THE Central Forest Spine Master Plan for Ecological Linkages, the main policy relating to town and rural planning, was approved today as the guidelines for planning and physical development of forests in Peninsular Malaysia.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the 40th meeting of the National Physical Planning Council, which he chaired today, has agreed to approve the master plan, which is an initiative to connect eight major forest complexes located in Kedah, Perak, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Selangor and Negri Sembilan.

“This is to protect forest areas in Peninsular Malaysia so that there will be a physical link that connects the forests in the Central Forest Spine areas, in line with the vision of reconnecting the forests,” he said in a statement today.

“The master plan has also identified 39 ecological linkages to connect forest areas or forest islands, which are separated due to forest fragmentation.”

He said the master plan will also be able to reduce human-wildlife conflict by ensuring that the natural wildlife corridors from one forest area to another will not be affected by development activities.

He also said Malaysia’s pledge at the Rio Earth Summit 1992 to maintain at least 50% of its land mass under forest and tree cover, will also be achieved through the implementation of the master plan and commitment from the federal government and state governments involved.

Ismail said the meeting also took note of the Report on the Status of Public Open Spaces in Peninsular Malaysia and Federal Territories 2020, which was prepared by the Housing and Local Government Ministry through PLANMalaysia.

He said the meeting also called on state governments, through their relevant agencies, to expedite the process to gazette the public open spaces under section 62 of the National Land Code.

“The total size of public open spaces in the peninsula and the federal territories is 23,433ha, but only 33%, or 7,662.6ha, were gazetted, 24% (5,738.4ha) are in the process of being gazetted while the rest have not been gazetted,” he said.

Ismail said the gazetting of the land will ensure that they will remain preserved to function as public open spaces that can be used by the people for leisure and recreational purposes towards a more liveable Malaysia.

The government has set a target of having two hectares of open spaces per 1,000 urban residents. – Bernama, July 20, 2022.