Natural Habitat Gone

Interesting news - "Residential areas in Setapak, Cheras and Jinjang, which were all once oil palm plantations, have been identified as areas frequented by snakes, especially reticulated pythons and cobras, of late"

Threat to natural habitat forcing snakes into KL's residential areas (Star, 5 Sept 12).

While we talk about wildlife coming out of the jungle, we are missing out wild domestic dogs going into forest and eating up the wildlife of Malaysia.

The Forestry and Wildlife just don't bother about this because it has not cause any problem for now. Ten years down the road, when the population of these wild dogs increased, human life may be at risk. And it will be too late to control them.

Its happening in all forest reserves. So people, go into the forest in group or else you may not come out alive. Beware!

Latex timber clone plantations threaten natural forests

August 16, 2012
FMT LETTER: From Malaysian Nature Society, via e-mail

We wish to congratulate Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak on the various successes of his administration. You, Sir, have spearheaded the introduction of National Key Result Areas (NKRAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which have been described as among the most effective methods to enhance the performance of the government.

Your Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) initiative with the 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) is also commendable and we join others in support of your efforts to lead Malaysia to new heights. The present efforts and noble objectives notwithstanding, we are concerned over the seeming lack of an environment component.

This is despite the widespread acceptance of, and several national policies on sustainable development as the over-arching and guiding principle for our country which stresses on the triple bottom line of people, planet and profits.

Malaysia needs urgent and decisive action to address several mounting environmental problems. Protection of our natural heritage needs the same emphasis as economic and human development. This has been enshrined and consistently followed in the previous Malaysia Plans. According to the latest IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 686 plants and 225 animals in Malaysia are at risk of extinction, placing Malaysia third in the list of countries with the largest number of threatened species, behind only Ecuador and the United States.

Charismatic and iconic wildlife species such as the Malayan tiger are disappearing while species previously thought to occur in abundance such as the sambar deer are becoming scarce. The main cause of this decline is undoubtedly the loss of habitats, in particular our tropical rainforest, and poaching. Despite Malaysia’s pledge to retain forest cover at 50% of our land area, there is tremendous pressure to convert these forested areas into other land uses, such as industrial “forest” plantations.

An independent study found that in 2010 the area of natural forest in Malaysia was 14,962,000ha or only 45%. Most of these remaining forests are within forest reserves and protected areas, with remaining state land forests unprotected in any way. The continued loss of natural forest will invariably lead to an increase in human-wildlife conflict, which will be a tricky challenge to tackle.

There is also frequent conversion of the legal status of so-called “permanent reserved forests” into state land forests for subsequent development. These forests are cleared for agriculture, property development or industrial development. Between 2001 and 2005, more than 40,000ha of forest reserves were excised in Peninsular Malaysia alone.

Forest excision or “degazettement” is the prerogative of the respective state governments and they are only required to notify such acts through individual state gazettes after the fact. A sterling exception, however, is the Selangor state government which has made it compulsory to hold public enquiries or open hearings before “degazetting” a forest reserve. In recent years, a new trend has emerged where natural forest is cleared without first excising the forest reserves concerned, followed by the establishment of monoculture plantations of mainly Latex Timber Clone (LTC) rubber trees and oil palm.

According to published Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia statistics, the area within forest reserves planted with LTC increased dramatically from 2,195ha in 2005 to 17,443ha in 2007, with other crops (including palm oil) increasing from 2,673ha to 21,944ha within the same period. This trend is driven by the high price of timber, soft-loans from the federal government and other incentives for the establishment of “forest plantations”.

While we recognise that these plantations do play an important part in the country’s economy, they should not be established at the expense of natural forests but instead should be created on degraded areas and idle land. Additionally, these plantations cannot mimic the diversity and complexity of a natural forest but in fact undermine the wider natural forests and species that live within them.

The root cause for the clearing of forest is the dependence of state governments on a very narrow revenue base, namely exploitation of natural resources and land taxes. This small revenue stream leaves states dependent upon over-extractive and exploitative activities for short-term gains. In today’s globalised economy, such perverse incentives stymie innovation and diversification at the state level and contribute to undermine your wider vision for Malaysia.

Furthermore as seen in Kedah, Johor and in various parts of Sarawak, land clearance of this nature has the added issue of incurring the wrath of local communities, whether they are Orang Asli, Penan, Bidayuhs or Malays. The increased siltation and contamination of the water catchments and the water source itself is a major concern as humans depend on it and it is a major ingredient to life itself. These plantations do not just physically affect the water quality, but also affect the long-term water source as there is continued pesticide, herbicide and fertiliser use which seeps into the soil and thereafter into the water courses.

We thus call on your premiership to walk the talk that you have portrayed to Malaysia by making the ETP more accountable to the people, who will all be affected by the loss of ecosystem services which forests provide. To reduce the further degradation of our natural forest, perhaps it is prudent to consider the following points:
•To freeze all new LTC projects, conduct a stocktaking of the locations of all LTC plantations and identify alternative sites for those slated to be developed inside forest reserves.
•Increase incentives for environmental protection, including protecting forests for their strategic role in water security, flood mitigation, climate, erosion control and biodiversity conservation. This can include a diversion of government revenue earned from visitors to natural areas towards the protection of these sites, to decrease the pressure to exploit them unsustainably (e.g., a portion of the service tax from tourist establishments can be diverted to state funds where their use can be linked to protecting natural areas crucial for tourism development.
•Increase disincentives for extractive industries such as forest clearance and mining (e.g., introducing conservation tax).

This letter is endorsed by the Conservation Alliance for Tigers (MYCAT), TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, Wildlife Conservation Society-Malaysia Programme,WWF-Malaysia

Illegal logging could cost M'sia RM800-900mil yearly

February 1, 2012
By ISABELLE LAI
Star

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia stands to lose between RM800mil to RM900mil annually if illegal logging is not controlled, Transparency-International (TI) Malaysia president Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan said Wednesday.

However, he believed illegal logging was "pretty much under control" in Peninsular Malaysia, although more attention needed to be paid to east Malaysian states.

He urged state governments to quickly move to designate and gazette selected areas for forest conservation to prevent them from being allocated for forestry activities.

"We are concerned about ensuring areas designated for conservation are quickly marked off and gazetted," he said after the launching of the Forest Watch and Public Awareness Campaign on Forest Conservation here.

He added that it was vital to determine in policy how much forest was allowed for either plantation or development.

"Yes, there are sporadic areas where legal loggers may extend beyond their boundaries. But I think that the issue of forestry conservation also has to be tackled at the policy side," he said, adding that he believed the state governments were carrying out their enforcement responsibilities against illegal logging in their respective states.

The Forest Watch project allows anyone to monitor the forest and track illegal logging activities at will, through simple, easy-to-use Google techniques.

"The Forest Watch Project is developed to engage the public as the eyes and ears of the forest through the use of Google Earth Geospatial Technology (satellite, imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe)," he said.

"The public can then assess and report irregularities through the new website," he said.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigations director Datuk Mustafar Ali said the commission took the issue of corruption in forestry activities very seriously.

He added that MACC had received around 88 complaints last year from various parties including non-governmental organisations and the public.

Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Department director-general Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Abdul Rahim said the Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) Ministry was in the final stages of revising the National Forestry Act to include new provisions for higher penalties, imprisonment and strict liability.

"The ministry has also established the 1NRE Enforcement team comprising various enforcement departments within NRE to conduct integrated enforcement operations," he read in a speech text on behalf of NRE Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas.

Its all about Corruption when encroachments go undetected

The forestry knows about it but no action taken. Enviction was carried out at another peat swamp called Raja Muda Forest Reserve (north Selangor). How come Kuala Langat South Peat Swamp was the exception? MY PERCEPTION - ITS ALL ABOUT CORRUPTION! IN BOLEHLAND CORRUPTION REIGN AND LAWS ARE ONLY FOR THE POOR!!

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June 14, 2011
2,000ha of swamp forest encroached by illegal farmers
By STUART MICHAEL
Star

MORE than 200 farmers have encroached 2,000ha into the Kuala Langat South Peat Swamp Forest and only a major operation can force out the culprits.

Selangor Forestry Department assistant director (operations and enforcement) Mohd Yussainy Md Yusop said 30% of the 6,908ha of the forest reserve had been encroached.

“Each farmer plant crops at least on 10ha in the forest reserve and employ workers to take care and harvest the crops.

On June 6, the department arrested five Indonesian workers for encroaching into the reserve and planting cash crops.

There are now remanded at the Telok Panglima Garang police station.

Yussainy said the department took statements from three employers and they would be charged with trespassing.

Under the Forestry Act 1984, Yussainy said those found encroaching into forest reserves could be fined up to RM10,000 or jailed up to three years or both if found guilty.

“The profits raked in by the farmers amount to thousands of ringgit and they are willing to take the risk of being jailed or fined.

“The money that they rake from the crops like banana, soursop, papaya, sweet corn, tapioca, sweet potato, turmeric, lengkuas (galangal), ginger, serai (lemongrass) and chilli is just too good. Some of these farmers are millionaires,’’ he claimed.

He said on Oct 25 last year, the department had given notice to the farmers to move out.

“Then, the department had planted 100,000 trees of different species to let the forest regrow but it is having a tough time doing so.

“These illegal farmers sprayed poison on the young trees and planted their crops instead. This shows how bold they are and have no respect for the law.

“Some may think that having cash crops at forest reserves is not as bad as chopping down the trees. But they fail to realise that pesticides can be harmful to the surrounding forest,’’ he said.

Malaysia Deforestation Is Three Times Faster Than Rest Of Asia Combined

(AP) - New satellite imagery shows Malaysia is destroying forests more than three times faster than all of Asia combined, and its carbon-rich peat soils of the Sarawak coast are being stripped even faster, according to a study released Tuesday.

The report commissioned by the Netherlands-based Wetlands International says Malaysia is uprooting an average 2 percent of the rain forest a year on Sarawak, its largest state on the island of Borneo, or nearly 10 percent over the last five years. Most of it is being converted to palm oil plantations, it said.

The deforestation rate for all of Asia during the same period was 2.8 percent, it said.

In the last five years, 353,000 hectares (872,263 acres) of Malaysia's peatlands were deforested, or one-third of the swamps which have stored carbon from decomposed plants for millions of years.

"We never knew exactly what was happening in Malaysia and Borneo," said Wetlands spokesman Alex Kaat. "Now we see there is a huge expansion (of deforestation) with annual rates that are beyond imagination."

The study was carried out by SarVision, a satellite monitoring and mapping company that originated with scientists at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

"Total deforestation in Sarawak is 3.5 times as much as that for entire Asia, while deforestation of peat swamp forest is 11.7 times as much," the report said.

Malaysia's peatland forests are home to several endangered animals, including the Borneo Pygmy elephant and the Sumatran rhino, as well as rare timber species and unique vegetation

Kaat said the study showed deforestation was progressing far faster than the Malaysian government has acknowledged.

Scientists say the destruction of the Amazon, the rain forests of central Africa and in Southeast Asia accounts for more than 15 percent of human-caused carbon emissions blamed for global warming.

Live forests soak up carbon from the atmosphere, while burning trees release that stored carbon – contributing to climate change in two ways at once. But emissions effect is amplified when trees are felled from the peatlands and the swamps are drained for commercial plantations.

Malaysia and Indonesia produce about 85 percent of the world's palm oil, an ingredient in cooking oil, cosmetics, soaps, bread, and chocolate. It also is used as an industrial lubricant and was once considered an ideal biofuel alternative to fossil fuel, but it has fallen out of favor because of earlier reports of widespread rainforest destruction for the expansion of plantations.

Indonesia has pledged to slow deforestation in its territory, and last year Norway pledged to give Jakarta $1 billion a year to help finance an independent system of monitoring and quantifying greenhouse gas emissions.

Act of God in Sarawak

August 15, 2009
Sudden storm souses Sarawak fires
By STEPHEN THEN
Star

KUALA BARAM: It was “divine assistance’’ in the form of a sudden and unexpected storm lasting only 30 minutes that finally doused the forest fires and peat fires that have destroyed more than 3,000 hectares of land near the Sarawak-Brunei border.

The storm unleashed a heavy downpour at about 1am early Saturday and put out the fires that had been raging out of control for almost one month in the Kuala Baram district some 35kms north of Miri city.

More than 200 firefighters fought the battle round-the-clock for more than two weeks hampered by the dry weather and lack of water, and the huge area on fire.

The finally helped them put out the fires, including the underground fires in peat land

The fire teams that had been camping day and night at the fire zones have also packed up and left.

Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam confirmed Saturday that the rain had also put out most of the fires in other parts of Sarawak.

“However, the people are advised to still adhere to all precautions against the fires. They must also take this opportunity to conserve as much water as they can.

“I am worried that after next week, we may suffer another prolonged dry spell,’’ said Dr Chan, who is State Disaster Relief Committee chairman.

Dr Chan said the enforcement agencies must also prepare itself to face another round of fires and drought and put on standby the necessary manpower and equipment to be used whenever needed.

TEMENGGOR FOREST: Declare it a non-logging area

TEMENGGOR FOREST: Declare it a non-logging area

I REFER to two reports on the Temenggor forest -- "MNS: Make Temenggor off-limits to loggers" (NST, July 20) and "Perak ready to talk about forest status" (NST, July 23) -- and the ongoing debate on whether logging should be allowed in the forest.

As an ecologist who has been working in Temenggor since the 1990s, I would like to record my personal views, based on my experience working on the Temenggor Lake ecosystem and its watershed areas.

I support the Malaysian Nature Society's suggestion that the Perak government adopt the recommendation of the National Physical Policy that the Temenggor forest should be a non-logging area.

My team from Universiti Sains Malaysia can provide scientific evidence to strengthen their recommendations.

It is rather unfortunate that, unlike the Royal Belum State Park, the Temenggor Forest Reserve continues to be open to logging. It is also strange that a watershed area has been placed under Environmentally Sensitive Area Rank 11, meaning sustainable logging can be carried out.

I am a little sceptical as to whether we really understand the meaning of "sustainable".

Some of these rivers and streams in the Temenggor forest that were once believed to among the best sites for kelah (Tor tambroides) and temoleh (Probarbus jullieni) fishing have been heavily damaged.

The kelah and temoleh feeding and spawning sites are now gone.

The massive erosion from logging sites is gradually degrading these aquatic ecosystems.

The destruction is not only to the river systems but also affects the whole lake ecosystem.

I strongly feel that the Perak menteri besar is aware of this environmental catastrophe. I hope that Perak can work out a concrete management plan for the whole of the Temenggor ecosystem. This would turn Perak into a model state for environmental conservation.

MASHHOR MANSOR,

Professor,

School of Biological Sciences,

Universiti Sains Malaysia

(New Straits Times, 28 Julai 2009, Page 18, Letters to the editor)

Where is Temenggor Forest? Check here

250ha of forest reserve devastated

Friday March 6, 2009
250ha of forest reserve devastated
By GEETHA KRISHNAN

LOGGING with the sanction of the previous Selangor state government has devastated a large part of the Sungai Jelok Forest Reserve in the Hulu Langat district.

According to Selangor Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Lee Kim Sin, the approval for logging to be carried out on 202ha was given during a state executive council meeting on Nov 8, 2006.

“This is for a proposed rubber estate project by Perbadanan Kemajuan Pertanian Selangor (PKPS). Following the exco decision, the Selangor Foresty Department issued a logging permit to a private company,” Lee said during a site visit to the forest reserve.

Lee, the state assemblyman for Kajang, said the logging activities were reported to the PAC in November last year, and by that time, 90% of the trees had been felled and bare patches had begun to dot the 250ha forest reserve.

“This is shocking because there is no point in gazetting a forest reserve and then allowing logging activities to be carried out with the weak excuse of purportedly developing a rubber estate,” Lee said.

The Sungai Jelok Forest Reserve is a hilly lowland dipterocarp forest. Its size has shrunk over the years due to development and logging activities. The forest reserve is a water catchment area for Sungai Jelok, a tributary of Sungai Langat.

“After July 16 last year, Sungai Jelok overflowed its banks with alarming frequency.

“We attributed this to land-clearing activities near the Kajang Prison but now we are sure the logging in the forest reserve is also a contributing factor,” Lee said.

At present, upgrading work is going on at Sungai Jelok to alleviate the floods in Kajang.

The logging is now viewed as a setback to the river-widening and deepening work.

Lee said he would seek the state auditor’s help to investigate the matter further and to seek clarification from the PKPS director and Selangor Forestry Department director as to why a forest reserve and water catchment area had to be sacrificed.

“Both the Hulu Langat Land Office and District Office have been instructed by the state government not to allow activities against sustainable development and yet this had happened,” Lee said.

“It is bad enough that one part of the forest reserve has been turned into a stone quarry,” he said.

On Dec 19 last year, Selangor Forestry Department director Mohd Yunus Zakaria replied to Lee’s letter on the logging activities in the forest reserve, saying that a logging licence was issued based on a decision made at the exco meeting on Nov 8, 2006. No further detail was given.

Logging 'threatens Terengganu's endangered rhinos'

Yesterday was Perak. Today is Trengganu.

A mature timber tree is worth a minimum of RM10K (US$3.3K). No wonder you find every state Government is going for the kill. It doesn't matter about wildlife, water resources or even livelihood of people living on the fringes of the forest. Chop the trees - for the $. Nevermind about extinction of rare wildlife, polluted water, animal-human conflicts....afterall, the people who approved the project could be rewarded by "commission". This is the fact - the greedy fact. A norm.

It has always been a ploy to build a highway. Then, the timber. I was right when I sensed that the road from Gua Musang to Kenyir Dam has to do with timber. And it was so true now. Development and infrastructes are all bullshit. Timbers & logging are the main objective.

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Malaysiakini
Nov 12, 08 6:34pm

Terengganu government is planning to log two forest reserves which is home to the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros and endangered Malayan tiger.

The proposed logging was revealed in a detailed environmental impact assessment (DEIA), which was recently made available for public viewing.

The DEIA, which is done by an independent agency, is the process of examining the environmental effects of the proposed plan to log of the forests.

Source: Malaysiakini

The study revealed that the state government has proposed to log 12,630 hectares of forest adjacent to the 6,130 hectares of forest reserve currently being cleared for the construction of two hydropower dams.

“The Tembat and Petuang Forest Reserves, which also act as a water catchment area for Tasik Kenyir, are currently being logged to build the Puah and Tembat dams,” said conservation group World Wildlife Fund in a press statement today.

It said that a survey conducted as part of the DEIA has revealed evidence of the presence of the elusive Sumatran rhinoceros within the Tembat Forest Reserve.

“Both the forest reserves are also habitat for other endangered wildlife, namely the Malayan tiger and Malayan tapir which are totally protected animals under the Protection of Wildlife Act 1972.”

The environmental impact assessment also exposed a shocking fact - that logging has already begun in the forest reserves despite that no approval has been given.

“Satellite images in the DEIA indicate that clear felling of the reservoir area and adjacent hills has begun since 2005-2006.

“According to the DEIA, the site of the catchment area has already experienced changes of between 25 and 30 percent and new logging tracks have already been constructed,” said WWF-Malaysia.

“There seems to be little regard for relevant laws and the DEIA process,” lamented WWF chief executive officer Dr Dionysius Sharma.

One-third of elephants to be forced out

According to the study, the logging will also affect the elephant population in the forests, where about one-third will be forced into nearby plantations, creating more human-elephant conflict.

“This will result in loss of revenue to plantation owners and property damages. In the long run, the government will incur higher cost for human-wildlife conflict management,” said Dionysius.

The DEIA also states that the high soil erosion and sedimentation as a result of the logging will affect fish biodiversity and spawning grounds.

“The Kelah fish population found in rivers there will undeniably decrease. Kelah has high conservation and commercial values,” said the WWF chief executive.

Dionysius also added that eco-tourism activities will be affected, translating to loss of revenue to the eco-tourism operators in the area.

The WWF has called on the state government to protect the two forest reserves by classifying them as wildlife sanctuaries under the National Forestry Act 1984 and gazetting them as water catchment forests.

“Logging or clear felling should not be allowed to take place at any time,” he said.

Concern over logging plan

Just when the dust has just settled, another appeared. This time logging in Perak. Another environment concern to people of Perak. Wake up dear Pakatan Government of Perak!

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Concern over logging plan
Tuesday November 11, 2008
By IVAN LOH
Staronline

IPOH: The Perak Environment Asso­ciation has opposed the selection of two forest reserves which were re­­cently opened for tender for logging.

Association president Abdul Rah­man Said Alli said logging in parts of the Pondok Tanjung and Kota Siam forest reserves would have dire consequences to the ecosystem.

According to a notice put up at the state Forestry Department, the two forest reserves were among 28 sites selected for open tender for logging, he said.

“The Pondok Tanjung reserve is a 5,000ha wetland in the Larut Matang and Selama districts that serves as a natural water catchment area for overflowing water from the Bukit Merah reservoir.

“Logging activities will destroy the land there and worsen the flooding problem in Bukit Merah and some areas in the Kerian district,” Abdul Rahman told a press conference here yesterday.

The forest reserve was home to a wide range of protected animal and plant species and was also a popular research site for Universiti Sains Malaysia, he said.

The Kota Siam Forest Reserve in Manjung district would also see the destruction of wildlife habitat if logging were to be conducted there.

“The 300ha forest reserve is like an island surrounded by oil palm estates and other plantations.

“If the wild animals’ habitat is destroyed, they would be forced to intrude into human settlements, cau­sing conflict between them,” he said.

Abdul Rahman pointed out that the Kota Siam reserve was one of the smaller forests gazetted by the Forestry Department and that there were many other more suitable sites for logging.

“We are not against logging and have no problems with the other sites but Pondok Tanjung and Kota Siam should be off the list (of 28 sites for tender),” said Abdul Rahman.

He said the association would write to Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jama­luddin for appropriate action to be taken.

Efforts to get confirmation from the Forestry Department about the matter proved futile.

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EIA wanted on planned logging in Pondok Tanjung

Tuesday November 11, 2008
By RASLAN BAHAROM

Staronline

TAIPING: An environmental impact assessment (EIA) may be sought from the Department of Environment to protect river tributaries in Pondok Tanjung near here from indiscriminate logging activities.

Larut Matang and Selama district officer Datuk Mahmod Morsidi said this was the best option to protect these rivers -- that supply water to the Bukit Merah reservoir -- from active siltation.

He said the fear of active siltation was one of the reasons why no tin mining activities in Pondok Tanjung had been permitted.

Both logging and mining excavation permits had been sought in Pondok Tanjung, he told reporters after launching the national Coastal Rehabilitation Awareness Campaign 2008 at the Kuala Sepetang Eco-education centre near here on Tuesday.

However, following objections from various technical departments, no tin mining activities have been permitted there.

Mahmod said the Perak Government had approved about 600ha of land at three different locations in Pondok Tanjung for group agriculture schemes to provide more income to the local population.

To turn such sites into agriculture plots, trees must be felled, he said.

Mahmod said a choice would have to be made between allowing the three sites to remain as jungles, and allowing logging and converting them into agriculture schemes.

“Perhaps we may disallow jungle clearing activities at the hilly terrain there but allow logging at the lowland,” he said when commenting on an objection raised by the Perak Environment Association on Monday.

The association said that logging activities in Pondok Tanjung, a 5,000ha wetland that serves as a natural water catchment area for overflowing water from the Bukit Merah reservoir, would damage the land and worsen the flooding problem in Bukit Merah and in parts of Kerian district.

Forestry Department director-general Datuk Seri Azahar Muda, who was present at launch, said it was up to the Perak Government to act on the matter as logging activities came under its purview.

Once there is a request for an EIA, the state Forestry Department must study the matter and take into consideration the views of the community, said Azahar.

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SAM alarmed over forest plunder in Sarawak

Saturday August 16, 2008
By STEPHEN THEN
Staronline

MIRI: The plundering of Sarawak’s forest resources has become so widespread that even protected forests and forest reserves are not spared, said Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) president S.M. Mohamed Idris.

This is in addition to land clearing in secondary forests or native customary rights land.

These protected forests and forests reserves are being blatantly encroached on and cleared of timber so oil palm plantations and pulpwood estates can be developed, he said.

Mohamed Idris said SAM recently discovered that the Sarawak Forests Department had licensed out some 2.8 million hectares of forested land to 40 plantation concessions.

This meant at least 23% of Sarawak’s land mass was now under department concessions for plantations, he said.

“This is larger than the size of the state of Perak,” he told The Star.

He added that information from environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports on the 40 concessions showed many of them were within protected forests and forest reserves.

He urged the state government to be more transparent in its land development policies.

Show the forests some love

The European Commission has delayed a vital vote on protecting forests from illegal logging till September. We want to make sure the commissioners don't forget about it during their summer holiday. We need you to help us make an extra impression before the September vote.

We all love the forests, and we would like to showcase all that love to the EU (and we know for a fact that the EU doesn’t have anything against some loving). The forests already have made an effort themselves!

Here is your mission:
Take pictures and/or videos of yourself and your friends spreading the love in a forest.
Submit your pictures in the flickr group or post your video as an answer to ours.
More story and to Sign the petition here

Orang asli can protect ‘treasures’

Staronline
Tuesday June 3, 2008
By IVAN LOH

THE orang asli residing in the Royal Belum Forest Reserve can be a valuable ally in protecting the many ‘treasures’ of the forest.

Perak police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Zulkifli Abdullah said the indigenous community could provide information to police on any illegal logging or criminal activities that happened around the forest.

DCP Zulkifli said the orang asli were living in a strategic place in the forest reserve where many valuable products of the forest were found.

The valuable treasures, he said, provided a livelihood for the orang asli, adding that sandalwood, rattan, and the highly prized agarwood (gaharu) were well sought after,

“We do not want any unscrupulous individuals coming into the forest and taking away the local products,” he said, after visiting the Jahai tribe at the Kampung Sungai Kijar in the forest recently.

“We need to look after the orang asli as well,” he added.

DCP Zulkifli said the orang asli were living a very basic life and outsiders with bad intent could easily influence them.

He said marine police from the beat base in Banding would be making their rounds around the area and reaching out to them.

“They will be keeping in touch with them and at the same time get information on what is going on in the forest,” he said.

DCP Zulkifli, district police chiefs, and police department heads had visited the orang asli settlement with their spouses after their monthly meeting at the Belum Rainforest Resort on Banding Is-land.

The police also presented the orang asli with hampers and gifts.

Tropical forests in Indonesia and Malaysia being axed in favour of palm oil

Malaysia Sun
Monday 2nd June, 2008
(ANI)

London, June 2 : A report in New Scientist has determined that tropical forests in Indonesia and Malaysia are being axed in favour of palm oil.

Between 1990 and 2005 palm plantations rocketed by 1.87 million hectares in Malaysia and by more than 3 million hectares in Indonesia.

With the help of data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Lian Pin Koh at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and David Wilcove of Princeton University in the US, found that more than half the palm plantations came at the expense of forests.

These include the largely pristine, intact forest in Indonesia and previously logged forest in Malaysia.

The rest of the expansion covered pre-existing cropland.

According to the report, the European Commission is drafting a law to ban imports of palm oil crops grown on intact tropical forests.

But, according to researchers, logged forests support nearly as much biodiversity as primary forests, and should also be protected.

Sarawak goes high-tech to protect forests

If you have been to any protected area, you will notice that it is not easy to enter the rich timber area. There are Forestry Officers manning the area. While you and me are not allow into the area, you will be surpised to see large San Tai Wong (timber lorries) in the vicinity.
You and me always know that high tech devices in government department never really work when needed. Perhaps they work for a year or two before the devices kaput. So when a Forestry Department talk about enforcement using high-tech toys, it could be another case of wastage of public fund. How much training to use PDA and the software? How much wastage for the maintanence? Only time will tell.
Read the story below:

By SHARON LING

KUCHING: Sarawak's Forest Department is going high-tech in its enforcement against encroachment and illegal logging activities in protected areas.

Its monitoring, enforcement and prevention (MEP) system, which was unveiled during the state-level commemoration of World Forestry Day on Monday, incorporates remote sensing, image processing, mobile mapping and web-based applications to detect illegal activities.
The data is then sent to field officers via a web-based platform from which it will be downloaded to a mobile component such as a PDA.

State director of forests Datuk Len Talif Salleh said the MEP system had been developed by the department using the latest available technology.

"This system cannot operate on its own but it has to be backed up with ground enforcement. To respond to the data, we have helicopters which we can use to drop our officers in a matter of hours," he told reporters after the commemoration ceremony at Sumber Alam Sanctuary here.
With the system in place, he added, the department aimed to minimise encroachment into national parks and other protected areas in the state.

Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management Datuk Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said the system was in line with the department's efforts to strengthen its enforcement capabilities.
However, he added that enforcement alone was not enough and cooperation from the public was needed as well.

"People must give information with regard to illegal activities so that we can act fast. We don't want to see our protected areas encroached into as this will affect efforts to sustainably manage our forests," he said.

Source: Star Online Monday March 24

Groups ditch forestry consultation process

NGOs have been used by the Government to hookwink the international communities. Thank God, we still have people who still believe in the fight for the environment in Malaysia. Read this article:

Fauwaz Abdul Aziz Mar 19, 08 7:10pm
Source: Malaysiakini


A multi-stakeholder consultation on ways to prevent the import of illegal timber into Europe came to an abrupt end when two coalitions walked out of the process that had begun last June.

Yesterday, the coalitions - JOANGOHutan and Joas - comprising representatives of indigenous peoples and environmental groups alleged that their presence was aimed only at endorsing a flawed process rather than being allowed to improve it through input.

The plantation industries and commodities ministry has spearheaded consultations with interest-groups since June 22 last year.

The aim is to incorporate their views into the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on timber imports which the government hopes to conclude with the European Commission (EC).

The VPA comes under the EC’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan, a larger European Union (EU) initiative to stop imports of illegally-sourced timber.

It is said that more than 50 percent of all tropical timber and more than 20 percent of boreal timber coming into the EU is illegally-sourced.

However, one activist said the government agencies have not included all the proposals of the lobby groups in the Timber Legality Assurance System (TLAS), on which the issuance of licences will be based.

“They told us that our proposals would be taken into consideration,” said Sarawak Dayak Iban Association secretary-general Nicholas Mujah when met in Kuala Lumpur today.

“But all this while, most of our concerns and proposals have not been written into the documents at all.”

One of the most significant proposals concern the definition of ‘legal timber’.

The current VPA defines ‘legal timber’ as that ‘harvested by licensed person from approved areas and timber and timber products exported in accordance with the laws, regulations and procedures pertaining to forestry, timber industry and trade of Malaysia’.

Many groups have pointed out, however, that such a definition ignores the incidence of smuggled timber that has been certified as legal in Malaysia.

It also ignores the fact that logging licences have often been issued on land claimed by indigenous communities without their free, prior and informed consent.

JOANGOHutan and Joas had proposed that Malaysian legal timber be defined as that originating from within Malaysia and from lands free from aboriginal or native customary claims.

This definition was not incorporated into the draft TLAS, said Mujah.

‘Meet minimum demand’

Centre for Orang Asli Concerns coordinator Colin Nicholas said the government’s refusal to use the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 to further define legal timber similarly showed its lack of seriousness to incorporate their views and input.

According to the Act, no licence for the collection of forest produce shall be issued to anyone who is ‘not being aborigines normally resident in that aboriginal area’ without consulting the director-general of the Department of Orang Asli Affairs.

The Act also provides that ‘in granting any such licence it may be ordered that a specified proportion of aboriginal labour be employed’. The government rejected this, however, and contended that the National Forestry Act 1984 - which does not provide for such extensive protection of Orang Asli interests - is “sufficient”.

Commenting on this, Peninsular Malaysia Orang Asli Association information chief Norya Abas said it was ridiculous to use the Forestry Act to protect human communities. “The Act is to protect the forest. It doesn’t protect the Orang Asli communities that live in them, as does the Orang Asli Act,” he said.

In a joint statement issued yesterday to the chairperson of the consultative process, the coalitions said the issue of defining what constitutes legal timber is only one of their ‘minimum’ demands.

“... A definition which merely requires parties to abide by the law as set out in statutory provisions is simplistic and fails to deal with the real issue,” they said.

The real issue pertains to “respect for the Orang Asal as a people, as an autonomous community with our own customs, laws and institutions and the need to ensure that governmental actions do not jeopardise the very survival of our community but provide for the socio economic upliftment of the same”.

“In view of this unacceptable censuring, we are left with no choice but to officially withdraw from this process until our minimum demand is met. We refuse to continue to participate in a process that is making decisions over our lives and yet expects our participation to be mere endorsement of a process that does not respect us.”

The coalitions had planned to meet ministry officials over the matter today, but the appointment was called off by the ministry. Its spokesperson declined to give reasons, when contacted.

"It's Built On Private Land"

Moniot Road is named after a Frenchman, Michel Jules Moniot, who surveyed it between 1846 and 1855. Penang Hill has been a popular holiday retreat for the Mat Sallehs. Before the furnicular train (and later the Jeep Road), the only access up the hill was by horseback or by sedan chairs carried by coolies through Moniot Road. Later, the road was then tarred but then it was only for horse drawn carriages. It was abandoned when furnicular train was servicable in 1926.

This part of Moniot Road has always be a motorcycle lane since I came to know the trail in 1985. This road could not be suitable for modern day vehicles. Suddenly, sometime in Aug 2007, it was bulldozed. Picture below.

"It's built on private land", they said. How to believe if there is a signboard to prove otherwise?

Aug 2007

Oct 2007 - then they cemented it.

The Consequences You See Today

This tree is counting its day... if not for the Forest Reserve signboard, this tree would have long gone....

More consequences of building steep road on hilly terrain in my next chapter. When are they going to learn?

Rape & Liar

Read this interesting story today(5 Sept, 2007) in the Star paper.

I quote,

"We also have to determine whether the road is ‘illegal positive’ or ‘illegal negative’,” he added".

And so, now you can illegally rape the hill to build any road as you wish, because any road should be "positive" as it helps in the transportation and communication, right?

Malaysia Boleh!

I have been there on several occassions but strangely today, there was not a soul at the "illegal positive" road. Not even the bulldozer, tractor, lorry and cement mixer. All traces of the evidence were hidden from sight. The contractor was probably tipped-off by someone from the interview.

Picture of the bulldozer taken before Sept 5, 2007.

Read my emails exchange here.

Lie No 1:
On the 8th Aug 2007 the Director of Forestry Penang replied:
To be make sure all activities out side our Forest Reserved, we already engage land surveyer and within 2 weeks we can get the results on it. If that activities clasiffied under enchrochment , we will bring to the court under National Forestry Act.

In The Star today 5th Sept 2007:
After being alerted to the allegations of illegal construction in the Bukit Kerajaan Reserve Forrest, he said a survey would have to be done to investigate the claims. “We will investigate the matter if we have sufficient funds.

Lie No 2:
In The Star today 5th Sept 2007:
When contacted, Forestry Department director Samsudin Salleh denied receiving the complaint. “We have received a different complaint about the loss of biodiversity in the reserve area. However, it was determined that the area was privately owned,” he said.

His reply to my email of 8th Aug 2007 proved otherwise:

From : <samsudin@penang.gov.my>
Date : Aug 8, 2007 5:38 PM
Thank for your comment. Forestry Department observed that all kind of activities done in Owner land not in Forest Reserved. That why, I cannot take any legal action on damaging , cutting or chopping the tree in owner land. To be make sure all activities out side our Forest Reserved, we already engage land surveyer and within 2 weeks we can get the results on it. If that activities clasiffied under enchrochment , we will bring to the court under National Forestry Act.TQ


Maybe Kayveas can say this, "I didn't say he is a liar, I say he is like a liar".

Adapted from:

‘Saya tak cakap dia monyet, saya cakap dia macam monyet’ - Kayveas, PPP president in parliament addressing the opposition but refused to apologize.

SOS - Live Earth on 07.07.07

Today - 07.07.07 is the day for The Concerts For A Climate in Crisis.

Live Earth will use the global reach of music to engage people on a mass scale to combat our climate crisis. Lets do something today and everyday until our last breath!

Live Earth’s 7-point pledge on the climate crisis as posted at http://www.liveearth.org/
I pledge, you pledge, we all pledge, we all win

::The international 7-Point Pledge to solve the climate crisis::

• To demand that my country join an international treaty within the next 2 years that cuts global warming pollution by 90% in developed countries and by more than half worldwide in time for the next generation to inherit a healthy earth;

• To take personal action to help solve the climate crisis by reducing my own CO2 pollution as much as I can and offsetting the rest to become “carbon neutral;”

• To fight for a moratorium on the construction of any new generating facility that burns coal without the capacity to safely trap and store the CO2;

• To work for a dramatic increase in the energy efficiency of my home, workplace, school, place of worship, and means of transportation;

• To fight for laws and policies that expand the use of renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on oil and coal;

• To plant new trees and to join with others in preserving and protecting forests; and,

• To buy from businesses and support leaders who share my commitment to solving the climate crisis and building a sustainable, just, and prosperous world for the 21st century.

:::::::::Let's do it!:::::::::