Tag Archives: sustainability

为油棕而破坏森林与老虎栖息地,价值何在?

YP Olio 有限公司最近从联邦环境局获得允准在8498公顷的地块上清除森林并种植油棕。

该项目地块位于彭亨州的珍妮-百乐综合森林内,这是一个具有丰富生物多样性和生态价值的天然森林。在项目地块里还有两座原住民村落,村民声称该地方是他们的习俗地。

Macaranga发现,该项目将给发展商带来巨大的利益,而政府和社会将付出高昂的代价。此外,项目对森林的破坏将危及已经濒危的马来亚虎。

该项目对马来西亚油棕业的声誉有什么影响? 对于彭亨州政府和发展商来说,最适当的选择又是什么?

第一篇为卖不出去的油棕砍伐森林

第二篇承诺保育老虎,却在彭亨破坏栖息地

第三篇原住民为森林放弃新房子

 

Apa nilainya musnah hutan dan habitat harimau demi kelapa sawit?

Syarikat YP Olio Sdn Bhd baru menerima kelulusan daripada Jabatan Alam Sekitar untuk menebang kawasan hutan 8,498 ha untuk dijadikan ladang kelapa sawit.

Tapak itu terletak dalam kompleks hutan Chini-Bera, Pahang, sebuah hutan asli yang cukup kaya dengan kepelbagaian biologi dan nilai-nilai ekologi. Terdapat juga dua kampung Orang Asli dalam tapak projek yang menuntut kawasan itu sebagai tanah adat mereka.

Siasatan Macaranga mendapati bahawa projek ini membawa manfaat besar kepada pihak pemaju, manakala pihak kerajaan dan masyarakat menanggung kos yang tinggi. Tambahan pula, kemusnahan hutan itu akan menjejas populasi harimau Malaya yang sudahpun hampir pupus.

Apakah kesan projek tersebut ke atas reputasi kemampanan industri kelapa sawit di Malaysia? Apakah pilihan paling wajar bagi pihak kerajaan Pahang dan pemaju?

Bahagian 1: Menebang Hutan Demi Kelapa Sawit Yang Takkan Terjual

Bahagian 2: Biarpun Sudah Berjanji, Habitat Harimau di Pahang Tetap Dimusnahkan

Bahagian 3: Orang Asli Menolak Tawaran Rumah Baharu Untuk Hutan

Are we serious about sustainability?

New research by KPMG shows that the quality of sustainability reports by public listed companies in Malaysia is unlikely to meet investors’ need to assess environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risk. Phang Oy Cheng explains why companies should do more.

IN 2020, KPMG reported that 99 of the top 100 public listed companies in Malaysia publish sustainability reports – a statistic on par with global standards.

But KPMG’s latest research shows that while our compliance to reporting requirements is very good, the quality of those reports with regards to material environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues is wanting.

(Photo: Malaysian sustainability reporting needs to improve | pic of Kuala Lumpur central business district by Ishan @seefromthesky on Unsplash)

Continue reading Are we serious about sustainability?

Forest-use: The Public Wants A Say

#FORESTFILES: PART 4

Juggling between development and environmental conservation is difficult when it comes to forest-use. But there are ways to be more inclusive. This is Part 4 of Forest Files.

MALAYSIA has had decades of continuous economic and population growth since independence.

In 2019, the country achieved a gross domestic production (GDP) of about RM1.5 trillion, more than a hundred-times the GDP in the 1960s. The population almost quadrupled over the same period.

However, before Malaysia industrialised in the 1980s, it exploited its natural resources, including its most accessible at that time: primary forests, some of the oldest in the world.

(Public participation allows citizens affected by forest-use change to voice out; pictured at the North Kuala Langat Forest Reserve degazettement townhall are [clockwise from top] Kg OA Pulau Kempas’s Tonjoi Bin Pipis and Batin Raman Pahat, and Kg OA Busut Baru’s Rosnah Anak Senin. Pics by Shakila Zen/KUASA)

(more…)

Revenue and Power Drive Forest Area Changes

#FORESTFILES: PART 3

To understand forest-use dynamics in Peninsular Malaysia, one must know how state governments – the sole authority on land use – perceive forests. This is Part 3 of Forest Files.

IN AUGUST 2019, when then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad launched a forestry exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, he took the audience down memory lane.

“At the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, as the Prime Minister of Malaysia back then, I made a pledge that Malaysia is committed to maintain at least 50 percent of our land mass under forest cover,” said Mahathir.

(Photo: Logs, like these harvested from a permanent reserve forest in Johor, are an important source of revenue for many state governments. Pic by YH Law.)

(more…)

Excision – The Main Threat to Forests in Peninsular Malaysia

#FORESTFILES: PART 2

Decades ago, rampant logging looked set to decimate forests in Malaysia. That is no longer the case but a less familiar force is driving forest change – one over which state governments have full control. This is Part 2 of the Forest Files series.

THE 1970s were the golden age of logging in Peninsular Malaysia, veteran loggers told Macaranga.

Then the federal government came up with the National Forestry Policy in 1978 and the National Forestry Act in 1984 to promote sustainable forestry in the country.

(Photo: A new road snakes through a permanent reserve forest bloc in Johor which was last logged in the 1970s. Composite pic by YH Law.)

(more…)