Sarawak to ramp up war against illegal logging

LAWAS: The Sarawak government will not compromise on its commitment to tackling illegal logging in the state, says Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.

However, he stressed that the effort to combat environmental crime needed close cooperation from the public as the eyes and ears of the government to channel information on such activities to the authorities.

At the same time, he said, monitoring activities with enforcement agencies as well as the Sarawak Forest Department were ongoing and would be enhanced further.

“It is important for the people to cooperate with the state government in terms of channelling information so that we can take swift action. We assure the public that we will not expose the identity of informants.“Illegal logging not only causes the government to incur losses but it is also detrimental to the environment and our forests which are rich in flora and fauna.

“If illegal activities become more rampant, it will disrupt our efforts to protect and conserve the forests in the state,” he told Bernama yesterday.

Earlier, Awang Tengah launched the Limbang Division-level Le Tour De Restoration, Greening Sarawak’s Campaign at the Heart of Borneo (HOB) centre in Kayangeran here.

Le Tour De Restoration, Greening Sarawak’s Campaign is one of the department’s efforts to increase public awareness of the importance to conserve the environment and forests in line with the Greening Malaysia Programme at the federal level.

Also present at the event were Sarawak Forest Department director Datu Hamden Mohammad, heads of department and agencies as well as community leaders.

Awang Tengah said the HOB centre would be used as a forestry research centre for Sarawak and a tourist attraction, besides developing a part of the area as the Urban Forest Park.

“Through this effort, we are confident that Sarawak will be able to achieve the goal of one million hectares of forest areas gazetted as Totally Protected Areas by 2025,” he said.