By Ling Hui and Cornelius Kadir Edison
KUCHING, March 26: Sarawak is the greatest contributor to the forest coverage in Malaysia with 42 per cent or 7.7 million hectares of trees from the state.
In stating this, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said Sarawak is the reason why Malaysia has been recognised as a nation that can preserve its forests.
In line with Malaysia’s Green Program Campaign to plant 100 million trees by 2025, he added Sarawak itself has already planted about 3.15 million trees this year.
“We (Sarawak) also have our target and I was told that we are targetting one million hectares to be planted with different species of commercial trees through the development of industrial forestry by 2025.
“And until today, more than 500,000 hectares of areas throughout the state have been panted with various species of trees,” he said during the celebration of the state-level International Forest Day 2021 at Bukit Siol, Petra Jaya.
It was raining cats and dogs during the event and that was when Abang Johari exclaimed: “Hujan turun memberikan alamat yang baik (Theae showers of blessings are a good sign).”
He said it means the trees on Sarawak’s lands will grow because there is sufficient water.
Ever since 1886, he added on, the timber industry in Sarawak has been an important source to the development of the socioeconomy, until this day.
“Most of our forests have undergone at least one to two selective logging cycles where valuable timber stocks such as ‘grapu’, ‘ranti’ and so on have gradually reduced.
“The impacts of rapid development over the years is indeed inevitable, but it is time for us to carry out restoration activities in the state to recover the ecological function of the forests and to increase the well-being of the surrounding community,” he said.
With the allocation of RM62 million from the state government to the Sarawak Forestry Department (SFD), he was confident that Sarawak’s forest replantation programmes could be implemented efficiently.
During the ceremony, SFD also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), Sime Darby Plantation (SDP) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) to establish cooperation in environmental restoration and conservation especially in water catchment areas and research.
Also present at the event were Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan and SFD director Datu Hamden Mohammad.—DayakDaily
