KUCHING: The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the Sarawak Forest Department had signed a Letter of Agreement (LoA) to carry out a gap assessment of the newly harmonised Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) guidelines for Sarawak against international best practice and through multi-stakeholder consultation.
The harmonised RIL Guidelines for Sarawak is an important step to standardise timber harvesting method in Sarawak in order to regulate the state’s timber industry.
In this project, FDS and WWF-Malaysia will work together to ensure successful implementation of the projects. Together, both parties will ensure that the RIL guideline for Sarawak is improved following international best practice and through a consultative process.
The LoA was signed by Bruno Cammaert, Forestry Officer of the FAO EU FLEGT Programme from the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and Hamden Mohammad, state Director of Forests.
Also present at the event were Dr Jason Hon Head of Conservation from WWF-Malaysia; Josil P Murray, Consultant for the FAO EU FLEGT Programme in Asia Pacific; Abang Ahmad Abang Morni, deputy director of Forest Department Sarawak and Mohd Shahbudin Sabki, Head of Forest Department Sarawak’s International Affairs Division.
