PEKAN: The Chini Forest Reserve near here will not be involved in the proposed 1,625ha "forest plantations" project.
State Forestry Department director Datuk Dr Mohd Hizamri Mohd Yasin said the Tasik Chini Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation) Biosphere Reserve site will also not be part of the timber plantation programme.
"The approved area (parcels of land) is located outside the Biosphere Reserve site. It is about 11km from Tasik Chini and is within the production forest.
"The Chini Forest Reserve is under the administration of three districts, namely Pekan, Rompin and Bera, with the Chini Permanent Forest Reserve measuring some 51,500 ha.
"Of the total, some 45,000 ha are classified as production forests, while approximately 6,500 ha are gazetted as protection forests," he told the Pahang government official news portal Pahang Communications and Media Unit today.
He was commenting on news reports quoting environmental group RimbaWatch that the Pahang government plans to convert six plots measuring 1,625ha at the Chini Forest Reserve near here into timber plantations. However, Hizamri did not provide details on the size of the proposed project and when the project is expected to commence.
Hizamri said the Tasik Chini Biosphere Reserve site located within the Chini Forest Reserve had been gazetted as a forest reserve measuring 6502.8ha, which is also gazetted as a "protection forest".
He reiterated that the Pahang Forestry Department was committed to ensure that forests that have been gazetted as protected areas would be preserved from any development that disturbs and affects biodiversity.
For the record, the forest plantation projects were carried out to reduce logging activities in natural forests in the long-term. This effort is outlined in the National Forestry Policy 1978 and the Malaysian Forestry Policy 2021.
Yesterday, RimbaWatch expressed shock over a document outlining plans to convert six plots of land measuring 1,625ha within the Chini Forest Reserve into timber plantations. The project was equal to the size of 657 football fields.
The non-governmental organisation had urged the authorities to halt their plans claiming 'forest plantations' by the state and federal authorities are merely a way to greenwash deforestation.
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