asnimar Sukardi, Local Government and Housing Assistant Minister Datuk Zakaria Haji Mohd Edris, Sabah Forestry Department Director Datuk Sam Mannan, Batu Sapi Member of Parliament Datuk Linda Tsen, Sekong Assemblyman Datuk Samsudin Yahya, Elopuran Assemblyman Datuk Au Kam Wah, Karamunting Assemblyman Charles O Pang, Sandakan Municipal Council President Datuk James Wong and local community leaders.Meanwhile, Musa said focus on forest restoration, silvicultre and growing new forest saw over half a million hectares being treated under the natural system, rehabilitated and planted with indigenous species, mostly in the past decade.
ADVERTISEMENT
He said the department can also take pride in the fact that Forest Stewardship Council certification under its Gold Standard was pioneered in Deramakot in 1997 and was the first FSC certified tropical forest in the world."Since then, partially and fully certified forest, mostly under FSC, have exceeded 800,000 hectares. Another 155,440 hectares will receive FSC certification this year," said Musa.Independent third party auditing was introduced and had been ongoing since 2009, which was later extended for another five years at considerable cost to the State government for at least US$1 million a year. He said through this independent auditing, the performance of licence holders has improved and abuse of condition rectified quickly. Thinking ahead, Musa said, the Sabah Timber Legality Assurance System was developed to meet the European Union timber legality requirement to ensure that all timber produced and exports from Sabah are of legal origin.Meanwhile, Musa stressed that the needs of community are not neglected in forest management."Community compartments are set aside, including the provision of clean water management contracts for forest restoration and rubber planting in selected areas," said Musa."At the same time, land titles are given on a communal basis, to ensure natives will never lose ownership and their lands developed with government funding," he said.Musa said in terms of collaboration, the government had also engaged with a number of organisations including WWF-Malaysia, LEAP, The Nature Conservancy, the US Embassy, the Abraham Foundation, ISME of Japan, the European Union, the Royal Society and Sime Darby Foundation.The total investment from partnership had now reached some RM100 million and this had allowed the department to carry out innovative programme to further secure the forest."We have embarked on innovative financing biodiversity conservation through Malua BioBank, secure and managed contiguous protected areas habitat for the survival of the orang-utan and successfully designated the Lower Kinabatangan Segama Wetland, the largest Ramsar site in Malaysia, and the numerous awards the department has received are testimony of its ability to safeguard Sabah's forests."Musa said the Forestry Department, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, had been optimised to be more successful in its sustainability to protect forest and diversity. The department began with only six staff in 1914 and today it has grown into a large organisation with 27 District Forestry Offices and workforce of about 2,000.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
