Elan Perumal The Star 21 Jul 12;
PETALING JAYA: WWF Malaysia is working closely with the Kedah Government to gazette parts of the Pedu forest reserve as a state park.
An official said no logging activities would be allowed in the area once it was gazetted as a state park.
The state government, she said, had expressed interest to gazette parts of the Pedu forest reserve and the Ulu Muda forest reserve as state parks.
“We are working with the state government to protect the Greater Ulu Muda forest,” she said.
The official said once an area was gazetted as a state park, the forest within it would be managed mainly for the purpose of biodiversity conservation and recreational activities.
“No logging would be allowed in a state park,” she added.
The Star had on Tuesday reported on logging activities being carried out at the Pedu forest reserve and Gunung Inas in Kedah, supposedly to clear the land for the state’s Ladang Rakyat rubber plantation scheme.
The official explained that an area gazetted as a permanent forest reserve (PFR) could either be categorised as a production forest or a protected forest.
“A production forest may be selectively logged according to sustainable forest management guidelines while protected forests cannot be logged.
“If the state decides to do so, the PFR status must be degazetted or reclassified,” she added.
She said degazetted PFRs would normally be clear-felled and converted to other land use such as agriculture.
“Unfortunately, the National Forestry Policy and the National Forestry Act 1984 do not prohibit the clearing of natural forests within PRFs for the establishment of plantation,” she said.
She said the classification of a forest or an area as a high conservation value forest (HCVF) also did not protect it against logging.
“The classification is only meant to encourage better forest management to promote the conservation of important, unique or endangered flora, fauna and ecosystem which the area hosts.
“However, only 2ha of the 15,299ha Pedu forest reserve has been identified as HCVF,” she said.
Kedah given deadline to correct weaknesses in Ladang Rakyat project
Embun Majid The Star 21 Jul 12;
ALOR SETAR: The Kedah state government has been given three months to correct weaknesses in the Ladang Rakyat project which involved the felling of timber at Gunung Inas forest reserve.
Kedah Mentri Besar Incorporated (PMBKed) chief executive officer Datuk Shahbudin Shafie said the agency has received a letter from the Forestry Department stating that the logging activities had been halted.
“We were told to correct any weaknesses in the Ladang Rakyat project. We have met with the Department of Environment and have prepared a report on the project,” he said when contacted yesterday.
PMBKed is an agency with the Mentri Besar’s office and has been tasked to carry out the project.
Yesterday, The Star reported that logging activities for Kedah’s Ladang Rakyat rubber plantation scheme at the Gunung Inas forest reserve near Baling has stopped and that no more felling of trees would be allowed until a detailed environmental impact assessment (EIA) was submitted.
Shahbudin said he had taken officers from the Kedah DOE to visit the project.
“During the visit we showed them the area where we planted the rubber trees and rivers allegedly polluted by the project,” he said.
Shahbudin stressed that the project did not pollute rivers in the area as claimed.
He said the Ladang Rakyat project was carried out on 400ha land, below the requirement for an EIA report which is compulsory for projects of more than 500ha.
“PMBKed only handles the Ladang Rakyat project and not the logging activity. So we prepared the EIA based on the project,” he said.
Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak when contacted declined to elaborate on the issue.
He reiterated that logging projects in Gunung Inas was being carried out according to rules and regulations.
