By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, May 25: The Sarawak government is close to achieving its target of at least six million hectares of land as a Permanent Forest Estate (PFE), with over four million hectares achieved so far.
According to Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, Sarawak is also targeting at least one million hectares for Totally Protected Areas (TPA), and efforts toward this are now nearing the established goal.
“When combined with land areas and water bodies, we have reached 2.1 million hectares. This demonstrates our commitment to strengthening sustainable forest management,” he said at the officiating ceremony of the Sarawak-level International Day of Forests 2026 celebration themed ‘Forests and Economies’ in Miri on Sunday (May 24), as reported by the Sarawak Public Communication Unit (Ukas).
Awang Tengah, who is also the Second Minister for Natural Resources and Urban Development and Minister for International Trade, Industry, and Investment, said that Sarawak, which covers an area of 14.2 million hectares, still maintains over 62 per cent of its land area as forest as a result of the continuous implementation of sustainable forest management.
At the same time, he stressed that the Sarawak government does not reject development, but also does its part to ensure that every project is implemented sustainably and responsibly through the strengthening of forest management certification systems, law enforcement, the use of modern technology in forest monitoring, and the implementation of sustainable forest management.
Awang Tengah also added that Sarawak continues to expand its reforestation programmes and develop industrial forest plantations to reduce pressure on natural forests.
“To date, 57 million trees have been planted, and Sarawak is ahead of the national target,” he said. — DayakDaily
