CEO's NEW YEAR MESSAGE

An eventful year has passed and a new one has just arrived.

The year 2019 has been a memorable and significant one for MTCC as we celebrated our 20th anniversary themed “Pushing Boundaries Advancing Sustainability” on 24 September. The anniversary celebration saw MTCC organising a series of activities to publicise the event including the conduct of a one-day conference, and an anniversary dinner where the MTCC Sustainability Awards were presented.

The conference recapped 20 years of development and progress of timber certification in Malaysia, envisioned certification as a driver for disruptive innovations and forecasted the future of certification under the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) and beyond 2030. The highlight of the celebration was the anniversary dinner which was graced by Minister of Primary Industries YB Puan Teresa Kok. At the dinner, MTCC also presented the MTCC Sustainability Awards to four certified organisations that have shown exemplary leadership and carried out inspirational initiatives in sustainability. The proud winners of the inaugural awards were:

  • Ulu Sungai Milian and Sapulut FMU managed by Bornion Timber Sdn. Bhd. (Social Sustainability and Empowerment category)
  • One-Tech (M) Sdn. Bhd (Product Innovation and Diversification category)
  • Anap Muput FMU managed by Zedtee Sdn. Bhd. (Biodiversity and Ecosystem category)
  • Segaliud Lokan FMU managed by KTS Plantation Sdn. Bhd. (Leadership in Sustainability category)

MTCC wishes to thank all our stakeholders for their support, inputs and cooperation in making this event a great success.

The annual Freezailah Forest Sustainability Award was presented to Damri Darman from the Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) for his research on the economic value of wildlife at the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, Sabah. The academic award is a joint effort between MTCC and UMS and reflects MTCC’s continued commitment in promoting academic excellence and instilling greater passion for the forests and their sustainability among the youth. 

UPDATE

On forest management and chain of custody certification, the MTCS-certified forest areas span a total of 4.25 million hectares of natural forests and 109,205 hectares of forest plantation as at 30 November 2019. After 27 years of the Earth Summit, only a total of 512 million hectares or 12.8% of the world’s forests have been certified for sustainable forest management, inclusive of 34 million hectares or 6.5% from tropical forests. In this connection, we are pleased to note that 13.4% of the total tropical forests certified in the world is contributed by the MTCS. 

The number of chain of custody-certified timber companies is 374, or 10% of the total number of timber companies in Malaysia. The country’s annual export volume of MTCS-certified timber as of 31 October 2019 amounted to 203,798 cubic metres.  

Besides these developments, we would like to thank the Standards Review Committee (SRC) for their tremendous hard work in reviewing and finalising the MC&I standard at the 5th SRC meeting held on 7-9 December 2019.

MOVING FORWARD

Despite the above achievements, this is no time to rest on our laurels. We believe that we need to gear up our efforts to ensure that the MTCS maintains its position as the leading tropical forest scheme and stays relevant in championing and contributing towards sustainability endeavours locally and internationally.

With regards to that, we have come up with a new Vision and Mission as well as a short-term strategy to chart the future directions of MTCC. Our new Vision is “A nation that appreciates and internalises the full value and contribution of forest towards global sustainability.” And for that, “MTCC is committed to strengthen the MTCS to realise the full value and contribution of forest through sustainable forest management and chain of custody certification.”  

Guided by the Vision and the Mission, the short-term MTCC Strategy 2020-2025 takes into considerations the current state of MTCC and MTCS. And as a member of the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), the strategy also takes cognizance of the PEFC Strategy 2018-2022. 

Under the strategy, we envisioned that by 2025, the following objectives can be achieved:

  1. Greater uptake of MTCS, which is to increase the number of certified forest management unit (FMU) to 40, and the number of timber companies certified under the chain of custody certification to 600.   
  2. MTCS is mainstreamed and its position further enhanced in national policies related to sustainability.
  3. Expansion of scope of certification under the MTCS.
  4. Greater acceptance and recognition of MTCS-certified products both domestically and internationally.
  5. Closer collaboration with stakeholders and increase effort on communication, education and public awareness.
  6. Embracing innovation and technology advancement.
  7. MTCC is strengthened institutionally.

To make this happen, MTCC looks forward to the continued support and cooperation from our stakeholders which have been our pillars since day one. 

Wishing you good health, happiness and success in all your endeavours in 2020.

Yours sincerely,

Yong Teng Koon

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