Sejak 2007, pembangunan pesat ladang hutan di hutan simpan telah menjadi salah satu pemacu utama kehilangan hutan di Semenanjung Malaysia. Pembangunan ladang menebas hutan asli dan menanam semula dengan sejenis species pokok cepat tumbuh.
Ladang hutan disebut-sebut sebagai cara lebih berkesan menghasilkan kuantiti besar kayu. Jelas lihat sokongan kuat kerajaan persekutuan dan negeri membangunkan ladang hutan, dengan memberikan pinjaman mudah dan hak guna tanah kepada pengusaha swasta.
Namun, 15 tahun kemudian, apakah hasil pencapaian ladang hutan? Adakah ia menunjukkan tanda-tanda pembangunan mampan? Itulah tumpuan siasatan Macaranga setahun sejak Mac 2021. Penemuan kami diterbitkan dalam bahasa Inggeris pada Februari 2022 dan kemudian diterjemahkan ke dalam Bahasa Malaysia.
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.
(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)
(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)
Forest Plantations in Reserves: Quick to Cut, Slow to Grow
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.
(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)