KOTA KINABALU: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan should clarify his recent statement that the state was in the process of committing some two million hectares of rainforest to a 100-year carbon credit conservation project, says Adrian Lasimbang.
The indigenous rights activist said this was similar to the Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA) although Kitingan never made any direct reference to the controversial deal.
"I am a bit puzzled by his remarks because the State Attorney-General (AG) had already come up with a statement that the NCA was not enforceable previously," said the Sabah Native Voices Organisation (Pertubuhan Suara Anak Sabah) president on Saturday (July 1).
"Kitingan must clarify where the two million hectares of forest he was talking about," he added.
The former senator had filed a suit against the NCA in 2021, naming the Chief Conservator of Forests and the Sabah government as first and second respondent.
"That is why I did not continue pursuing the case following the State AG’s statement. But now, he’s (Kitingan) is telling the public that Sabah was in the process of committing the two million hectares but he didn’t directly say it was the NCA," said Lasimbang.
"I just want a clarification in public, is Kitingan talking about the NCA or a different scheme?The public deserves to know the truth behind this.
"The lack of transparency on the NCA has already put Sabah in bad light with regards to carbon trading," he added.
Kitingan, who is also the state Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Minister, had in a statement on Wednesday (June 28) said Sabah sees itself playing a pivotal role in Malaysia's carbon capture and storage facilities.
Recently, he added that Sabah took a momentous step by entering into the NCA.
"We have committed two million hectares of our rainforest to a 100-year carbon credit conservation project.
"This initiative is expected to become a prominent carbon dioxide sink, reinforcing our proactive stance on climate restoration," he said.
However, Kitingan did not make any direct reference to the controversial NCA deal signed with Singapore-based Hoch Standard Pte Ltd in October 2021 for the sale of carbon credit from two million hectares of state forest.
Following the controversy, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor had said that the deal was put on hold and would be studied further.
Last February, Sabah AG Datuk Nor Asiah Mohd Yusof said that the NCA was still not enforceable as due diligence was still being conducted on the third-party company involved, while matters regarding the terms of the agreement were still being fine-tuned.
NGOs in Sabah have also voiced similar concerns and are calling for transparent technical consultation.
Lasimbang claimed that Kitingan had misled the state assembly before over the company that the state government had signed the NCA with.
"We don’t want him to continue misleading the public despite the State AG’s statement that the NCA is not enforceable," he said.
Towards this end, he said that Kitingan should instead use his position as the state Agriculture Minister to transform the Sabah agriculture sector into a carbon negative industry.
He said this was through adapting regenerative agriculture which also have high potential to generate carbon capture and sequestration credits.
"That is actually better than using the forest. Once they turn it into regenerative agriculture sector, the state government can immediately claim credit over the move," Lasimbang said.
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