The total forested area in Malaysia as at the end of 1995 was estimated to be 18.91 million hectares or 57.5% of the total land area. Of this total, it is estimated that some 16.41 million hectares are the inland dipterocarp forests, with the remaining 1.69, 0.62 and 0.19 million hectares being fresh water swamp, mangrove swamp and plantation forests, respectively. The inland dipterocarp forests could be further categorised into lowland dipterocarp, hill dipterocarp, upper dipterocarp, lower montane and upper montane forests, respectively. The distribution and extent of forest areas by major forest types and regions is as shown in Table 1 of Appendix 1.
In view of the crucial role of forests for timber production, the conservation of soil, water and wildlife, as well as in the protection of the environment, Malaysia has set aside a total of 14.29 million hectares of its natural forests as the Permanent Reserved Forest (PRF) to be managed and developed sustainably. Approximately 10.85 million hectares or 76% of the PRF are production forests with the remaining 3.43 million hectares being protection forests. The status of the PRF in Malaysia is summarised in Table 2 of Appendix 1.
Besides the PFE and designated national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and nature reserves, there are areas of forests which in due time would be converted to housing, industrial, agricultural and other uses to meet the needs of population growth as well as that of balanced economic development. These are known as conversion forests and they total approximately 2.84 million hectares. Such conversion forests are ultimately cleared before the land is developed for others. In recent years, the pace of forest conversion for large-scale agricultural production has slowed down as Malaysia gears and moves itself to greater industrialisation.
Besides the natural forests, Malaysia has also ventured into forest plantation, albeit on a small scale. In fact, commercial establishment of forest plantation dated way back to the 1950's with the planting of teak (Tectona grandis) in the States of Kedah and Perlis. Since then, the programme has been widened to include other fast growing species with Acacia mangium, Gmelina arborea, Paraserianthes falcataria being the major species and Eucalyptus deglupta, Pinus and Araucaria species being the minor species planted. To date, the total area of forest plantations in Malaysia amounted to 0.19 million hectares, with 0.07 million hectares being located in Peninsular Malaysia, and 0.11 and 0.01 million hectares in Sabah and Sarawak, respectively. These plantations provide general utility timber and are aimed to supplement timber supply from the natural forests.
In addition, Malaysia also has 4.82 million hectares of agricultural tree crops which are mainly rubber, oil palm, coconut and cocoa. These agricultural plantations are similar to reafforested land and increasingly these crops can be looked upon as alternative sources of wood supply especially that of rubberwood. Taking into consideration these plantations, the total area under tree cover in Malaysia at the end of 1995 is estimated to be 23.73 million hectares or 72.2% of its total land area.
Shifting cultivation which had taken place for many decades especially in the State of Sarawak is undoubtedly one of the main activities that has an adverse impact on the forest. It is estimated some 3 million hectares of forests has been so impoverished and damaged over the years. The forests are slashed and burned for the cultivation of short-term crops such as hill padi and tapioca. Because of the nature of slash and burn, the areas do not regenerate easily and hence substantial areas of prime forests are laid to waste. Costly programmes are needed to rehabilitate these areas.
As for trends, future harvesting would have to come from the regenerated logged-over forests as it is expected that the production from the virgin forest would be reduced. Forest resources would become scarce in relation to the increasing population and the rising demand for timber and timber products. Hence, more intensive and prudent forest management practices will have to be applied to assessing the current growing stock of the logged-over forests and in ensuring its productivity and sustainability. This is also in line with Malaysia's commitment in the international front particularly that of attaining the International Tropical Timber Organisation Year 2000 Objective where it is required all timber traded in the international markets must be sourced from sustainably managed forests.
