14. Malaysia (2024)

Source of data: Forest Department Headquarters,May 2000

* Inclusive of forest area and area under agricultural treecrops

** Dipterocarps, swamp forests and mangrove forests

*** Total changed on forested and tree crops area

**** According to the World Population Prospects, the 1998Revision, ECOSOC - UN

General information

Malaysia is a tropical country which comprises PeninsularMalaysia (consisting of eleven states and the federal territory of KualaLumpur), Sabah (including federal territory of Labuan), and Sarawak. 79% of thepopulation is located in Peninsular Malaysia. According to the World Bank,Malaysia is an upper-middle income country.

The manufacturing sector, including electronics, has emergedas the leading economic sector, followed by agriculture (agriculture, livestock,forestry and fisheries), and the retailing and hospitality sectors. Theproduction and export of primary industries, such as crude oil, palm oil, tin,and rubber, have contributed significantly to the socio-economic development ofthe country. Malaysia leads the world in the production of rubber and is one ofthe biggest producers of cocoa, palm oil, tropical hardwoods, pepper and tin. Inregard to socio-economic development, the forestry sector remains an importantsector. This sector also makes a significant contribution to the conservation ofgenetic resources, to the climatic and environmental conditions of parks andrecreational facilities, whilst providing for the needs of forestdwellers.

The year 1996-2000 is the period of the implementation of theSeventh Malaysia Plan. Like many other Asian countries, Malaysia’s economywas also influenced by the Asian economic and financial crisis, which was feltin 1998. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth declined by 6.7% after 12 yearsof uninterrupted growth averaging 7.8% per annum. This situation had asignificant impact on the private sector spending, resulting in reducedconsumption and investment that led to a build-up in stocks and excess capacityand further depressing the private sector investment.

The forestry sector remains an important sector in terms ofits significant contribution to the socio-economic development of the country.Despite the regional financial crises, the total exports of timber and timberproducts in 1998 was impressive, the third highest among the commodities afterpetroleum oil and palm oil products. Exports of the major wood-based productshave increased steadily over the last decade, rising from RM 8.9 billion in 1990to RM 12.7 billion in 1998, an increase of 42.7%. However, the export value in1998 of RM 13.5 billion declined by 3.4% compared to that in 1997 of RM 12.7billion.

Forest resources

Under the Malaysian Constitution, land is defined as a statematter and is thus under the jurisdiction of the respective State Governments.Each State is empowered to enact laws on forestry and to formulate forest policyindependently. The National Forestry Council (NFC) was established in 1971 toserve as a forum for the Federal and State Governments to discuss and resolvecommon problems and issues relating to forestry policy, administration andmanagement. All the decisions of the NFC have to be endorsed by the NationalCouncil (NLC) which is empowered by the Malaysian Constitution to formulate anational policy for the promotion and control of the utilisation of land formining, agriculture, and forestry.

The total forest area was 20.25 million ha, or 61.4% of thetotal land area in 1998. This is an increase of 0.83 million ha or 4.3% comparedto 1990, due to the 1.55 million ha increase in forest area inSarawak.

Taking into consideration the 4.8 million ha plantation underfast-growing agriculture tree crops such as rubber, oil palm, cocoa, andcoconut, the total area under permanent tree cover amounted to 25.05 million haor about 76.0% of the total land area in 1998. These agricultural tree crops,particularly rubber trees are of importance as sources of timber and fibrematerials. Table 1 shows the trend of forest area from 1960-1998.

Table 1: Forested area and tree crops
(million ha)

Besides the protection forest within the PFE, other protectedareas that had been gazetted/proposed as national parks and wildlife and birdsanctuaries amounted to 2.12 million ha. Of this 0.33 million ha are locatedwithin the PFE. These parks and sanctuaries are carefully selected to reflectthe representatives of the biological diversity found in the country.

The Government has set aside pockets of virgin forest, knownas Virgin Jungle Reserves (VJRs) throughout the country as ecological types oforiginal conditions, particularly for studies. As of now, 120 VJRs had beenestablished, covering an area of 111.800 ha representing several forest types,including: mangrove swamp forest, beach strand forest. heath forest, peat swampforest, low land dipterocarp forest, hill and upper hill dipterocarp forests,and montane forest.

Forest plantations have been established since the1950’s. The species planted include tropical pines and fast-growinghardwood species. Other species planted include Tectona grandis,Shorea macrophylla and Durio zibethinus.

At the end of 1998, a total area of 227,863 ha of forestplantation was established in Malaysia, of which 73,735 ha were in PeninsularMalaysia. In view of the growing importance of forest plantations and toencourage greater private sector investment, a National Committee on ForestPlantation Development with full participation from the private sector wasformed. The Committee’s main role is to formulate a national strategy andaction plan for the promotion and effective implementation of forest plantationprogrammes.

The National Forestry Policy (NFP) was accepted by the NFC in1977 and endorsed by the NLC in 1978 for the administration and management ofits national forest. However, the NFP was revised in 1992 to take cognisance ofcurrent global concern on the conservation of biological diversity, sustainableutilisation of genetic resources and the participation of local communities inforestry.

To ensure effective forest management implementation inMalaysia, various forestry enactment and ordinances have been formulated andenforced by the respective State Authorities since 1910. These legislation werefurther strengthened in the areas of forest management planning and forestrenewal operations with the endorsem*nt of the National Forestry Act and theWood-Based Industries Act by an act of the Parliament in 1984. These two Actsare currently being enforced by all the States, and especially in PeninsularMalaysia. In tandem with the revised National Forestry Policy and in order tofurther safeguard the forest resources from illegal logging and timber theft,the National Forestry Act, 1984 was amended in 1993 to include more stringentpenalties for such forest offences, includinng a mandatory jail sentence of notleast than one year. Actions are currently being undertaken to revise theWood-Based Industries Act of 1984.

Forestry development in the country has been guided through aseries of five-year national development plans. The strategy is based on theneed to maintain sufficient areas of productive, protective and amenity forestswhile recognising at the same time that sustained efforts to promote economicactivities in the form of secondary and tertiary processing, trading, andmarketing are equally vital.

The forestry sector was analysed in four sections ofMalaysia’s Fifth Plan (1986-1990): Agriculture and Rural Development,Tourism, Environment and Manufacturing. In addition, the wood-based industry(WBI) was one of the 13 industrial sectors for which a sectoral development planwas compiled under the Industrial Master Plan 1986-1995 (IMP).

Under the Seventh Malaysia Plan (1996-2000), the followingstrategies for the forestry sector have been adopted:

· Consolidation ofPermanent Forest Estates and formulation of long-term forest managementplans;

· Management and development offorest resources based on sustainable forest management principles;

· Enhancement of forestregeneration through reforestation and silvicultural treatments on logged-overforest areas;

· Consideration of environmentalimpacts, importance of biodiversity and genetic resources;

· Modernisation of forestindustries by upgrading of processes and through improved research anddevelopment;

· Integration of forestry withagriculture in rural development through an agro-forestry programme;

· Promotion of forestry forpeople’s activities to improve socio-economic benefits and the quality oflife;

· Promotion of trainingprogramme for human resource development to ensure an adequate supply of trainedmanpower to meet the requirements of forestry and wood-based industries;and

· Development of a forestinformation system based on timely and comprehensive data so as to improve theeffectiveness of forestry planning, development, and management.

To ensure the sustainability of the forestry sectorcontribution to the overall socio-economic development, adequate funds have beenallocated for the forest rehabilitation and development programme under normalexpenditure and the five-year development plan. Moreover, a Forest DepartmentFund was created to facilitate the preparation and implementation of the StateForest Management and Reforestation Plans.

There are a number of complementary agencies to the ForestryDepartment including:

· Malaysian TimberIndustry Board (MTIB), which is responsible for initiating appropriatedevelopment in the various sectors of the timber industry and for providing thenecessary assistance to ensure its continued growth as a modern and thrivingsector of the economy;

· The Forest Research Instituteof Malaysia (FRIM) which is responsible for the implementation of research inall aspects of forestry and forest products;

· The University Putra Malaysia(UPM) which produces professional and semi-professional foresters; and

· The Malaysian Timber Council(MTC) which is committed to addressing issues such as the log supply situation,promoting the timber trade, promoting and participating in commercial forestplantations, and addressing issues undertaking projects of importance to thetimber industry.

Since 1994, Malaysia has made considerable efforts informulating the Malaysian Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable ForestManagement (MC&I) based on the elaboration and operationalisation of theITTO Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests andits Criteria for the Measurement of Sustainable Tropical Forest Management. Thisis in line with Malaysia’s position as a producing country of ITTO, as wellas her commitment to achieve sustainable forest management in tandem with theITTO Year 2000 Objective. It is required that all timbers traded in theinternational markets shall come from sustainably managed sources by the year2000.

The effort was spearheaded by the National Committee onSustainable Forest Management, which was established in February 1994. TheCommittee is comprised of members from the Ministry of Primary IndustriesMalaysia, Forestry Department Sabah, Forestry Department Sarawak, ForestResearch Institute Malaysia, Malaysian Timber Industry Board, Malaysian TimberCouncil, and Faculty of Forestry of Universiti Putra Malaysia. To furthercomplement and support the work of the National Committee, the ten StateForestry Departments in Peninsular Malaysia formed a Working Party onSustainable Forest Management based at the Forestry Department Headquarters,Kuala Lumpur in February, 1994. The main objective is to furnish all necessarytechnical details or inputs on forest management, operations, and administrationneeded for the formulation and implementation of the MC&I.

Further elaboration on the ITTO Guidelines and Criteria forthe Measurement of Sustainable Tropical Forest Management is necessary to betterreflect the local situation, as well as to ensure its applicability within theMalaysian context. To fully operationalise the ITTO’s Criteria andIndicators, the National Committee had formulated relevant activities for eachIndicator, as well as management specifications for each activity to ensure itseffective monitoring and evaluation on the ground.

Based on the ITTO’s Criteria and Measurement ofSustainable Tropical Forest Management, the National Committee formulated atotal of 92 activities to operationalise its 5 Criteria and 27 Indicators at theNational level, covering the forest resource base, continuity of flow, level ofenvironmental control, socio-economic effects and institutional framework. Atthe Forest Management Unit (FMU) level, which is being defined as an individualstate, the National Committee formulated a total of 84 activities tooperationalise the 6 Criteria and 23 Indicators of the ITTO’s Criteria forthe Measurement of Sustainable Tropical Forest Management. Against each of theactivities formulated at the National and FMU levels, the respective StateForestry Departments had also formulated management specifications (benchmark)for its effective monitoring and evaluation. Currently, a total of 201 and 191management specifications have been formulated at the National and FMU levelsrespectively in Peninsular Malaysia. Of the 191 management specificationsformulated at the FMU level, a total of 161 or 84% of them are identical tothose formulated at the national level.

Based on feedback obtained from field evaluations, boththrough internal and independent assessment, and new knowledge gained onsustainable forest management, the MC&I will be periodically reviewed andrefined to ensure practicality, as well as to keep pace with the latestdevelopments in forestry. The National Forest Policy was sanctioned by theGovernment in 1977. In cognisance with the current concern expressed by theworld community on the importance of biological diversity conservation and thesustainable utilisation of genetic resources, as well as the role of localcommunities in forest development, this National Forest Policy was revised inNovember 1992. The salient points of the revised National Forest Policy are asfollows:

· to designate asPermanent Forest Estates (PFE) sufficient areas strategically located throughoutthe country in accordance with the concept of rational landuse;

· to manage the PFE so that theymaximise social, economic, and environmental benefits for the nation and itspeople in accordance with the principles of sustainable management;

· to implement a plannedprogramme of forest development through forest regeneration and rehabilitationoperations, as well as the establishment of forest plantations of indigenous andexotic species to supplement the timber supply from the naturalforest;

· to promote sufficientharvesting and utilisation within the production forest for maximum economicbenefits, to stimulate the development of appropriate forest industries, and tocreate employment opportunities;

· to increase the production ofnon-wood forest produce to supply local demands and the requirements of relatedindustries;

· to undertake and support acomprehensive programme of forestry education and training at alllevels;

· to undertake publicity andextension services in order to generate better understanding among the communityof the multiple values of forests, and to encourage private sector investmentthrough the establishment of forest plantations on private lands;

· to provide for theconservation of biological diversity and areas with unique species of flora andfauna;

· to develop a comprehensiveprogramme in community forestry to cater for the needs of the rural and urbancommunities, and to promote active local community involvement in forestrydevelopment projects, including agroforestry projects; and

· to undertake and supportintensive research programmes in forestry and forest products aimed at enhancingmaximum benefits from the forest.

Harvesting and utilisation

In recent years, the forest industries have been rapidlymoving away from the manufacture of low value primary products. The developmentof secondary and tertiary wood processing industries is being actively promoted.Steps are also being taken to encourage the setting up of small scalerural-based industries using forest produce such as rattan and bamboo as rawmaterials. It is the Government’s objective to make Malaysia a majorproducer of high value added wood-based products in the world market asstipulated under the Second Outline Perspective Plan 1991-2000 and the SecondIndustrial Master Plan of 1996-2005.

Malaysia has succeeded in developing the utilisation of rubberwood for domestic and export markets, particularly for furniture. Currently,research on the possible utilisation of waste from oil palm trunk for mouldedparticle board, fibre board and furniture; palm kernel shell for activatedcarbon and carbon briquette; and palm fresh bunch for animal feed, energy, aswell as its ash for potash are being conducted.

In the area of forest harvesting, the successful results ofthe low-impact logging study have been widely used in Sabah and Sarawak. Thehelicopter logging which was undertaken in Sarawak will continue to be used forharvesting as the damage to surrounding trees is found lower than under theconventional system. Moreover, land erosion caused by road construction is alsominimised. To further mitigate the effects of timber harvesting, Reduced ImpactLogging is also undertaken whereby the operations include controlling the numberof trees to be felled, timber tagging, directional felling, leaving of bufferzones and the controlling of road density.

Due to the impending shortage of raw material supplies, therealisation of the need to reduce wastage of forest residues is one of the mainefforts toward the achievement of sustainable forest management. Efforts arecurrently being undertaken by the Government to increase the efficiency oftimber utilisation in the country. This includes the revoking of operatinglicences for inefficient mills (which have ceased operation for at least 2years), encouraging existing mills to replace their old machinery to improvemill efficiency, undertake studies to find means and ways to optimise theutilisation of forest and mill residues, as well as the promotion of trade ofthe lesser known species.

The Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia has undertakena joint collaboration project with the Danish Corporation for Environment andDevelopment (DANCED) with an aim to optimise the utilisation of forest residues,including small dimension logs and mill residues as raw materials.

Forest industries in Malaysia are rapidly moving away from themanufacture of low value primary products. This is in line with the nationalobjectives and priority as stipulated in both the First and Second MalaysianIndustrial Master Plans, respectively for the period 1986-1995 and 1996-2005. Inimproving the socio-economic level of the rural population, steps are also beingundertaken to encourage the setting up of small-scale rural based industries.The forestry industry has been identified as one of the resource-basedindustries to be further developed as an important export-oriented sector. It isthe Government’s objective to make Malaysia a major producer of high valueadded wood-based products in the world market; specifically Malaysia wouldbecome an important furniture and joinery/mounding centre.

Collaboration with partners and internationalagreements

As the follow up to UNCED, Malaysia ratified the Convention onBiological Diversity. A National Committee on the Convention on BiologicalDiversity (NCCBD) was established to plan, co-ordinate and implement follow upactions as required under the Convention. In 1988, the NCCBD formulated theNational Policy on Biological Diversity to provide the direction for the nationto implement strategies, action plans and programmes on biological diversity forthe conservation and sustainable utilisation of its resources. In addition, theGovernment prepared a National Conservation Strategy and the Ministry ofScience, Technology and the Environment published a country report on theAssessment of Biological Diversity in 1997.

Malaysia is a producer member country of ITTO and is committedto implementing the ITTO Year 2000 objective by making the Malaysia Criteria andIndicators (MC&I) operational and allocating financial resources to carryout forest development activities, projects, and studies related to sustainableforest management. The National Committee on Sustainable Forest Managementestablished in 1994 will be strengthened. In line with Malaysia’scommitment towards achieving the ITTO Year 2000 objective, the implementation ofthe Malaysian Criteria, Indicators, and Activities for sustainable forestmanagement will be critical. The Malaysian Criteria, Indicators and Activitiesfor Sustainable Management (MC&I) was formulated in 1995 for two levels i.e.the national and the Forest Management Unit level, in consonance with therequirements of ITTO. Since its formulation, the MC&I has undergone numerousrefinements and has taken into account the latest development on Criteria andIndicators for Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests which wasadopted at the 24^th ITTC held in Gabon in May 1998. This effort isfurther strengthened by the establishment of the National Timber CertificationCouncil (NTCC) in October 1998.

Collaboration in forestry at the regional level is implementedthrough the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) administrativestructure through the following: a) ASEAN Common Forestry Policy; b) TechnicalCo-operation; c) Forestry Institutions; d) Co-operation in Intra-ASEAN TimberTrade; and e) ASEAN Common stand on international issues on forestry.

In regard to collaboration with international partners,Malaysia has carried out several projects through bilateral arrangements,including the following:

· VariousMalaysia-ITTO projects in the field of watershed management and rehabilitation,wildlife sanctuary and genetic resource conservation of commercial tree species,and sustainable forest management;

· Various Malaysia-GermanTechnical Co-operation Programme (GTZ) on sustainable forest management andconservation in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Serawak;

· Malaysia-EC projects ontraining of forest workers in Sabah;

· Malaysia-Japan project onmulti storied forest management, which aims to establish multi storied forestmanagement systems for the tropical forest;

· Various Malaysia-DanishCo-operation for Environment and Development (DANCED) projects on sustainablemanagement of peat swamp forests, preparation of an integrated management planfor Johor’s Mangrove forest, as well as on extraction and processing offorest residues and small dimension logs;

· Malaysia-the Netherlandsprojects on the documentation of scientific information on plant resources inorder develop a more comprehensive inventory of the country’s forestresources, and the Forest Absorption Carbon Emission (FACE) project which isconcerned with the rehabilitation of logged over areas in Sabah. Through itsfoundation “Keurhout”, the Government had undertaken an assessment ofcurrent forest management practices in the States of Pahang, Selangor andTrengganu based on a phased approach in accordance with the MC&I for forestmanagement certification at the Forest Management Unit (State) level;and

· In Sabah, a forestcertification exercise was also conducted by an independent assessor, SGS Sdn.Bhd, where the management model in Deramogot was certified as being a “wellmanaged forest”.

Involvement and consultations with non-governmentalorganisations have been intensified in recent years. In the development ofMC&I a member of internal consultative processes were carried out throughthe leadership of the National Timber Certification Council (NTCC). A nationallevel consultation for the formulation of Malaysian Criteria, Indicators,Activities and Standards of Performance for Forest Management Certification wasorganised by the NTCC on 18-21 October 1999.

In 1993 the Government amended the National Forest Act of1984. The amended Act has provisions for the Police and Armed Forces toundertake surveillance of forestry activities, especially in curbing illegallogging and timber theft. A new Protection of Wildlife Act became effective in1992. It provides the legal backing for the conservation of national parks,wildlife and bird sanctuaries, as well as of endangered species.

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