Peninsular Malaysia's forests the size of Singapore will be destroyed in near future, claims NGO.

SHAH ALAM: At least 72,584.73 hectares (ha) of forests in Peninsular Malaysia, or almost as large as Singapore, will be destroyed in the near future.

The revelation was made by an environmental group Rimba Disclosure Project (RDP), following a data collection in 2021 aimed to monitor deforestation-related activities in Peninsular Malaysia.

Through the research, RDP claimed that a total of 86 Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) involving forest land had been approved, 28 forest listings for sale had been identified and one project involving deforestation was underway.

More surprisingly, the group claimed that out of the 86 EIAs approved, a total of 28,075.72ha, 89 per cent or 24,973.76ha were located in forest reserves.

"Out of the approved EIAs, 71 per cent of it involved forest plantations and 24,973.76ha of the EIA, which is larger than the size of Kuala Lumpur has been approved for deforestation in permanent forest reserves," the RDP said in a statement, here on Thursday.

Commenting further, the group added that the approved EIAs each involved 60 forest plantations, mining and quarrying (nine), palm oil (six), unidentified logging (five), infrastructure (four), and other agriculture (two).

On the remaining 28 forest listings for sale, RDP said they were identified through websites including Mudah.my, iProperty, PropertyGuru, and Facebook. The group claimed that the listings include land in forest reserves, Central Forest Spine habitat, and indigenous customary lands.

“The most sought after forests are in Pahang where 27,900ha were sold, followed by Kelantan (10,411ha), Terengganu (3,631ha), Selangor (264ha), and Perak (202ha).

“Apart from that, we found 404ha of forest for sale in an unknown state,” RDP claimed.

The group said it had previously urged the state authorities to conduct an investigation into the alleged listing of forests for sale, but as far as they know, no action had been taken.

Meanwhile, Selangor Smart Agro Park is alleged to be an "ongoing project" involving the deforestation of 970ha of peat swamp forest in the state. RDP further said that although the Environment Department ceased the development due to a lack of EIA, the project’s supporters had reiterated that they were committed in implementing the project based on the laws and regulations set by the state government.

In this regard, RDP called on financial institutions to play a role and recognise the link between biodiversity and the climate crisis, as well as immediately cutting off all financial flows towards deforestation. - AWANI