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| source: google.com |
Malaysia is recognised as one of 12 megabiodiversity countries, hosting an unprecedented wealth of wildlife in our tropical forests.
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The de-gazetted forest reserves moved for plantation expansion would affect carbon storage, air and water purification, flood control as well as wildlife sustainability.
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A study by the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), high-resolution of satellite images showed that forest areas in Peninsular Malaysia have declined by 200,000ha between 2010 and 2015 due to conversion to other land uses.
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The study found that in Malaysia oil palm and rubber plantations had contributed to deforestation in Malaysia.
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| Palm Oil And Rubber Plantation contributed to deforestation |
Researchers from FRIM and Duke University, the United States have also quantified the impact of deforestation on flood mitigation in Peninsular Malaysia.
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They found the conversion of one percent of inland forest to oil palm increased the number of flooded days by 26.8 percent.
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Also, they found that the number of deaths and flood evacuees per year increased with expanding oil palm acreage.
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Not To Against Oil Palm As A Crop
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The expansion of Oil Palm had to follow guidelines set by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which prohibited the clearing of high conservation-value forests, according to the New Planting Procedure.
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While everyone wanted prosperity, it required an economy that balanced development with a healthy environment.
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The properly-managed forests can provide a sustainable source of income through timber, traditional herbal products and ecotourism.
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Nature-based tourism also has the value to provide income.
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By degazetting forest reserves, we are sending the wrong message to the world.
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| source: google.com |
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Information Source - The New Straits Times, January 9, 2017.
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The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Terengganu Branch, Wong Chee Ho voice out the concerns about the size of more than 4,500 football fields,were to be given to Terengganu government-linked company TDM Bhd.