4.8 Million Hectare Forest Area Gazetted As Permanent Forest Reserves

KUALA LUMPUR,March 28 (Bernama) -- A total of 4.8 million hectare of forest area had been gazetted as permanent forest reserves under the National Forestry Act 1984 as of Dec 31 last year, the Dewan Rakyat or lower house of Parliament was told Thursday. Deputy Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji said the area made up 37 per cent of the total area of Peninsular Malaysia. “The ministry also identifies forest area at government land with potential to be made permanent forest reserves covering 115,399 hectare,” he said during the oral question and answer session in the Parliament. He was responding to a question by Wong Tack (PH-Bentong) on efforts made by the Forest Department to achieve the five million hectare of permanent forest reserves in Peninsular Malaysia by 2020. Tengku Zulpuri Shah said he was confident of achieving the target, including through cooperation with the state governments to enable more areas to be identified for the purpose. He said the ministry was also formulating a Forestry Bill to co-ordinate all forestry-related laws in the country, to incorporate, among others, public hearing before approval could be given for any logging activities. -- BERNAMA