By Norrasyidah Arshad
KLANG, Sept 26 — Selangor is looking to plant a million trees in the next five years to maintain environmental sustainability, said state executive councillor for environment Hee Loy Sian.
He said they welcomed cooperation from all parties, especially non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or environmental associations, in realising the goal of preserving the ecosystem.
“The state government is ready to provide funds from the 20 sen plastic bag charge collection fund to enable environmental programmes to be carried out.
“The funding can be applied for the Selangor government, local authorities (PBT), state assemblymen, or from executive councillors. We will make an announcement on the application for it later,” Hee said.
The exco was speaking at the closing ceremony of the PRO500 Trees Sentosa programme at the Sentosa Constituency Service Centre earlier today.
According to Hee, the Selangor government considers environmental issues to be the main priority, and the recent degazettement of the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve (KLNFR) early this month is clear proof of it.
“Selangor is the only state that has strict laws (on it). Each degazetted area will be replaced so that the forest is not reduced.
“Selangor also holds a public hearing session before degazetting (the forest). We listen to the views from the community, NGOs, before making decisions,” he said.
During the opening of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly in August, the Sultan of Selangor said the state government’s decision to keep at least 30 per cent permanent forest reserves in the state is the right move in implementing the green agenda.
Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Alhaj said a total of 250,000 hectares or 31.47 per cent of land in the state is gazetted as forest reserves, and the state aims to increase it to 32 per cent by 2025.
