Since the 1930's Malaysia has been establishing a network of protected areas for the conservation of biological diversity. Malaysia's largest national park covering 434,351 hectares was gazetted as early as 1939 which comprises mainly virgin forests of various forest types according to altitudes and soils. Currently, Malaysia has 2.12 million hectares of conservation areas or 11.2% of the total forested areas protected by legislation as shown in Table 3 of Appendix 1. Of these, 1.80 million hectares are located outside the PFE, whilst another 0.33 million hectares are located within the Estate.
In its efforts to conserve various forest and ecological types in their original conditions, the Forestry Departments have set aside pockets of virgin forest. These pockets, known as Virgin Jungle Reserves (VJRs), were established to serve as permanent nature reserves and natural arboreta, as controls for comparing harvested and silviculturally treated forests and as undisturbed natural forests for general ecological and botanical studies. Since its inception in the 1950's, a total of 72 VJRs covering 21,284 hectares were established throughout Peninsular Malaysia while in Sabah, a total of 48 VJRs had also been established covering an area of 90,442 hectares. These VJRs represent samples of the many types of virgin forest found in the country which are located in the PFE. Represented forest types include Mangrove forest, Heath forest, Peat Swamp forest, Lowland Dipterocarp forest, Hill Dipterocarp forest, Upper Dipterocarp forest and Montane forest.
Hence, with the protection forests of the PFE of 3.43 million hectares, the total area designated for the conservation of biological diversity in Malaysia is now estimated to be 5.22 million hectares or 27.6% of its total forested land.
Malaysia is a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity and is committed to implement all prescribed activities mandated by the Convention. Towards this end, Malaysia has taken various measures to ensure its implementation. In the field of forestry, Malaysia has, among others, amended the National Forestry Act 1984. To curb illegal encroachment of forest areas and timber theft, the National Forestry Act 1984 was amended in 1993 where the penalty for the commission of any forest offence has been increased from a maximum penalty of US$ 4,000 or an imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both to a maximum penalty of US$ 200,000 and a mandatory imprisonment of at least one year but not exceeding 20 years. The amended Act has also provisions for the Police and Armed Forces to undertake surveillance of forestry activities, especially in curbing illegal logging and timber theft.
The amendment of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 in 1985 to include the requirement for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be carried out for various forestry activities which may have adverse effects on the environment, such as the conversion of forested land to other uses as well as logging covering an area of 500 hectares or more is certainly a positive step in the right direction. Currently, the EIA Guidelines for Forest Harvesting of Natural Forest has been developed and is in its final stage of approval by the Government.
The Malaysian Government has also drawn up a comprehensive list of plants and animals to be protected. Currently, many of these such as the tiger, rhinoceros, slow loris and even the birdwing butterfly are fully protected by law. Complimenting this, the National Committee on Plant Genetic Resources was formed to review the collection, identify neglected areas of work in plant breeding, promote knowledge on plant genetic resources through research, evaluation, appraisal and publication. In the recent update, a total of 511 of the 746 known endemic plant species have been listed as endangered and documented in the Directory of Plant Genetic Resources of Malaysia.
Efforts are also taken by the Forestry Departments to enhance in-situ conservation of biological diversity during forest harvesting within the production forests of the PFE. For example, even though the minimum prescribed cutting limit for the dipterocarp species is 50 cm diameter at breast height (dbh), the minimum cutting for Neobalanocarpus heimii has been raised to 60 cm dbh with the sole purpose of conserving this species during forest harvesting. In addition, environmental protection and forest conservation measures such as subscribing to approved forest harvesting guidelines and forest road specifications, as well as leaving behind buffer zones to protect the water resources and minimise soil erosion are also clear indicators of the Malaysians' genuine efforts.
