Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan has called for the state governments to gear up their efforts to increase the number of certified forests in their respective states in line with Malaysia’s sustainable forest management commitment.
Takiyuddin said Malaysia has been implementing forest management certification under various schemes such as the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) scheme. Highlighting the MTCS as the voluntary national forest certification scheme, he said its implementation will bring various benefits to the nation.
“Apart from ensuring that products of the timber industry are derived from sustainable sources, the implementation of the MTCS, which is based on the Malaysian Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management (MC&I SFM), can help protect water catchment areas and water quality, conserve the environment, maintain the sustainability of forest resources as well as improve the economy of local communities which depend on forest products as a source of their livelihoods,” he said at the national level International Day of Forests 2022 celebration themed Forests for Society’s Well-Being which was held at Tanum Forest Reserve in Kuala Lipis, Pahang on 26 March 2022.
“As of 28 February 2022, a total of 1.5 million hectares of Permanent Reserved Forest (PRF) in the state have been certified under the MTCS forest management certification. I hope that Pahang and other state governments will step up their efforts to increase certified forests in their respective states in line with Malaysia’s continued endeavours in sustainable forest management. Now is indeed the time for us to place the importance of managing our forests sustainably as our main agenda,” he said at the event which had the Regent of Pahang, Tengku Mahkota Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah as the guest of honour.
To date, seven Forest Management Units (FMUs) in Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Selangor, Terengganu and Johor have been certified under the MTCS, covering 4.05 million hectares of PRF in Peninsular Malaysia. In East Malaysia, six FMUs in Sabah and 17 FMUs in Sarawak have been certified under the scheme, spanning 0.20 million hectares of PRF and 1.18 million hectares of PRF respectively. In addition, one FMU in Terengganu and three FMUs in Sabah have been certified under the FSC, covering 56,757 hectares, said the Minister.
Officiating the event, Pahang Menteri Besar, Dato’ Sri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail said Pahang is the biggest contributor of forested areas amongst the states in Peninsular Malaysia with a total of 2.04 million hectares under forest cover. From that total, 1.6 million hectares have been gazetted as PRF and 645,751 hectares as Protection Forest.
“The Pahang state government is committed in ensuring that the forests continued to be conserved while development projects will be carried out sustainably according to the Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) approach. Echoing the approach, the state government recently came out with several initiatives to conserve and preserve forests as well as their rich biodiversity such as the establishments of Pahang State Parks Corporation and Pahang State Biodiversity Council. A special patrolling unit, Pahang Forest Ranger, has also been established to carry out enforcement activities to protect wildlife,” he said.
The event was commemorated with a tree-planting activity led by Tengku Mahkota Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim. It was held at a site of the Central Forest Spine ecology corridor project in Tanum Forest Reserve.
MTCC Presents MTCS Certificate to Pahang State Forestry Department
At the event, the MTCS Certificate for Forest Management was presented to the Pahang state government for its continued success of maintaining the state’s certified natural forests under the MTCS. The certificate was issued by certification body, SIRIM QAS International Sdn Bhd following a successful recertification audit of the Pahang FMU managed by the Pahang State Forestry Department. The audit was done against the requirements of the prescribed MC&I (SFM) standard under the scheme.
MTCC’s Chairman, Kamaruzaman Mohamad said the Pahang FMU is the largest FMU in Peninsular Malaysia and was among the three pioneering FMUs to be assessed against the standard under the voluntary scheme.
“The Pahang FMU, together with the Selangor and Terengganu FMUs were among the earliest FMUs to be certified under the MTCS since its pilot implementation in October 2001. It received the MTCC Certificate for Forest Management for the first time on 14 December 2001. Despite various changes, revisions and updates in the MTCS, its certificate has been successfully renewed following its continued compliance to the MTCS requirements.
As the National Governing Body of the scheme, MTCC would like to congratulate the Pahang state government, especially the Pahang State Forestry Department, for this achievement. This reflects the years of commendable commitment shown by them in adhering to the strict requirements of the MTCS standard towards ensuring that the valuable forests continued to be sustainably managed for the society’s well-being,” he said after presenting the certificate to the Director of Pahang State Forestry Department, Dato’ Dr Mohd Hizamri Mohd Yassin, witnessed by Tengku Mahkota Pahang.
He added that MTCC has targeted to increase the uptake of the MTCS in both FMUs and Forest Plantation Management Units (FPMUs) from the current 30 FMUs and FPMUs to 40 by the year 2025 in line with its short-term MTCC Strategy 2020-2025.