By William Isau
SIBU, Oct 9: Sarawak is approaching its target of 35 million trees planted within five years (2021–2025) under Le Tour De Restoration (LTDR) Greening Sarawak’s Campaign 2.0 Programme.
“To date, Sarawak has managed to record the highest number of plantings among states in Malaysia with the planting of 29,295,293 trees,” said Forest Department Sarawak director Datu Hamden Mohammad today
In saying this at the launch of the LDTR Sibu leg at University of Technology Sarawak (UTS), he said Sarawak which has the largest forest area in Malaysia at 7.67 million hectares and equivalent to 62 per cent of the 12.44 million hectares of Sarawak is the largest contributor to forest cover in Malaysia at 44 per cent.
“The largest forest area is located in the Permanent Forest Reserve which covers an area of 3.9 million hectares where the management is under the responsibility of Forest Department Sarawak,” he said.
Hamden revealed that according to the summary of the 2021 Auditor General’s Report, Series 2 for Sarawak, namely the Special Audit of Forest Management and Environmental Impact which was issued on January 6, 2023, as a whole, forests in Sarawak have been managed sustainably to provide socio-economic benefits and maintain the sustainability of the surrounding environment.
“In order to ensure that the forest cover area is balanced with the development programme implemented, various initiatives have been implemented by Forest Department Sarawak such as the Forest Landscape Restoration Programme (FLR) which was officially launched by the Premier on June,15 2019,” he emphasised.
In line with the Greening of Malaysia agenda through the 100 Million Tree Planting Campaign (2021–2025), Forest Department Sarawak has rebranded FLR to ‘Greening Sarawak’ by expanding the scope of planting and coordinating planting in other areas such as State land, urban areas, schools and so on.
The target under this campaign is to plant 35 million trees within a period of five years (2021–2025).
Hamden said the LTDR 2.0 programme held in conjunction with the 60th Anniversary of Sarawak Merdeka is a continuation of the LTDR programme which was held in 2021.
“It is one of the approaches inspired by the Sarawak Forest Department to attract public participation to actively engage in the Greening Sarawak Campaign and Greening Malaysia programmes,” he explained.
The LTDR 2.0 programme was launched on September 23, at Taman Rimba Sebangkoi. The tour then went to Bintulu, Miri, Lawas and Kapit before Sibu. It will head to Betong and finally to Kuching.
At each tour stop, 60 Belian trees which is the official tree of the State of Sarawak will be planted in collaboration with various agencies as a symbol of celebrating 60 years of Sarawak Independence.
For the LTDR 2.0 programme at the Sibu Region level, in addition to the purchased trees, the Sarawak Forest Department also contributed 60 high-value native trees of various other species that will be planted in the UTS compound such as meranti, selangan, engkabang, nyatoh ketiau, ramin, and gaharu.
The programme today was officiated at by Deputy Minister for Education, Innovation, and Talent Development Datuk Dr Annuar Rapaee. — DayakDaily
