BY AWANG MUHAMMAD SYAHMI
THE Sarawak government is committed to planting 35 million tress through the Greening Sarawak Campaign as part of its commitment to the Malaysia Greening Programme.
Deputy Premier and Minister of Natural Resources and Urban Development Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said the Malaysia Greening Programme which was launch simultaneously nationwide on Jan 5 2021 aims to plant 100 million trees within five years.
“As of May 2023, nearly 22 million trees have been planted through the campaign and is the highest record in Malaysia,” he said in his ministerial winding-up speech in the State Legislative Assembly today.
On another note, Awang Tengah also added that approximately 3.95 million hectares have already been gazetted as Permanent Forest Reserves involving 117 areas.
“For 2023, two new Reserve Permanent Forest areas, namely Murum Protected Forest with an area of 7236 hectares and Bakam Forest Reserve with an area of 907 hectares have been gazetted.
“Forest reserves are also important for the conservation of biodiversity, non-timber product resources, watersheds and recreation to support conservation activities outside the Totally Protected Areas (TPAs) while the Permanent Forest Reserve area also has the potential to be used as a carbon storage area,” he said.
