EACH year, global communities celebrate World Forestry Day (WFD) on March 21 to promote the importance of forests and trees and how they sustain and protect us. Activities are generally associated with increasing public awareness about our forests, as well as the benefits we gain from having them, such as protection, production and recreation.
WFD originated at the meeting of the 23rd General Assembly of the European Confederation of Agriculture in 1971 and was taken up by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) later that year.
The date coincides with the autumnal equinox in the Southern Hemisphere and the venal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. Since then, WFD has been celebrated by many countries for the last 44 years.
This year, WFD was renamed International Day of Forests (IDF) by the UN to commemorate the first year of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The IDF is aptly themed “Forests And Water — Sustain Life And Livelihood” in efforts to raise awareness of how forests are key to the planet’s supply of freshwater.
As part of the global community, Malaysia has its own celebration to commemorate such a solemn occasion, and the IDF at the national level was celebrated on March 26, in Kuching, Sarawak with activities such as an exhibition, seminar and tree planting.
With 18.3 million hectares or 55.4 per cent still under forest cover, Malaysia has much to celebrate, compared with other countries like the United Kingdom (12.9 per cent), France (30.6 per cent), United States (33.9 per cent), Japan (68.5 per cent) and nearer to home Australia (16.2 per cent), Indonesia (51 per cent), Vietnam (46.8 per cent), Thailand (32 per cent), and the Philippines (23.4 per cent) according to the World Bank Open Data.
Furthermore, Malaysia is home to over 15,000 species of flowering plants, 800 species of orchids, seven of the world’s 20 tallest trees, 400 species of palms, 306 species of mammals, 567 species of reptiles, 788 species of birds and more, making her internationally recognised as one of the world’s 17 mega-diverse nations.
Despite these priceless ecological, economic, environmental, sustainable, social and health benefits associated with forests, deforestation and forest degradation still continue. Deforestation occurs when forests are cleared for the construction of highways and expressways, corridors for high tension cabling, housing and drainage, agriculture and irrigation construction, dams and its inundated areas, and quarrying within limestone hills, while forest degradation is generally associated with illegal harvesting of forests both within the forested state lands and permanent forest reserves.
Although it has been argued that there is a need for balanced development and some of the forests may have to be sacrificed for the overall good of society, of late and as reported in the news media, the forests have been at a losing end, as local authorities have approved highway projects which pass through endemic city forests reserves.
Approvals by the local authorities were given despite public outcry by various non-governmental organisations, including the Institut Rimbawan Malaysia (Irim).
What has happened to Agenda 21, which was fully endorsed by most of the local authorities, where they are to engage in projects that are sustainable with the cooperation of local communities? Where are the check and balance in the sustainable development equation?
Irim is not objecting to the highway projects as it recognises that these not only help to improve access, but also shorten the travelling time and convenience for the people.
On the contrary, Irim proposes a win-win situation where these expressways can be better aligned away from encroaching into the forests reserves and, failing which, the construction of elevated expressways to minimise their impact to the forests. Moreover, the economic losses in perpetuity arising from such deforestation can be better viewed if they are based on natural resource accounting in reflecting the true value of these forests.
Better still, do not build more expressways, but improve the public transportation system to encourage people to leave their cars at home.
How can we be practising
sustainable forest management when the size of the forest areas keep changing? Irim has always maintained and advocated the need for a permanent size to deter forest genetic erosion and to allow the forests to keep on providing “public goods” such as clean air, catchment for water, habitat and shelter for numerous small animals, birds and insects and forest recreation.
The clarion call is for a balanced development where the urban forests are protected and allowed to co-exist within urban settings so that they can continue to provide their salient services.
DR DAVID CHIN, President, Institut Rimbawan Malaysia (Irim), (Institute of Foresters Malaysia)