KUCHING: The World Wildlife Federation (WWF) Malaysia celebrated the International Day of Forest to spread awareness of the importance of forests in mitigating climate change.
“Our forests occur in different levels of intactness and degradation. Undeniably, degraded patches occur within our Permanent Forest Estates and Totally Protected Areas.” said Dr Jason Hon, WWF-Malaysia Head of Sarawak Conservation Programme.
The theme “Forest restoration: a path to recovery and well-being,” encourages people to undertake local, national and international efforts to organise activities involving forests and trees to help mitigate climate change.
“These degraded areas must be restored, to improve connectivity for wildlife and nature’s resilience, and to provide ecosystem services such as water provision and climate regulation.
“All parties from government, private sectors, civil societies and the public should play their roles,” said Dr Jason in a statement.
It said that the Sarawak government aims to plant 35 million trees, which is about one-third of the 100 million Tree Planting Campaign under the 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025).
The Forest Department Sarawak (FDS) is the lead agency in the forest restoration project, which requires solid cooperation from all the relevant sectors.
“Forests enhance the atmospheric moisture which then provides us rain that gives us our water. We are fortunate to live in the tropic which is blessed with abundant forests and rain which give us water.
“These forests help regulate our climate and degrading them will lead to climate change,” Dr Jason added.
WWF-Malaysia is collaborating with Jagoi Area Development Committee (JADC) to plant 1,000 native tree species in the secondary forest of the Jagoi Heritage Forest, Bau where degraded and landslides areas restored.
“This Heritage Forest does not only provide the needs of the local community, but it is also a popular hiking spot for the public,” said JADC chairman Prof Dr Gabriel Tonga Noweg.
“It is through the efforts of the community that the public can have such beautiful mountains and forests for their enjoyment.
“Over time, some areas have become degraded and this project aims to improve and restore the mountain’s forest cover,” he added.
Prof Dr Gabriel said this is one of the five sites in Malaysia that applied for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Green List of Protected and Conserved areas.
“We hope to demonstrate the efforts of the Bung Jagoi community as stewards of the forests in Sarawak. Successful listing would be a great recognition of these efforts” he stated.
The WWF-Malaysia is also partnering with FDS to facilitate the planting of 11,000 gaharu (Aquilaria microcarpa) seedlings with the communities from Rumah Manggat in Ulu Sungai Menyang, Batang Ai in 2017.
This project was funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, contributing to the restoration of 5.5 hectares degraded land and also to keep the forested landscape where orang-utans live, intact.
Also, from June 2019 until Dec 2020, a total of 10,452,607 trees from 50 species, have been planted in Sarawak, over a cumulative area of 9,732.14 hectares.
It said while reforestation is a commendable effort to bring back what was lost, there are growing concerns that some are jumping into the bandwagon just for sake of fulfilling their green or sustainable pledges.
“We must conserve our existing healthy forests and prevent them from being degraded or destroyed. Only then, we shall put in efforts in carrying out reforestation,” it said in the statement.
