GEORGE TOWN: Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) has urged all state governments to adopt amendments proposed to the National Forestry Act 1984 which were tabled in Parliament last week.
SAM president Meenakshi Raman said several of these amendments were what non-governmental organisations (NGO) like SAM had been calling for since many years now.
She said, among the most significant changes proposed which SAM most welcomed, were:
* The introduction of a new section 11, replacing the old in relation to the excision of land from the status of permanent reserved forests (PRF);
* The amendment to sub-section 10(1) to include 'state park forest' (hutan taman negeri) as an additional category in the classification of what are PRFs; and
* The move to increase penalties for offences under the Act. These are vital to ensure that there is sufficient deterrence to stop prospective violators.
"We welcome the amendments proposed to the National Forestry Act 1984 which were tabled in Parliament last week. We call on Parliament to expedite the process to pass these changes quickly so that they become legally effective.
"This must be followed by all state governments adopting these amendments soon after, so that they are given legal effect and are enforced properly," she said today.
Elaborating, Meenakshi said the introduction of the new section 11 allowed such excision to take place subjected to two significant conditions.
The first condition, she added, was that prior to the excision of any PRF, the state authority would be required to conduct a public inquiry in accordance with the rules which were to be drawn up subsequently by the state.
"This is a very important provision, which currently exists only in the Selangor Forestry Enactment. Such a provision for a public inquiry prior to any degazetting of PRF ensures transparency and accountability on the part of the states and is important for ensuring good governance.
"Without this transparency, decision-making over the degazetting of PRF is shrouded in secrecy, giving rise to concerns including the likelihood of conflicts of interests. So, this is a most welcome move.
"What is critical, however, is to make sure that this public inquiry process is taken seriously by the states and is not a token mechanism, but one which is meaningful and effective, for the sake of good governance," she stressed.
Meenakshi said the second condition would be that if the state authority intended to excise land from PRF status, they must identify and constitute another area of land which is similar in size or is larger to replace the PRF which is to be excised.
"This is a major improvement over the current law, which gives too much discretion to the states as to whether to provide a replacement area or not," she added.
On the amendment to sub-section 10(1) to include 'state park forest' as an additional category in the classification of what are PRFs, Meenakshi said SAM had been calling on states to gazette more of their forests as totally protected forests, which could not be converted for other uses or disturbed by destructive activities such as logging.
"This should especially be the case in relation to the Central Forest Spine (CFS) and the Heart of Borneo ecological corridors, which must be gazetted as totally protected forests without delay.
"These amendments should not be delayed and should come into force as soon as possible so that our forests are protected effectively for the sake of all the multiple ecosystem functions they perform, including in flood and soil protection, sustainability of our water resources and in the protection of our biodiversity," she noted.