Punitha Kumar New Straits Times 16 Dec 11;
THE number of illegal logging cases nationwide has been on the decline since 2006 as the Forestry Department moves with the times in its bid to arrest illegal loggers and prevent forest encroachment.
Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Department enforcement director Zahari Ibrahim said there were 54 cases last year, and as of this October, only 17 cases were reported, including illegal felling in both forest reserves and government land.
"The enforcement division has cracked down on illegal logging activities and loggers are wary of continuing this illicit business.
"Today, the percentage of illegal logs going out of the forests is an insignificant 0.01 per cent."
Zahari said rapid technological growth contributed in the decline with the use of remote sensing technology and geographic information systems (GIS).
Apart from that, regular monitoring and reporting activities through frequent patrolling were also conducted.
Other measures included:
- a Forest Checking Station that recorded on all trees felled and removed;
- checking of all logs transported out of licensed logging areas;
- dimensions of logs measured and entered into Tree Tagging Record; and,
- proper issuance of Removal Passes to transport logs by a designated and authorised forest officer.
Between Jan 1, 2006 and October this year, the department reported 152 illegal activities in forest reserves and 63 cases in government lands.
Pahang reported the highest number of cases (75) but Perlis and Penang reported zero illegal logging since 2006.
He said the effectiveness of the department's enforcement activities had been enhanced with the recruitment of 62 more officers and the establishment of its new Legal Affairs and Prosecution Division.
Sarawak Forestry Department managing director Ali Yusop said the number of illegal logging cases there had dropped tremendously with 51 cases in 2007 and as of this October, only 10 cases reported.
"In 2009, there were 41 cases but last year the numbers dropped to only 14 and this is due to effective enforcement."
The Sabah Forestry Department also reported a steady decline of illegal logging cases since 2006.
Its enforcement and investigation division head Joseph Vun said both forest reserves and state lands had seen a steady decline over the past five years.
He said as of this November, there were only seven cases reported for forest reserves and 14 for state lands. This was compared with five years ago, when there were 31 cases in forest reserves and 37 on state land.
If found guilty, illegal loggers are liable to a fine not exceeding RM500,000 and to a jail term of not less than a year and not exceeding 20 years.
Vun added sustainable forest management included proper tree felling according to forestry rules and strict licensing by the government.
It was reported recently that the Forestry Department was testing a new device which uses radio frequency identification (RFID) to curb illegal logging.
The German devices are tags individually fitted to trees to record legally-felled trees.
RFID tracked log movement from tree felling till deployment at a saw mill.
