BALAI RINGIN: Sarawak will be the largest producer of tropical trees in Asia as approximately 60 per cent of the state is still covered by forests.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said that the state government has allocated six million hectares of land as permanent forest reserves while one million hectares are fully protected areas.
“Consequently, we should replant forests with rapidly growing trees such as ‘ramin’, ‘engkabang’ and bamboo,” he said.
In fact, for that purpose, we set up a Sarawak Research Council involving the locals in an effort to help them generate side income,” he said yesterday at the launch of Sarawak Forest Landscape Restoration Programme at Sabal Agroforestry Centre here.
Abang Johari also said that it would be possible for Sarawak to export oxygen in bottles in the future.
“When we have a lot of trees, Sarawak’s oxygen supply will grow. With the right technology, oxygen can be bottled and exported to China,” he said.
Regarding native customary rights (NCR) land, he said that they could be best utilised as oil palm plantations and for planting other trees.
“Besides planting oil palm, landowners can plant side crops such as ‘kepayang’ which can be harvested in six years.
“This is because, if the price of palm oil is low in the world market, the landowners would have incidental income from the planted trees,” he said.
Early on, the chief minister witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Sarawak Forest Department with various parties such as Shell Berhad, Sarawak Energy Berhad and the Japan-Malaysia Association as an effort to preserve and protect the environment in Sarawak.
Also present at the signing ceremony were Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, Urban Planning, Land and Environment Administration Assistant Minister Datuk Len Talif Salleh, Balai Ringin assemblyman Datuk Snowdan Lawan and Sarawak Forest Department Director Hamden Mohammad.
