Malaysia To Retain 50 Per Cent Of Its Forest Area - Minister

PUTRAJAYA, Dec 15 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is committed to retain 50 per cent of its forest area in line with the agreement signed by 195 nations at the 2015 Conference of Parties (COP21) held in Paris last Saturday, said the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (right). The minister, who represented Malaysia at the meeting, said forest maintenance and conservation efforts would be intensified as one of Malaysia's main approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emission. He said among the major initiatives under the approach was the Central Forest Spine (CFS) program in Peninsular Malaysia and the Heart of Borneo in Sabah and Sarawak. "Under the CFS, we create a corridor that will merge several forest clusters that require reforestation and declaration as permanent forest. "For the corridor in Borneo, we get the cooperation from Indonesia and Brunei. In fact, Sarawak Chief Minister (Adenan Satem) had also expressed his commitment to no longer give out licences to timber concession companies," he said at a media conference, here Monday. The implementation of the CFS involves 4.32 million hectares and another six million hectares for the Heart of Borneo had been announced by Prime Minister Najib Razak when tabling the 10th Malaysia Plan. Wan Junaidi said Malaysia was also committed to reduce the intensity of greenhouse gas emission by 45 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2030. He said Malaysia had submitted the matter in the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climatic Change (UNFCCC). (photoBERNAMA) -- BERNAMA