A group effort to plant trees Pantai Ban Pecah in Kuala Kurau, Perak, in conjunction with World Environment Day. — Filepic
MORE than 9.5 million trees have been planted between 2021 and Oct 31 this year in Perak.
State science, environment and green technology committee chairman Teh Kok Lim said the tree planting project had taken place on 19,165ha of land.
He said the initiative was carried out in line with improving air quality and reducing the impact of climate change.
“This programme is in line with Principle 7.1.3: Sustainable Use of Resources and Nature in Perak Sejahtera 2030 Plan.
“Through the project, the state can raise public awareness of the importance of the ecosystem, particularly air quality, and to reduce the impact of climate change,” he said in reply to Mohd Akmal Kamarudin (PN-Selama) during the question-and-answer session at the state assembly sitting at Bangunan Perak Darul Ridzuan in Ipoh, yesterday.
Teh said the state government through Perak Forestry Department was committed to planting 10 million trees throughout the state, for a five-year period from 2021 to 2025, to meet the Malaysia Greening Programme “100 Million Tree Planting Campaign”.
He added that a total of 64,645 trees had been planted under 78 communication, education and public awareness (Cepa) campaigns from 2021 to October 2024.
“The state government also implemented the gazettement of permanent forest reserves to address the impact of climate change.
“As of June 30, 2024, the total permanent forest reserve areas in Perak is 988,722.22ha, which constitutes 47% of the state’s area, representing 96.4% of forested areas,” said Teh.
He said Perak government was carrying out various efforts to improve air quality and encourage industrial sector entrepreneurs to switch from diesel or empty fruit bunch reinforced composites to natural gas for fuel source.
“The use of natural gas is better as it is a cleaner, more stable and a non-polluting energy source.
“The state government through InvestPerak has taken proactive action by holding a series of discussions with Energy Commission and Gas Malaysia Bhd to build more natural gas pipeline facilities.
“The latest pipeline project is the installation of a natural gas pipeline from Bidor to Automotive Hi-Tech Valley that is currently under construction,” he said.
“It is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2025.
“Renewable energy from biogas and biomass resources totalling 36.534 megawatts (MW) produced from the project will be able to supply green electricity to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) as early as 2027,” he added.
Teh also said that there were 21 large-scale solar farms in the state.
“A total of 18 solar farms are operational. Three are still under construction.
“The total capacity of all these solar farms is 532MW,” he said.
