By Dayangku Hidayatul
KUCHING, Oct 21: Sarawak aims to plant an additional 50 million trees by 2030 under the Greening Malaysia 2.0 initiative, while leveraging drone technology and digital mapping to improve forest restoration and ensure lasting ecological benefits.
Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said the State government was committed to strengthening the management of Permanent Forest Estates and Totally Protected Areas, as well as restoring 200,000 hectares of degraded forests by 2030 through the Greening Sarawak Campaign.
“To date, approximately 106,595 hectares of degraded land have been planted with various local tree species.
“These efforts will be carried out in collaboration with relevant agencies and local communities to ensure effective forest management, protection and restoration, while safeguarding the sustainability of forest resources for future generations,” he said.
Awang Tengah, who is also Second Minister for Natural Resources and Urban Development, said this when speaking during his ministerial winding-up speech at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUS) sitting today.
Awang Tengah said the Greening Sarawak Campaign had achieved encouraging results, with approximately 65 million trees planted between 2021 and October 2026, surpassing the target of 35 million trees set for Sarawak under Malaysia’s 100 Million Tree-Planting Campaign.
Meanwhile, he said the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) had planted 104,894 seedlings of local tree species across 16 degraded sites within Totally Protected Areas (TPAs) through its Rewilding Project.
He said the achievement reflected the collective commitment of the government, corporate sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), institutions of higher learning and local communities to environmental conservation and biodiversity protection.
To sustain this momentum, Awang Tengah said Sarawak would continue to focus not only on the number of trees planted, but also on their survival rates and the effectiveness of ecosystem restoration. — DayakDaily
