Government to go all out to stop illegal logging

Wednesday July 4, 2007
The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: The Prime Minister has pledged the Governments commitment to put a stop to illegal logging activities, stressing that enforcement of logging regulations will be enhanced.

Noting that Malaysia has often been unfairly associated with illegal logging in the timber industry, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said: We will not tolerate anyone involved in illegal logging. We will not forgive these people.

He said he would remind the state governments the importance of enforcing the law against illegal loggers.

The state governments must understand the policy (on forestry and logging) formulated by the federal government. At the next meeting of Mentris Besar, Ill stress the need for stricter enforcement of these laws, he said after opening the Malaysian International Commodity Conference and Showcase here.

On measures to protect the forest and natural resources, he said that in areas where logging was allowed, it should not be excessive but there should be sustainable extraction of timber.

Malaysia, he said, had undertaken steps to protect the natural resources for the future generation including with the implementation of the Malaysia Timber Certification scheme to certified that timber produced in Malaysia was the result of sustainable development.

Other steps were participating in consultations with the European Union under the Voluntary Partnership Agreement, which is part of the Forest Law Enforcement and Governance and Trade Action Plan.

Abdullah said Malaysia was committed to protecting the environment by practising sustainable development for the plantation sector.

He said there had been attempts to discredit Malaysias palm oil industry particularly by NGOs in the United States and Europe, including questioning its effect on health.

There were claims that orang utans were being killed during land clearing. We are very concerned about these campaigns. I want to put on record that we love our forests and wildlife.

This country is very rich in bio-diversity and we are not going to destroy them because there is a realisation that the forest can provide us with a lot of good things, he said.

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