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Despite foresters and planters promising tight regulations in Perak, locals are protesting one of the biggest forest plantations in the state over fears of water security and wildlife attacks.
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By 2021, at least half of forest reserve sites cleared for forest plantations in Peninsular Malaysia were not replanted. Since then, Kelantan has sped up its replanting, but Pahang remains a laggard.
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Forest plantations caused so much concern that the Malaysian National Land Council called for a pause on new projects in the peninsula. But 2.5 years into the moratorium, it is not appearing to work.
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In Kelantan, Orang Asli struggle to keep their culture alive as forests are turned into plantations. With their natural sources of materials for rites and food destroyed, they suffer spiritually and physically.
Producer/writer: YH Law; Editor: SL Wong
Produced in collaboration with the Rainforest Investigations Network at the Pulitzer Center.
Published: 16 March 2022
(Due to forest loss, the Temiar villagers of Kampung Kaloi, Kelantan, are struggling to find the natural materials needed for traditional rites like sewang. | Pic by YH Law)
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A retiring forester needs committed planters and data to solve the many problems of overexpansion in the state.
Producer/writer: YH Law; Editor: SL Wong
Produced in collaboration with the Rainforest Investigations Network at the Pulitzer Center.
Published: 9 March 2022
(Eucalyptus trees are a popular choice in forest plantations worldwide. These were planted in 2019 in the Batu Papan Forest Reserve, Kelantan. | Pic by YH Law)
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Forest plantations are touted to turn degraded forests into a sustainable timber supply in Peninsular Malaysia. But our investigations reveal that so far, the plantations have cut lots of forests without any guarantee of harvest dates or yields.
Producer/writer: YH Law; Editor: SL Wong
Produced in collaboration with the Rainforest Investigations Network at the Pulitzer Center.
Published: 2 March 2022
(In Peninsular Malaysia, about 9% of forest reserves have been zoned to be cleared and turned into forest plantations like this one in Kelantan. | Pic by YH Law)
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After clearing wide swaths of forest reserves, forest plantations in Peninsular Malaysia show few signs of economic and environmental sustainability.
Producer/writer: YH Law; Editor: SL Wong
Produced in collaboration with the Rainforest Investigations Network at the Pulitzer Center.
Published: 23 February 2022
(About 9% of forest reserves in Peninsular Malaysia are zoned for forest plantations like this | Pic by YH Law)
To conserve turtles, the Terengganu state legislative assembly passed an amendment to ban sales of all turtle eggs by June 2022. But in the face of strong traditional demand for the eggs, will the ban work?
THE SLEEPY market of Pasar Payang in Terengganu springs to life on Saturday mornings. Customers weave through the tight maze of stalls, some looking for a delicacy rarely found elsewhere – turtle eggs.
One vendor, who only gives her name as Mak Kiah, picks up 10 eggs from a bag of 100 and drops them into a transparent plastic bag. The eggs are covered in sand and cold to the touch.
“Sembilan puluh ringgit”, she says to a customer. Ninety ringgit.
(Photo: On a busy weekend, hundreds of turtle eggs are sold at the Pasar Payang market, Kuala Terengganu | Pic by Bryan Yong)
How much forest loss is too much? And are the drivers of this loss the same as in the past? In Forest Files, Macaranga examines the dynamics and mechanics of forest-use changes in Malaysia. Our four-part In-Depth series focuses on Peninsular Malaysia, where more forests were lost in the last 30 years than in East Malaysia.
In Part 1, we look at how much forest we actually have, forest-use policies, and forestry decision-makers. In Part 2, we consider a key driver of forest loss – excision from permanent reserve forests. Part 3 asks what drives decision-makers and we end with Part 4 on how citizens could influence forest-use.
(Photo: A bird’s eye view of the protected primary hill and lowland rainforest of the Royal Belum State Park, 2003. Pic by SK Chong/Sasyaz Holdings)
ON 15 AUGUST 2019, Malaysia’s Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) released a press statement announcing that they had renewed for 6 months the operating license of rare earths producer Lynas Malaysia. This renewal carries three conditions.
Each time Lynas’ license comes up for, or is renewed, it is a political hot potato. Supporters for and against renewals have protested on the streets to voice their environmental and economic concerns.
And it has become a sticking point as to whether or not the Pakatan Harapan government is keeping its pre-election promises.
To help you better understand the terms and context of this licence renewal, Macaranga dug into the licensing board’s statement as well as previous reports and documents related to Lynas.
(Photo: Lynas Advanced Material Plant, Kuantan, 15 Dec 2018. Credit: Save Malaysia Stop Lynas; Read AELB’s full statement here. Documents cited in this article are listed at the end of the article.)
Continue reading The Lynas License Renewal: What Does It Mean?
