Malaysia: Over 82,000 ask Perak Govt to save Temenggor Forest Reserve

Manjit Kaur The Star 17 Jun 11;

IPOH: A petition with 82,715 signatures to save the Temenggor Forest Reserve has been handed over to the state government.

The campaign initiated by the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) together with its partner The Body Shop Malaysia had collected the signatures for six months since April last year.

The collective signatures were from The Body Shop customers obtained through physical and online petitions and handed over to state Tourism Committee chairman Datuk Hamidah Osman at the state secretariat building yesterday.

MNS president Assoc Prof Dr Maketab Mohamed, in his speech, said the Save Temenggor campaign, originally launched in 2006, was pursued after the Royal Belum State Park was gazetted in 2007.

He said only a third of the forest reserve was protected and the remaining two-thirds remained vulnerable to a host of threats particularly logging and poaching activities.

He said the 300,000ha Belum-Temenggor Forest Complex (BTFC) was the country's pride and at 130 million years old, it was older than the Amazon and the Congo Basins.

“We will continue to reiterate our stand in advocating for Temenggor to be safeguarded in preserving the integrity of the BTFC as an intact forest landscape,” he said.

At a press conference later, Hamidah said she would bring up the matter at the next state executive councillors meeting to pass the message to Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir.

Hamidah said the state government was also concerned about preserving the forest and hoped to come up with a win-win situation for the betterment of all parties.

She said the state government was aware of illegal logging being carried out and had instructed the relevant authorities to enhance enforcement activities and to closely monitor the situation.

Temengor's fate uncertain
Jaspal Singh New Straits Times 17 Jun 11;

IPOH: With the state government's hefty reliance on logging as a source of revenue, the odds are stacked heavily against the proposal to turn the Temengor forest into a fully-protected area in the near future.

The state government receives premiums from the logging concessions that it grants to an industry that is estimated to be worth RM200 million. And the Temengor forest is a prime source of timber.

The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) is pressing the state government to gazette the 180,000ha Temengor forest as a protected site by next year.

But senior state executive councillor Datuk Hamidah Osman said that could be difficult.

"It is unfair to ask the state government to act on the MNS proposal so soon as the Temengor forest is an important revenue source. The timber industry is reliant on it," she said at a joint press conference with MNS and The Body Shop Malaysia.

MNS and Body Shop met Hamidah to hand over 82,715 signatures collected from the public during a campaign held last year to urge the state government to phase out logging in Temengor by next year.

Hamidah represented Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

The MNS-Body Shop campaign seeks to get the state government to provide the same protection to Temengor as it had given to Belum when it was gazetted as the Royal Belum State Park in May 2007.

The gazetting of Belum followed similar intervention from MNS to protect the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex (BTFC).

Hamidah said the state government had shown its sincerity in protecting the forested area by gazetting the Belum part of the forest as a state park and stressed that the state government would continue to work with MNS to conserve the Temengor area.

"At this point in time, the proposal to fully protect the Temengor parcel by 2012 is not feasible but I want to stress that we are not averse to doing it at a more suitable time in the future. I assure MNS that the state government will look into ways and means to tap into the entire BTFC to generate income without degrading the area."

Hamidah said she would discuss the MNS proposal with the state executive council adding that she viewed MNS' intervention as a friendly reminder to enhance the quality of the entire BTFC.

MNS president Associate Professor Dr Maketab Mohamed said the MNS-Body Shop campaign to save Temengor called for a complete protection of the 130-million-year-old forested area which included increased enforcement on wildlife hunting and trade in the area.

Also present was The Body Shop Malaysia managing director Datin Mina Cheah-Foong.