Forestry policy finally in place, little known to all

 

From Hilary Chiew

Commemoration of the International Day of Forests this year, which falls on March 21, has a special significance for Malaysia. The country finally has a national policy in its real sense, albeit geographically.

The Malaysia Forestry Policy, approved at the 78th National Land Council meeting in January, is the first policy document on forest matters that covers all three regions of the country – Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.

Prior to this, little known to the public, the nine-page National Forestry Policy 1978 (amended 1992) only covered the peninsula.

Another significance of the policy is the reported inclusion of the much-touted 50% forest cover pledge made at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

After nearly 30 years, this moral commitment is finally enshrined in an official policy document. The good news is that, despite this delay, the country has succeeded in maintaining forest cover of over 55.3% of its land mass.

Thus far, the policy has yet to be made public. Up to now, the energy and natural resources ministry has yet to upload the policy on its website.

Having the target in black-and-white is only the first step. It remains to be seen if the policy includes any additional operational mechanism.

It is understood that the forests, wherever they are located, come under the jurisdiction of the respective states.

As it stands, the distribution of forests varies among states. In terms of geographical regions, the forest coverage is 43.6% for Peninsular Malaysia, 64.5% for Sabah and 62.3% for Sarawak.

Given the economic development and concentration of population, it is unsurprising that Peninsular Malaysia has lost more than half of its forests.

Over the past few years, some states had indirectly declared their contribution to the national pledge.

For example, as the most industrialised state, Selangor set a target of at least 30%. Sabah has declared at least 50% in its latest policy, launched in 2018.

In the long run, the challenges of maintaining the pledge will only increase. The demand for land for infrastructure development is expected to increase in Sabah and Sarawak as well as states on the east coast of the peninsula.

Plans to exploit minerals such as rare earths deposited in the forest reserves will exert pressure on the quest to maintain a high forest cover.

Therefore, it is high time that policymakers developed a far-sighted, comprehensive plan which could include a burden-sharing mechanism among the states or regions.

Already, we are witnessing conflicts with states having more forested land demanding compensation for the ecosystem services such as surface water supplies from rivers that flow across state boundaries.

Another inevitable consideration, perhaps, would be to relook the target. This would be tricky and contentious as Malaysia has been struggling to handle the long-standing disinformation campaign of accusations of deforestation, which has adversely affected its commodity industries.

Managing the forest well is not merely about the forest cover. Degradation of forests such as converting natural forests into monoculture plantation will affect the carbon stocks and count towards the country’s emission level.

As precious carbon sinks, the forestry sector is an important component of Malaysian climate action for decades to come.

Hence, getting the policy right on forests cannot be emphasised further; ensuring policy-coherence is equally important. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.