KUCHING: Efforts should be made to involve the local community in forest management.
Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said this is because as they live around the protected forest estate (PFE) they would be knowledgeable about traditional forest management.
“This includes their gentle nature in the usage of forest resources to ensure the resource is sustained for a very long time,” he said.
He said this in his speech read by Jemoreng assemblyman Datuk Dr Juanda Jaya during the opening of the Jemoreng Scientific Expedition Seminar 2023 here on Tuesday (Nov 7).
Awang Tengah added that residents around the Selai Inah River would be grateful if the area were to be gazetted as a Selai Inah River Protected Forest.
“I am very happy that the residents in Kampung Jemoreng themselves want their forest to be protected and this further shows the level of awareness regarding the importance of the forest and its resource is very high among the local community.
“It will surely give tons of benefits to the residents around the area not only in terms of the forest resource but also its a potential as a eco-tourism attraction,” he said.
He hoped that such efforts and collaboration can become a model for other areas in Sarawak, especially when it comes to efforts to gazette more PFE.
“Such efforts will be a platform of collaboration between Forest Department of Sarawak (FDS), the community in Jemoreng in order to empower and promote the products, eco-tourism activities and agro-tourism in Jemoreng towards a further level.
“It includes creating more young entrepreneurs in Jemoreng,” he added.
Also present during the opening ceremony were Daro assemblyman Safiee Ahmad and the director of Forest Department Sarawak, Datuk Hamden Mohammad.
