Public hearings to be held before forest reserves can be cleared

PUBLIC hearings should be held before forest reserves can be degazetted for clearing in the near future, the Dewan Rakyat was told.

This was one of the conditions the government intends to get state governments to adopt following the moves to amend the National Forestry Act.

Deputy Natural Resources Minister Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji said the federal government was preparing a Bill to amend the law.

“This is to ensure consistency in all states so that they follow what is done by the Selangor government where public hearings are required before clearing is allowed,” he said when replying to a question raised by Wong Tack (PH-Bentong).

Wong wanted to know what measures were being taken to better protect forest reserves from land-clearing activities.

Tengku Zulpuri, however, acknowledged that the state governments must cooperate with the federal government to help protect the nation’s forest reserves.

He also said some 5.7 million hectares, or 44%, of Peninsular Malaysia were covered with forest.

“Of this, some 4.8 million hectares have been gazetted as permanent forest reserves,” he added.

He also said the ministry had identified 115,399ha of government lands that could be gazetted as permanent forest reserves.