But he accused the Sarawak Forest Department of failing to address “irregularities” in its issuance of logging licences, which is the “source of illegal logging”.
See was responding to the statement by the department’s director Sapuan Ahmad yesterday that there had been a drop in the number of illegal logging cases in the state.
Sapuan said the Forest Department had stepped up efforts and enforcement against illegal logging.
“This year, we recorded 93 cases of illegal logging activities compared with 241 cases in 2014,” Sapuan said at the department’s Integrity and Innovation Day in Bintulu.
See said he was quite annoyed when Sapuan said there had been many achievements in combating illegal logging.
He said more results needed to be seen, from environmental conservation to raising revenue, for the Forest Department to change negative public perception.
He added that irregularities in the issuance of logging licences also called into question the integrity of the department.
“I must commend the enforcement officers on the ground as they have been more vigilant in tackling illegal logging on the ground, but it appears that the Forest Department director has failed to address the issue of irregularities in the issuance of logging licences, which is the source of illegal logging.
“Until today, the director is still keeping quiet on the issuance of Occupation Licence OT/3666 for logging on 4,200ha of land within the Spali land district in Kanowit.
“He has not yet clarified whether the licence was issued in accordance with the chief minister’s directive, Forest Ordinance, regulations and standards of practice.”
See said Sapuan would be failing in his duties if he was “unable to design and implement” a timber legality assurance system that would ensure timber products were certified as legal.
He added such certification would give such timber products high value in markets such as the European Union and would also ensure that Sarawak had the highest standards in conservation while producing timber products in a way that earned the highest possible revenue, he said.
“We are the biggest producer of hardwood timber in the world and we should be setting the standard as a global leader.
“However, at the moment, we have failed miserably and are not even comparable to our two contemporary member states — Sabah and the peninsula,” See said.