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Losing Trees and Identities

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Losing Trees and Identities

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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The Problems and Promise of Forest Plantations in Kelantan

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The Problems and Promise of Forest Plantations in Kelantan

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 In Reserves: Quick to Cut, Slow to Grow

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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.

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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Tree Farming Gone Wrong

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TREE FARMING GONE WRONG

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)

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Can Oil Palm Explain The Lower Forest Loss Here?

Last year, tropical forest loss increased worldwide but Malaysia cut down less than it did the previous year, the fourth year it has done so. What explains this good news?

[First posted on 27 April, 12.17pm.]

Last year, the world lost 12% more tropical forest than it did in 2019, according to satellite census by forest monitoring platform Global Forest Watch. Malaysia bucked the global trend: it lost less. 

In fact, Malaysia has trimmed its primary forest losses four years in a row. Losses fell from about 185,000 hectares in 2016 to nearly 73,000 hectares in 2020 (Figure 1).

At the same time, there is a slow down in the expansion of the sector most frequently linked to deforestation – oil palm. Oil palm area in Malaysia contracted in 2020 – the first drop in 44 years.

Could this explain Malaysia’s recent downtrend in primary forest losses? And can we expect forest loss to drop further?

(Photo: Malaysia has been losing less primary forest since 2016. Graph: YH Law)

Continue reading Can Oil Palm Explain The Lower Forest Loss Here?