BY AHMAD NIZAM HAMID
I take note of the Natural Resources and Environment Deputy Minister, Datuk Hamim Samuri’s statement on the RM15.2 million losses to the country, caused by illegal logging in Peninsular Malaysia from 2006 to 2016.
There were in fact many trees that have been chopped down and possibly the forests and hills have been denuded arbitrarily.
The illegal logging activity is worrying and must be given serious attention as it seems to be getting out of control due to corruption, which involve loggers and government agency’s enforcement officers.
It was made to understand that, in that same period, 256 illegal logging cases were recorded with a total of 229 people arrested. Is the penalty not harsh enough?
Besides losses up to millions of ringgit, the environment is destroyed, water catchment areas are damaged and wild animals are affected.
The rampant encroachment and illegal logging is destroying the forest ecosystem as they are deforested and denuded.
If illegal logging activity is not curbed, the country will incur up to million-ringgit losses annually.
I urge the Forestry Department and the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to look into this matter seriously.
At the same time, to be fair, the government must ensure forest and environmental sustainability. It will not be fair to blame illegal logging alone, as logging concession approval should be tied to stricter regulations and done through open tender.
Malaysia as a party who signed the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change should be the leader in terms of preserving the environment, not just by enforcing the law on illegal logging but also in the issue of logging concession which seems to be out of control and done arbitrarily.
# Ahmad Nizam Hamid is Pahang KEADILAN Deputy Chairman
Illegal logging will harm the country
