By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, May 19: The Forests (Amendment) Bill 2022 which seeks to license forest carbon activities over Sarawak land, permanent forests and alienated land was unanimously passed in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) today.
Deputy Premier-cum-Second Minister for Urban Development and Natural Resources Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, in his winding up speech said the government will ensure that the forest carbon activity licences under the new provision will comply with international standards and relevant protocols.
“The value of our forest resources will be enhanced with the introduction of carbon credit programmes which will attract investment in forest carbon activities. These will provide the State and the other stakeholders with additional sources of revenue,” he said.
Awang Tengah, who is also Bukit Sari assemblyman, took note that according to the Interim Report by UK-PACT, the consultant appointed by the Sarawak government to develop Green Economic Policy in Sarawak, the State’s net share of emissions after subtracting natural sinks, resulted in a negative emissions baseline from 2016 National GHG Inventory, submitted by Malaysia to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
“This is due to large forested areas and relatively low national proportion of sectorial emission. Therefore, it positively reinforces Sarawak’s aspiration to enhance its forests and promote biodiversity as a natural capital for competitive advantage in the pursuit of a green economy,” he explained.
He informed that Sarawak is a major contributor to the National Determined Contribution (NDC) as it was able to contribute 62 per cent of the State forest cover against 50 per cent commitment by the Federal government.
He also mentioned that before Malaysia submits the NDC to the UNFCCC, the documents will go through various meticulous process that focuses on quality assurances and includes the integrity of data, accuracy, comparability and consistency to avoid double counting and false reporting which is in accordance with Article 4.13 of the Paris Agreement.
“Additionally, our forest carbon activity will be certified by internationally recognised third party verifiers under UNFCCC. So the integrity of the data submitted by Sarawak would be unquestionable in terms of its reliability.
“This submission will also undergo the UNFCCC evaluation and verification process. Once it has gone through these processes, it will be published in the public domain.
“Apart from that, the report will be presented during Conference of Parties (COP) which is held annually,” he emphasised.
A total of 20 assemblymen participated in the debate of the Bill after its second reading. — DayakDaily
