MALAYSIA has successfully planted 33 million trees since the launch of the 100 Million Tree-Planting Campaign on June 5 last year, said Energy and Natural Resources Minister Takiyuddin Hassan.

He said the figure includes more than one thousand species of trees nationwide.

“Even Perlis managed to plant 120,399 trees, which is equivalent to 60.2% of the total target for this year.”

Takiyuddin said Malaysia has retained 55.3%, or 18.27 million hectares, of its total land area covered by forests to date, in line with its commitment at the international level.

“I am happy to announce that the National Forestry (Amendment) Bill 2022 was tabled for the first reading on March 3.”

The second and third readings are expected to take place during the Dewan Rakyat sitting in July.

Takiyuddin said this legislation took almost 13 years to be finalised and tabled in Parliament.

Among the main improvements proposed are tightening the degazetting process and replacement of permanent forest reserves by introducing public probes, he added.

He said the effort is a manifestation of the commitment to maintain 50% of the total land area covered by forests in Malaysia.

“I hope with this bill being approved, the forestry legislation will be more robust.” – Bernama, May 29, 2022.