YB Dato Sri visited the MTCC booth accompanied by Dato’ Nor Akhirrudin Mahmud (Director General, Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia) and Dr Megat Sany, Undersecretary, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
Kuala Lumpur, 7 Aug 2017 – The Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) participated in an exhibition held in conjunction with the 20th ASEAN Senior Officials on Forestry (ASOF) Meeting in Putrajaya from 26-28 July 2017. The ASOF Meeting is an annual event which gathers senior forestry officials from ASEAN Member States (AMS) to formulate and implement regional cooperation projects and activities related to forestry, conservation and timber trade. The Meeting was attended by over 80 senior officials from all AMS except Singapore.
The exhibition is in support of ASOF’s aim of accomplishing sustainable forest management (SFM) and conservation of natural resources in the region, and to showcase MTCC’s experience on timber certification as an impactful tool in pursuing SFM in Malaysia. “Malaysia has been a leader in this region for timber certification when the MTCC was established in 1998. Through the Working Group on Pan ASEAN Timber Certification Initiative established under the ASOF platform, MTCC has been sharing its experiences and expertise in operationalizing our national scheme – the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) – with other AMS. We are proud to highlight that the MTCS is the first tropical timber certification scheme to be endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) in the Asia Pacific region in 2009,” said MTCC CEO Yong Teng Koon.
“Currently only Malaysia and Indonesia have an operational national timber certification scheme in ASEAN. The implementation of a national timber certification scheme is in line with the Strategic Plan of Action for ASEAN Co-operation in Forestry (2016-2025) where all AMS are required to implement the ASEAN Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Tropical Forests”, added Yong.
Besides the ASEAN delegates, MTCC was honoured to have YB Dato Sri Dr. Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment visited the MTCC stand at the exhibition.