By Neville Timothy Sanders

THE SARAWAK government is committed to taking measures to mitigate the effects of climate change by adhering to environmental sustainable protocols in the management of its forests, said Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan.

The Deputy Premier said that the Kyoto Protocol allowed for carbon sequestration by afforestation reforestation under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) within the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) activities.

“Recently. the need to take action against carbon releases from forests was incorporated into the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2015 (UNFCCC).

“For the record, Malaysia is a signatory to the Paris Agreement in 2016 and is  committed to reducing its greenhouse gases by 45 percent by 2030,” he said during the Forest (Amendment) Bill 2022 reading at August House.

Awangah also said said that Malaysia had already participated voluntarily in the reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) programme which was decided by UNFCCC in 2013 to enhance use of carbon sinks through carbon sequestration in forest areas.

“For Sarawak, we have enforced mandatory policy for forest certification for all long term forest timber licences and forest plantations, embarking on the forest restoration programme and increasing conservation areas such as national parks, nature reserve and wildlife sanctuaries,” he added.

For the record, the Forests (Amendment) Bill 2022 was unanimously passed today on the third day of the 19th Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (DUN).