KUALA LUMPUR: More than 40,000 hectares of Malaysia’s mangrove forest, one of the country's key ecosystems, has been lost since 2017, says the Natural Resources and Environment Sustainability Ministry.
The ministry said the country’s mangrove forests currently span about 586,548 hectares, accounting for about 3.26% of Malaysia’s total forested area, a notable decline from its 629,038 hectares coverage recorded in 2017.
It said this notable reduction of about 42,500 hectares over eight years, was caused by a combination of natural and human-induced factors.
“Natural factors include coastal erosion, while human-induced factors include land-use conversion for coastal infrastructure development, aquaculture activities, and agriculture.
“However, the percentage of destruction by sector varies by state and requires detailed land-use data from the respective State Authorities,” it said in a parliamentary written reply dated on Monday (Jan 26).
To counter this, the ministry revealed that it has implemented a national mangrove and coastal tree planting programme as part of its reforestation efforts of the mangrove ecosystem.
“To date, more than 3,800 hectares of coastal areas have been successfully restored with the planting of over nine million trees.
“The ministry, through the Forestry Department, has also implemented and enforced strict controls on mangrove areas gazetted as Permanent Reserved Forests to prohibit any development.
“The only development allowed would be for urgent public interest purposes and after an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is conducted,” it added.
The ministry was responding to a question from Mohd Nazri Abu Hassan (PN-Merbok) on the main causes of mangrove forest destruction nationwide.
