Forests larger than 3 states combined set to be cleared - group warns

 

Environmental watchdog RimbaWatch today sounded an alarm over massive future deforestation of the country’s forests involving a total land area that is larger than Perak, Penang, and Malacca combined.

In a statement, the NGO said its analysis estimated that a further 2.34 million hectares of forests in the country have been earmarked for deforestation.

The total land mass would be just behind the size of Pahang, which is the third-largest state in Malaysia with about 3.59 million hectares, it said.

“Using data collected from desktop research, which includes official forestry maps and project descriptions, among others, we have analysed 438 alerts concerning areas at risk of deforestation in the future.

“From our analysis, we estimate that a further 2,346,601ha of forests in Malaysia have been earmarked for deforestation.

“The 2,346,601ha earmarked for deforestation is an area 100 times the size of WPKL and is larger than the size of Perak, Penang, and Malacaa combined - if it was a state of its own it would be Malaysia’s fourth-largest state after Pahang,” said RimbaWatch, which used to be known as the Rimba Disclosure Project.

Below 50pct

According to the statement, the areas at risk of deforestation they analysed involved five categories, namely zoning of forested land for non-forest usage; real estate listings of forested land; forest reserve degazettement; approved forest-risk environmental impact assessments; and miscellaneous data.

RimbaWatch said that based on the estimation, such future deforestation would risk decreasing Malaysia's forest cover to 15.6 million hectares, or 47.35 percent of the country’s total land area.

This was based on the government’s data in 2017, which listed Malaysia’s forest cover as 18.33 million hectares or 55.2 percent of the country’s total land area.

“This is below Malaysia’s commitment to maintain 50 percent of its land as forest cover,” it added.

Based on its analysis, the group also estimated that timber plantations in forest reserves would remain as the top driver of future deforestation.

While the plantations fall under programmes referred to by forest authorities as “forest plantations”, RimbaWatch said they actually involve the deforestation and conversion of forest reserve lands into industrial plantations for commodities such as rubber and acacia.

The group called on the government to end all deforestation programmes for timber plantations and also amend its definition of forest cover to include only natural forests.

They also urge Putrajaya to expand on its 50 percent forest cover commitment and develop a strategy to maintain natural forest cover. - Mkini