KOTA KINABALU: The Sustainable Forest Management System (SFM) concept is one of the important points that has changed Sabah's forestry landscape.
Sabah Chief Forest Conservator Datuk Frederick Kugan said Sabah had adopted the SFM policy since 1997 to conserve, protect and enhance the state's forest resources and maintain a balance between social, economic and environmental development.
This is a prudent move to manage the forests in a sustainable manner to ensure the benefits of forests could be shared by future generations, he said.
"The SFM implementation is made through a smart partnership with the private sector through the Sustainable Forest Management Licence Agreement (SFMLA).
"As of today, the Sabah government has entered 38 SFMLA with private companies covering approximately 1.6 million hectares of forest reserves.
"The SFM practices are also being implemented in 860,000 ha of forest reserves, mostly in the Class I Protection Forest, which are directly managed by the Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) through various SFM projects, mainly for conservation purposes," he said in a statement, adding that the Forestry Department is now 107 years old.
His statement was in conjunction with the 2021 Forestry Appreciation Reception at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) here last night. (Tues night)
Frederick explained that under the SFMLA, the SFM licensees were required to prepare a 10-year Forest Management Plan (FMP), a document that provided the guidance in managing their licensed areas, and to prepare an annual work plan (AWP) which prescribed the activities to be implemented within a calendar year.
"The main SFM activities involve timber harvesting, the establishment of forest plantation with fast-growing and high-value tree species, restoration and rehabilitation of degraded forest areas and social forestry.
"The implementation of various SFM activities is regularly monitored, assessed and evaluated to ensure compliance with the management plan and good management practices.
"The field monitoring is conducted regularly by the District Forestry Officer (DFO), and a Quarterly Progress Report (QR) is submitted to the headquarters for assessment and evaluation. The outcome of the assessment are disseminated to the DFOs for improvement of SFM implementation.
"At the end of the calendar year, the SFM licensees are required to submit a Compliance Report (CR), reporting their achievements against the prescribed activities and targets in the AWPs, as required under Clause 56(i) of the SFMLA. The CR will be first verified on the ground by the DFO, who will later submit the verification report to the headquarters for assessment," he said.
The CR will be assessed based on performance to confirm that the desired outcomes are being achieved by the SFM licensees, and compliance to ascertain whether the SFM licences have complied with the principles, SFMLA conditions, and the prescriptions as stated in the management plan.
"Those who have successfully met the standards will be awarded with a Compliance Certificate. While for those who do not demonstrate such compliance and continuously fail to perform, the department will issue show cause letters and they may have their licence agreements cancelled or terminated by the state government," he said.
The Compliance Certificate is a public acknowledgement and recognition that the licensees have fully complied with the terms and conditions of their licence agreements, and have met the standard of sustainable forest management practices.
The total number of SFM licenses (including joint ventures) awarded with Compliance Certificate in 2019 was 20, and increased to 29 in 2020.
"The Compliance Certificate is also awarded to the District Forestry Officer and project manager of SFM projects with excellent achievement in meeting the target specified in the management plans.
"In 2019, the total Compliance Certificate awarded for SFM projects was 13, and the following year was 12. This is to acknowledge and recognise the SFD field officers on their hard works and commitment in implementing SFM in their respective project sites," he added.