PETALING JAYA: Environmental watchdog RimbaWatch has found that 258,860ha of forest in Class I tiger conservation landscapes across Peninsular Malaysia, the equivalent of three and a half times the size of Singapore, are being threatened by deforestation.
In a statement, the group said the majority of such areas were in Kelantan (56%), Pahang (21%) and Perak (10%).
“258,860ha is a significant area, roughly equivalent to three and a half times the size of Singapore. The primary threat drivers are industrial timber plantations (68%), followed by real estate listings for forests (20%) and palm oil concessions (5%),” it said.
Class I tiger conservation landscapes refer to top-priority global conservation areas with three criteria: habitat large enough to support at least 100 tigers, active evidence of breeding, and minimal-to-moderate threat levels with effective conservation measures already in place.
RimbaWatch’s findings were contained in its report, “State of the Tiger Conservation Landscape in Peninsular Malaysia”, published today.
The report also found 474,231ha of tree cover loss within the Class I tiger conservation landscape in West Malaysia from 2015 to 2025.
The majority of tree loss in the 474,231ha was in Pahang (35%), followed by Kelantan (33%) and Terengganu (16%). This comprises roughly 10% of the entire tiger conservation landscape.
“Additionally, the report notes that 287,512ha of this tree cover loss occurred in forest areas certified as ‘sustainable’ by the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification.”
RimbaWatch said its latest findings reinforced the conclusions of its previous studies, which consistently found industrial timber plantations to be the biggest threat to Malaysia’s rainforests.
Referred to as “ladang hutan” by local forestry authorities, the official position of the programme is that timber plantations are a method of rehabilitating degraded forests which reduces pressure on natural forests.
“However, this programme is in reality the primary pressure on natural forest, and involves industrial-scale programmes of establishing ecologically-dead monoculture plantations of rubberwood, acacia and other species in previously natural forest exclusively within permanent forest reserves.
“This represents a key disconnect between federal conservation goals and state autonomy over forests,” it said.
The group’s director Adam Farhan was quoted as saying that existing tiger conservation priorities – including anti-poaching patrols, captive breeding and rescue centres – must not be divorced from measures to reduce habitat loss itself.
Key actions
RimbaWatch urged the government to designate all land in Class I tiger conservation landscapes as critical environmentally sensitive areas, with a ban on forestry activities in such locations.
It also called for an immediate moratorium on all forest degradation and conversion in industrial timber plantations or “ladang hutan” concessions across Malaysia.
It said Malaysia should legislate the target of maintaining natural forest cover above a certain minimum percentage of land cover, which should be set at the country’s current and existing natural forest cover.
The group also called on the government to adopt constitutional amendments to reflect the right of Malaysians to a clean environment, and of its indigenous communities to legal ownership of their traditional territories.
