I REFER to the letter “Temenggor logging threat?” (NST, May 29) from Athiru of Petaling Jaya alleging that pollution was occurring in the Belum-Temenggor rainforest because of soil erosion from logging activities.

The Temenggor Forest Reserve has been classified as production forest (53.6 per cent) and protected forest (46.4 per cent) under Section 10(1) of the National Forest Act 1984.

The forest area, which covers a total of 147,705ha, is divided into several categories — production forest area (79,117ha), protected forest area (68,588ha), buffer zone of Temenggor lake (2,130ha) and research area for the Malaysian Nature Society.

Generally, harvesting in a permanent reserve forest (PRF) is managed in accordance with the principles of sustainable forest management (SFM).

Harvesting activities in Temenggor Forest Reserve are being carried out and monitored under SFM regime with a total of 7,770ha to be opened for harvesting each year, as approved by the National Forestry Council.

To ensure sustainable management practices, the production forest is harvested by selective felling or a selective management system to reduce environmental deterioration.

Furthermore, the harvesting operation in PRFs is being carried out under the guidelines laid out in the Malaysian Criteria and Indicators, which is a standard used for assessing forest management practices and MS ISO 9001-2000 certification procedures.

Yet, to further mitigate the adverse effects of forest harvesting, the Forestry Department supervises closely the implementation of environmental-conservation measures, including the demarcation of buffer zones for rivers and water bodies, selection of cutting regime, construction of forest road and the preparation of the forest management plan.

The Perak Forest Reserve Department conducted investigations in the Temenggor Forest Reserve on June 3.

The investigations showed that no severe pollution had occurred around the lake, water bodies and rivers, as claimed by the writer.

Logging activities are being carried out in the forest 20km away from Temenggor Lake.

DR AMERJIT SINGH for Secretary-General Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Putrajaya

Source: NST – July 6, 2009