Wan Junaidi: Eco-parks to draw tourists, generate income

A TOTAL of 110 eco-parks have been developed in the country as tourist attractions and new forest wealth creation areas, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said these areas were previously recreational forests and eight of them were state forest parks.

These areas, which were managed by the Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Department, had unique features such as natural landscapes and a diversity of flora and fauna and could be developed as forest eco-tourism destinations, he said.

Dr Wan Junaidi said the ministry had taken various efforts to generate new sources of income to boost the national revenue through forest ecotourism, including conservation of the natural forest eco- systems or in- situ conservation such as Taman Negara, state parks and heritage sites.

“The conservation of forests near urban areas or communities, dubbed as urban forests, is undertaken together with local authorities through MoUs, for example the Putrajaya Corporation,” he said when replying to a question from Abdul Rahman Mohamad ( BN-Lipis).

The MP had wanted to know the efforts taken by the ministry in the area of new forest wealth creation to increase the national revenue through forest eco-tourism. — Bernama