Environmental group RimbaWatch wants a moratorium on industrial timber plantations (ITPs) in permanent forest reserves and calls for amendments to the law to ban monoculture estates in such areas.
ITPs allow natural forests in reserves to be cleared and replanted with single tree species, usually rubberwood or acacia. They are known as “ladang hutan” in Peninsular Malaysia, planted forest in Sarawak, and industrial tree plantations in Sabah.
RimbaWatch said a review last year found 62% of ITPs were located in intact forests and 38% in degraded ones, contradicting claims that the scheme rehabilitates damaged areas.
“This means that ITP projects primarily target intact natural forests, and are the largest single source of pressure (threat) on natural forests, rather than being a way of alleviating pressure,” the group said.
It warned that planned expansion of ITPs threaten 2.4 million hectares of natural forests nationwide – equivalent to about 76% of all deforestation risks and nearly the size of Johor and Negeri Sembilan combined.
Citing Pahang’s Tersang Forest Reserve, RimbaWatch said one project there would clear an area equivalent to 1,800 football fields, with impacts on wildlife and nearby Orang Asli communities.
The group said losses were obscured in official data because plantations were still counted as “forest cover,” even when the natural forest was replaced. It also noted that many ITPs overlapped with Orang Asli territories, where land rights remained weak.
RimbaWatch said the government classified all land in gazetted forest reserves as “forest,” even if it was not natural forest. As a result, when reserves are converted into timber estates, the loss of natural forest is often not recorded as deforestation.
The group warned that such clearings undermined Malaysia’s pledge to maintain 50% forest cover and its commitment under the Glasgow Declaration to halt forest loss by 2030.
It urged the federal, Sabah and Sarawak governments to freeze new ITP projects, stop related approvals and studies, and amend the National Forestry Act to ban monoculture and other non-natural uses in permanent reserves.
