He said the current administration has not given any new approvals so far and those against logging must understand that licences for all current activities were awarded by past governments.

“However, environment advocates must also realise that some sections of Kedah’s forests are aged and teetering on the brink of falling. The forestry department will mark these areas for logging so that it could bring revenue to the state.

“The best we can do is to save water catchment areas in the state, with close monitoring by the department. The government will never support indiscriminate logging as alleged by some quarters,” he was quoted as saying by Utusan Malaysia today.

But for now, he said, the scene of lorries plying logs in the state has to be accepted and they will be there until “doomsday” as a result of the logging activities.

On July 1, 2019, Kedah gazetted 106,418ha of Ulu Muda forest land as a permanent reserve forest, according to a parliamentary reply. It was reported that Kedah lost close to RM200 million after parts of these forests were made inaccessible to loggers.

After the PAS-led government took over last year, Sanusi said his administration has no choice but to offer “replacement forests” to licensed loggers as it would have to pay a RM1 billion compensation otherwise.

This was after the Ulu Muda forest was turned into a water catchment area that affected 40 concession holders.