Letting our forests heal

 

When  the  Chief  Minister  who  is  also  the  state’s Minister of Finance presented the state’s 2010 budget he told the state assembly that Sabah’s forest revenue would be  below  RM100.00 million  in  2010,  for  the  first  time since  1972.  He  said  Sabah's  timber  production  from natural forests is expected to decline and can only sustain logging of 200,000 cubic meters annually for the next 20 years.

Nevertheless, he said the slack would be taken up by plantation  timber  through  agencies  like  Safoda,  Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) and Sabah Softwoods Sdn Bhd. To date  there  are  about  214,000  hectares  of  forest plantations, mainly  fast growing exotic species. An additional area of half a million hectares has been earmarked  for  forest  plantations.  If  planting  goes  as planned, the State stands to reap about 1.5 to 3 million cubic metres of plantation timber annually within a 10 to 20 years period.

He  said,  “We are now not only  ready  to  forgot  the collection of  forestry  revenue, but also prepared  to set aside  financial  resources  for  implementing  forest management  programmes  to  ensure  that  our  forest resources  are  sustainable  for  the  benefit  of  future generations.”

The Chief Minister said the State Government would strive to achieve Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) based on the Deramakot Forest Reserve model, which has gained world  recognition. He disclosed  that within  the next twelve months, two more SFM projects covering an area  of  291,000  hectares  undertaken  by  the  Forestry Department  at  Ulu  Segama-Malua  and  Tangkulap-Pinangah would come under sustainable management. A sum  of  RM83.14  million  is  allocated  to  Forestry Department  in 2010  for  the SFM programmes.