About 478 investigations papers have been opened by the Sarawak Forest Department (SFC) under the Forest Ordinance, National Parks & Nature Reserve Ordinance and Wild Life Protection Ordinance from 2015 until August this year.
According to Director of SFC YBhg Haji Sapuan Ahmad during the excellence service award appreciation night (Majlis Anugerah Perkhidmatan Cemerlang (APC)) Sarawak Forestry Department 2017 on October 17th at Kuching, 17 cases brought to court has been settled while eight more is still in the process of prosecution.
“For other cases, they have mostly been closed after being compounded by department where appropriate action are taken accordingly, while other cases are still in the process of investigation and prosecution,” said YBhg Haji Sapuan Ahmad.
Adding more, he said that SFC has managed to collect RM9.8 million worth of royalties from logging seizures with a total value worth RM45.4 million from the year 2014 to 2016.
Since 2011 to 2016, the average log production in the State is 9.1 million cubic metres while as of August this year, about 4.9 million has been produced.
Noting that the forestry sector also contributed to the State and nation’s income, he added that it once contributed to 50 per cent of the total state economic revenue in 1989 for Sarawak.
In 2016, about RM550 million including royalty, premium and tariffs have been collected from a production of 8.6 million cubic metre of the forestry sector.
Since July 14th 2014, efforts to combat illegal logging has been reinforced by SFC where appropriate actions has been taken under the governance of the main law enforcement in Sarawak; the Forest Ordinance, national Parks & Nature Reserves Ordinance, 1998 and Wild Life Protection Ordinance, 1998.
