He said environmental organisations could have a major influence on the purchase of timber products.

“If you don’t comply with international policies, then people would boycott your products and we don’t want our timber industry to suffer the same fate as our palm oil industry,” he said at the Sarawak Timber and Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) expo here today.

He said the export of timber and timber products is the fourth largest contributor to the state’s export earnings after liquified natural gas (LNG), petroleum and palm oil.

In 2018, the export value of timber and timber products was recorded at RM7 billion, he said.

Therefore, he said the state government has made it mandatory for all long-term forest timber licence-holders to obtain the forest management certification by 2022.

He said the certification would provide concrete and verifiable evidence that the area is being managed on a sustainable basis.

“This initiative not only widens market access and acceptance for our timber products but also enhances the state’s image globally in terms of forest management,” he said.

Abang Johari said the state government was aware of the depleting natural forest resources and had taken the necessary measures to address this issue.

The development of local processing industries would continue to grow and the competition for timber resources would become more severe in the future.

He said the state government had embarked on planting industrial forests in 1998 by issuing licences for planted forests to reduce the pressure on natural forests and ensure a sustainable supply of raw material to the timber industry.

In regard to this, the state government has fixed 2025 as the revised target to achieve one million hectares of planted forests.

“Therefore, the state government would like this effort to be intensified by all holders of licences for planted forests,” he said.