Perak MB: 4,200 football fields worth of forest reserves cleared illegally

 

3,000 hectares, or 4,200 football fields, of forest reserves in Perak were detected to have been illegally cleared to date, according to Menteri Besar Saarani Mohamad.

He said the issue was being addressed through the state Forestry Department, with five cases brought to court and several others currently being investigated.

“Some people have been chopping down trees and extracting timber illegally from the forest and sold them. Some others have been cultivating crops on the land. This is illegal deforestation.

“We urge all of them to stop the activities immediately because we have a specific law for timber extraction. If logging activities are not controlled, it will cause mud floods,” he said at a press conference today.

Saarani (above) was speaking at the Greening Malaysia Programme: Tasik Raban Lenggong in conjunction with the Perak-level 100 Million Tree-Planting Campaign at Dataran Tasik Raban, about 60km from Ipoh.

Also present was Energy and Natural Resources Minister Shamsul Anuar Nasarah.

Saarani said a special committee was formed to deal with the issue and the state Forestry Department has also identified those involved with the illegal deforestation sites.

Earlier in his speech, he said Perak has planted 100,000 trees since early January and would intensify its efforts to encourage people’s participation in the campaign, so as to achieve the state’s target of planting 10 million trees by 2025.

At the same news conference, Shamsul said to date, 5.8 million trees have been planted nationwide, with Sarawak recording the highest number.

“I’m confident we can achieve the target (of planting 100 million trees nationwide by 2025) based on our achievement so far. We hope various quarters will volunteer to take part in the programme together with government-linked companies and corporate bodies,” he said.

Earlier, Saarani and Shamsul planted several trees that are related to Perak such as the Ipoh, Beruas, Kangsar, and Sungkai trees in the Tasik Raban area.

On Jan 5, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin launched the 100 Million Tree-Planting Campaign 2021-2025.

The campaign was also launched simultaneously at the state levels by the respective Menteris Besar and Chief Ministers.

- Bernama