The Star 4 Mar 11;
GEORGE TOWN: A total of 30,000 hectares of forest reserve land in Perak, almost the size of Penang Island, has been degazetted and converted for various uses since 1985, claims Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM).
SAM president S.M. Mohamed Idris said most of such land in the state were either logged or turned into oil palm plantations and farms.
“Forest reserves should not be converted at all but when this happens, the National Forestry Act 1984 Enactment (Adoption) 1985 states that new forest land must be gazetted in replacement of the old,” he said.
He said the enactment came into force in 1985 but claimed that there was no replacement forest land gazetted at all.
“We urge the state government to look into the matter immediately as this is akin to playing havoc with nature, severely affecting the environment,” he told newsmen in a press conference yesterday.
Perak SAM field officer Meor Razak Meor Abdul Rahman claimed the degazetting had contravened the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities policy that does not allow the opening of oil palm plantations by converting forest reserve land.
“A good replacement would be the ungazetted state forest land totalling more than 40,000 hectares, but this requires immediate action from the state government,” he said.
He said a memorandum and several recommendation letters on the issue were sent to Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir late last year but there were no replies at all.
He claimed the latest degazetting of forest reserve land for agriculture occurred on Dec 9 last year and it involved 3,178 hectares from the Gunung Besout forest reserve.
He also alleged that the largest land area degazetted was the entire Erong forest reserve covering 7,649 hectares in 2004. It is now an oil palm plantation.
