The Penang chief minister today said measures that could be taken include compensation by the federal government to deter states from allowing the forests to be cleared.
Lim, who is also Bagan MP, said the volume of permanent forest reserves gazetted for protection needs to be expanded instead of reduced.
“It is still not too late to do so if there is concerted effort and commitment by all parties, including compensatory payments by the federal government to dissuade state governments from irresponsibly cutting down their permanent forest reserves.”
Citing figures provided by the forestry department, he said Penang was the only state in peninsular Malaysia that did not touch “a single square inch” of permanent forest reserve from 2006 to 2015.
He said Pahang was the biggest “culprit” as it had cut down 161,379 hectares during that period, followed by Kelantan (157,919ha) and Perak (74,032ha).
“Even the smallest state in Malaysia, Perlis, had cut down 167ha of permanent forest reserves,” he said in a statement issued in conjunction with World Environment Day, which was observed yesterday.
“Malaysia should preserve our 130 million years old rainforest by stopping the wanton destruction of 544,011 hectares of our permanent forest reserves over the last 10 years in peninsular Malaysia alone,” he added.
Lim said the destruction of rainforests has been one of the main contributors to climate change leading to global warming.
He said there is an urgent need to stop cutting down permanent forest reserves, including those that had been degazetted to allow loggers or “crony developers” to harvest them for profits at the expense of the environment.
Penang has over the last few months urged the Kedah government to cease logging around the Ulu Muda rainforest as it is an important water catchment for both states, and a critical source for the Muda river which supplies 80% of water treated for use by Penangites.
The Kedah government, however, has claimed that licensed logging was only carried out in approximately 30% of Ulu Muda. It also said logging activities were not affecting the environment.
On May 9, Penang Water Supply Corporation CEO Jaseni Maidinsa demanded Kedah to reveal all the facts and figures pertaining to logging activities in Ulu Muda.
He said the state government should make public all reports that could support claims that logging at the forest reserve would not affect water catchment areas, including reports on hydrology, rainfall, river level and dam capacity records.
He also asked Kedah to clarify the total size of the Ulu Muda reserve and how much of it had been logged, together with exact locations of “licensed” logging areas.