SARAWAK remains committed to planting 35 million trees in line with the Greening Malaysia Programme to plant 100 million trees by 2025.
Second Minister for Natural Resources and Urban Development, Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said this when delivering his ministerial winding-up speech at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) on Today (Dec 1).
He said the Forest Landscape Restoration Programme (FLR) aimed to enrich degraded forest areas with native tree species of high value.
“Therefore, the Sarawak government has raise this programme as the main agenda known as
Greening Sarawak Campaign.
“As of Nov 27, a total of 15.8 million trees were planted, the highest in Malaysia.”
He added that as many as 15 Forest Management Units (FMU) with an area of 1.35 million hectares had been certified under the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) recognised by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), Geneva, Switzerland.
“In addition, an area of 94,966 hectares involving six Forest Plantation Management Units (FPMU) had also been certified.
“On Sep 13, 2019, the Sarawak government approved the Forest Management Certification Policy in Sarawak by obligating all long-term logging licenses to obtain forest management certification status.”
He said the achievement of the forest certification status was important to prove the forest management practiced in Sarawak meets international standards and wood products produced can be marketed competitively in the global market.
“This forest certification status can also improve the image and reputation of Sarawak in managing and administering forests at the international level.
“Achieving this certification is proof of solid commitment of the Sarawak government to achieve the state’s vision to be a developed state by 2030.”
