KUALA LUMPUR: The government is drafting a national carbon policy to provide guidance on carbon trading at the state level.
Natural resources, environment and climate change minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said many states, such as Sarawak, Sabah, Perak, Pahang and Selangor, were exploring carbon trading because it is also seen as a state resource.
“We want to coordinate all this at the national level so that we will get the results we want,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today, following a question from Shahar Abdullah (BN-Paya Besar).
Nik Nazmi said the government was also updating and improving the national action plan for peatlands to take into account the Asean peatland management strategy, which is being developed to guide the country to manage peatlands sustainably.
He said 8% of the country’s land area is peatland, which can be found in Johor, Pahang, Selangor, Perak, Terengganu, Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak.
“More than 714,000ha of peatland have been recorded by the agriculture department.
“The total area used for agriculture is more than 342,000ha, with 304,000ha used for commodities and another 38,000ha for food crops,” he said.