Pulau Banding Foundation board member Ahmad Khalif Mustapha Kamal speculated that this was the reason conservation was not a priority for many people.
He said Malaysians were creatures of comfort and conservation was not really a part of their everyday lives.
He was speaking at a press conference in conjunction with the Belum Rainforest Summit 2016 (BRainS 2016) at Menara Mustapha Kamal here today.
Also present at the press conference was Pulau Banding Foundation CEO Rashid Ab Malik, who reiterated Khalif’s point.
He pointed out that rainforests were important in many ways, including in flood mitigation and providing key ingredients to many of today’s modern medicines.
“It is important that we do something now while the country still has an abundance of trees and forests.
“We do not want to end up like developed countries, such as Germany, with only 10 per cent of forests remaining, and then realise how much they actually need the forests.”
BRainS 2016 will be held at the Belum-Temengor rainforest between Oct 17 and 22.