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.

Using Google to save Earth

January 31, 2012
By ISABELLE LAI
Star

PETALING JAYA: Google Earth, the virtual globe, map and geographical information program, is proving to be a favoured tool by environmental groups and the authorities to check on illegal forest clearing and land occupation.

Terengganu Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said had said last week that the state government was using it to detect illegal occupation of government-owned land in the state, adding that stern action would be taken from this year against the culprits, which included civil servants.

Commenting on this, Malaysian Nature Society Selangor branch vice-chairman Lim Teck Wyn said Google Earth was effective in getting a general overview of any area.

“There’s a useful function which allows us to do a time lapse observation by comparing older satellite images with recent ones,” he told The Star yesterday.

Lim, a forestry consultant, said this helped to detect recent logging activities as the change in forest mass would be obvious.

However, he stressed that there was no substitute for ground checks as Google Earth images are not al­­ways recent or detailed.

WWF-Malaysia chief executive officer and executive director Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma said Google Earth was helpful in calculating an overview of forest loss or land changes.

“It helps us to see whether the Go­­vernment is keeping its pledge to maintain 50% of the country’s land mass under forest cover,” he said.

Dr Sharma added, however, that the organisation mostly derived its information regarding illegal logging or animal smuggling from its on-site staff.

He said WWF-Malaysia employs some 185 people, spread around the country on its projects of interest.

“That is the fastest way we pick up information. The problem with using satellite tools is that by the time we detect changes, it’s probably a foregone conclusion,” he said.

Originally called EarthViewer 3D, Google Earth was created by Keyhole Inc, a company funded by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency and acquired by Google in 2004.

It maps the Earth from satellite image­­ry, aerial photography and geo­graphic information systems (GIS) 3D globe.

It is available as a free version with limited functions and a paid ver­­­­­sion, with additional features, for commercial use.

As at October last year, Google Earth had been downloaded more than a billion times.