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Countries Appendix MALAYSIA (47.1%) During the 1980s, rampant logging in the Bornean states of Sabah and Sarawak allowed Malaysia to temporarily outpace Indonesia and become the world's largest exporter or tropical wood. On paper, Malaysia, once the world's largest exporter of tropical woods, probably has one of the best rainforest protection policies in developing Asia, but in practice logging still carries on as it always has. The majority of Malaysia's remaining forests are managed for timber production and each state is empowered to formulate forest policy independently. During the past two decades of thorough logging of Malaysian forests, sustainable forest management has been non-existent. While Malaysia has the policy framework for sustainable forest management in the form of the National Forestry Act of 1984, it has failed to enforce the legislation. Peninsular Malaysia's primary forest are completely decimated and secondary forest covers only a fraction of former rainforest lands. Bornean Malaysia still has large areas of forest, however much of this has been selectively logged leaving low biodiversity. In Sabah (Northeastern Borneo), cutting has slowed over the years after a period of rapid deforestation. Imports to Japan show that tropical hardwood from Sabah fell from 2,064,000 cubic meters in 1992 to 6000 cubic meters in 1995. Sarawak (Northwestern Borneo) is the current area of forest exploitation with hardwood imports to Japan numbering 19,650,000 cubic meters from 1992-1995 alone. Although 8% of the land area is designated as reserves, half of Sarawak is slated for logging concessions and the rest of Sarawak has already been deforested for development. It is estimated that if logging continue at its current pace, the primary forests of Sarawak will be gone in 5-8 years. Those areas that have been set aside as reserves are understaffed and threatened by selective logging and encroachment by colonists who settle along logging roads that open up former forest lands. Local environmentalists claim that loggers are frantically clearing lands designated to become parks before they become legally protected by the government. Most of the lowland forests with the highest diversity have been logged and the timber companies are now moving into more marginal lands on rugged mountain slopes. The logging of these slopes has already caused severe soil erosion and river siltation is some areas. With deforestation, the lands of indigenous Penans have been invaded. The Penans are given little compensation for losing their source of livelihood and their culture from the companies that exploit their lands, other than diseases like Malaria. In the late 1980s the Penans protested these destructive practices by installing roadblocks and damaging logging equipment, but were ruthlessly put down by the Malaysian government and logging companies. Decades of mining in Peninsular Malaysia have left a heavy mark on the environment. Deforestation, pollution of rivers, and siltation have resulted in agricultural losses and road projects open new areas to colonization. Unfortunately, despite the government's pro-environment overtones, the heavy-handed government appears to side with destructive industries more than conservation. The government has never decided a major court case on behalf of the native forest peoples who are being displaced by rainforest destruction. The government recently tried to overturn a High Court decision that would have prevented a huge hydroelectric project that would have flooded 170,000 acres (69,000 hectares) of forest, while in the late 80s, the government restricted the media from entering a logging zone in Sarawak where it sent in troops to put down a protest by native Dyaks. However, the economic crisis of 1997 meant that the austere government shelved the project temporarily and may intend to scale down the size of the project. The economic downturn of Southeast Asia may mean a retraction of forest clearing projects as investors become more cautious about investing in Malaysian heavy industries. The economic problems of 1997 caused both Malaysian and Indonesian timber stocks to stumble as the Japanese recession affected timber exports and prices of imports increased. Malaysia is currently the world's largest producer of palm oil. Thousands of hectares of forest have been cleared to make way for this and other forms of plantation agriculture. To promote investment in plantations, profits are 100% tax-exempt for ten years. Plantations on cleared and degraded forest lands are ecologically and economically beneficial, but clearing forest for plantations results in increased erosion and biodiversity loss. Like Indonesia, the Malaysian government sponsored transmigration programs to open up rainforest for cash crop production. Between 1956 and the 1980s, Malaysia converted over 15,000 square kilometers of forest for resettlement programs. On the positive side, Malaysia has created several national parks. Nevertheless in September 1997, the government granted a new 4.2 million acre (1.7 million ha) commercial logging concession of primary forest in Sabah. Fires during the el Niño event of 1997-1998 burned thousands of hectares across Malaysia, especially on the island of Borneo. The haze from these fires and the fires in Kalimantan (Indonesia) caused serious pollution and health problems in Malaysia. Twice Prime Minister Mohamad ordered the media to avoid negative reports on the fires and haze fearing that news would disrupt tourism and cause havoc. Again in 1999, the Malaysian government was criticized when it announced it would not disclose the pollution index in fear it would frighten off tourists. After the fires of 1997, the government pledged strict new laws against burning to clear land. Nevertheless fires again appeared in 1998. In late 1998 and early 1999, flooding in areas affected by the fires killed dozens. |
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