持続可能な森林経営

At the end of 1998, Malaysia had an estimated 19.01 million hectares of forests covering 57.9% of its total land area. Of this total, 14.33 million hectares have been designated as the Permanent Forest Estate (PFE) under sustainable management, while 2.12 million hectares are protected by legislation for conservation purposes.

In 1994, Malaysia had formulated a total of 92 and 84 activities to operationalize the ITTO's "Criteria for the Measurement of Sustainable Tropical Forest Management" at the national and the forest management unit levels respectively.　Moreover, Peninsular Malaysia had also formulated management specifications at both these levels to ensure effective monitoring and evaluation.

For the purpose of forest management certification, Peninsular Malaysia had taken a sub-set of 6 criteria, 28 indicators, 71 activities and 164 management specifications (MC&I) from those formulated at the forest management unit level.　These were used to certify three forest management units in Peninsular Malaysia in mid-1996.　A forest certification exercise was also conducted in the Deramakot Forest Reserve, Sabah which was certified to be a "well-managed forest".

In 1999, Malaysia had revised the MC&I in accordance with the new ITTO document on "Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests" and its two Manuals for its application.　This revised MC&I would be used in future forest management certification in Malaysia and will be refined periodically to reflect new concepts of sustainable forest management.

1.1Malaysia is a tropical country located north of the Equator within latitudes 1° to 7° North and longitudes 100° to 119° East.　The total land area is approximately 32.8 million hectares with 13.1 million hectares in Peninsular Malaysia, which comprises eleven states and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, 7.4 million hectares in Sabah and the Federal Territory of Labuan, and 12.3 million hectares in Sarawak.　Peninsular Malaysia is separated from Sabah and Sarawak by 720 km of the South China Sea, giving the country a coastline of almost 4,830 km.

1.2The climate of Malaysia is typically humid tropical or wet equatorial and is characterized by year round high temperatures and seasonal heavy rain, especially during the North-East Monsoon from October/November to February/March.　The mean temperatures during the day and night are 32°C and 22°C respectively.　The average monthly temperature variation is about 2°C while diurnal temperature variation for inland and coastal areas are 8.5°C to 11°C and 5.5°C to 8.5°C respectively.　The average annual rainfall is about 2,540 mm with a maximum of 5,080 mm and a minimum of 1,650 mm.　Humidity is always high and ranges from 70% to 98% and the sky is cloudy most of the day, especially during the monsoon months.

2.1Under Article 74 (2) of the Malaysian Constitution, forestry comes under the jurisdiction of the respective State Governments.　As such, each state is empowered to enact laws on forestry and to formulate forestry policy independently.　The executive authority of the Federal Government only extends to the provision of advice and technical assistance to the states, training, the conduct of research and in the maintenance of experimental and demonstration stations.

2.2In order to facilitate the adoption of a co-ordinated and common approach to forestry, the National Forestry Council (NFC) comprising the Chief Ministers of the thirteen Malaysian States and chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, was established on 20 December, 1971 by the National Land Council (NLC).　The NLC is empowered under the Malaysian Constitution to formulate a national policy for the promotion and control of utilization of land for mining, agriculture and forestry.　The NFC serves as a forum for the Federal and the State Governments to discuss and resolve common problems and issues relating to forestry policy, administration and management.　All the decisions of the NFC have to be endorsed by the NLC.　The responsibility for implementing the decisions of the NFC lies with the State Governments unless it is within the authority of the Federal Government.

3.1At the end of 1998, the total area of forests in Malaysia was estimated to be 19.01 million hectares or 57.9% of the total land area, with the proportion of forested land being higher in Sabah and Sarawak than in Peninsular Malaysia, which is more developed as shown in Table 1 of Appendix 1.

3.2Of the total forested area and recognizing the crucial role of forests is not only in the production of timber, but more importantly in the conservation of soil, water and wildlife, as well as in the protection of the environment, Malaysia has a total of 14.33 million hectares of forested land designated as the Permanent Forest Estate (PFE) which is under sustainable management.　Approximately 10.84 million hectares of the PFE are production forests with the remaining 3.49 million hectares being protection forests.　The status of the PFE in Malaysia is summarized as in Table 2 of Appendix 1.

3.3Malaysia also has 4.81 million hectares of agricultural tree crops which are mainly rubber, oil palm, coconut and cocoa.　These agricultural plantations are similar to reafforested land and increasingly these crops can be looked upon as alternative sources of wood supply especially that of rubberwood.　Hence, at the end of 1998 the total area under tree cover in Malaysia was estimated to be 23.82 million hectares or 72.6% of its total land area.

3.4Since the 1930s, Malaysia has been establishing a network of protected areas for the conservation of biological diversity. Currently, Malaysia has 2.12 million hectares of conservation areas protected by legislation as shown in Table 3 of Appendix 1.　Of these, 1.80 million hectares are located outside the PFE, whilst another 0.32 million hectares are located within the Estate.

3.5In its efforts to further conserve various forest and ecological types in their original conditions, the Forestry Departments have also set aside pockets of virgin forest.　These pockets, known as Virgin Jungle Reserves (VJRs), were established to serve as permanent nature reserves and natural arboreta, as controls for comparing harvested and silviculturally treated forests and as undisturbed natural forests for general ecological and botanical studies.　Since its inception in the 1950s, a total of 83 VJRs covering 21,506 hectares were established throughout Peninsular Malaysia while in the state of Sabah, a total of 48 VJRs had also been established covering an area of 90,442 hectares.　These VJRs represent samples of the many types of virgin forest found in the country which are located in the PFE.　Represented forest types include Mangrove Forest, Heath Forest, Peat Swamp Forest, Lowland Dipterocarp Forest, Hill Dipterocarp Forest, Upper Dipterocarp Forest and Montane Forest.

3.6Hence, with the protection forests of the PFE of 3.49 million hectares, the totally protected areas designated for the conservation of biological diversity in Malaysia are now estimated to be 5.29 million hectares or 27.8% of its total forested land.

4.1Since the establishment of the Forestry Department in 1901, the forests in Malaysia have been systematically managed.　Over the years, ecologically and environmentally-sound forest conservation and management practices have been developed to ensure that the forest resources in Malaysia are managed for the sustainable production of timber and non-timber products, in enhancing climatic stability and ecological balance, the safeguarding of water supplies and environmental quality, and in the conservation of biological diversity.

4.2In Peninsular Malaysia, the Dipterocarp Forest of the production forest of the PFE is managed under two management systems, namely the Modified Malayan Uniform System (55-year cutting cycle) and the Selective Management System (30-year cutting cycle).　In brief, the Modified Malayan Uniform System consists of removing the mature crop in one single felling of all trees down to 45 cm diameter at breast height (dbh) for all species while the Selective Management System (SMS) entails the selection of optimum management (felling) regimes based on pre-felling forest inventory data.

4.3Under the SMS, the cutting limit prescribed for the group of dipterocarp species would not be less than 50 cm dbh, except for Neobalanocarpus heimii (Chengal) where the cutting limit would be above 60 cm dbh, while the cutting limit prescribed for the group of non-dipterocarp species would not be less than 45 cm dbh.　The difference in the cutting limits prescribed between the dipterocarp species and that of the non-dipterocarp species would be at least 5 cm in order to conserve a higher percentage of dipterocarp species for the next cut.

4.4In pursuance of sound management objectives, forest harvesting in the state of Sabah is undertaken in accordance with the prescribed silvicultural practices of promoting the development of natural regeneration.　In this context, the Dipterocarp Forest in the state of　Sabah is selectively harvested on a 50-year cutting cycle and only trees having size of 60 cm dbh and above are removed.

4.5In the state of Sarawak, the cutting cycle prescribed for the Dipterocarp Forest is 25 years with the prescribed cutting limits for the dipterocarp and non-dipterocarp　species being 60 cm dbh and 45 cm dbh and above respectively.

4.6Currently, the Peat Swamp Forest in Peninsular Malaysia is managed under the "modified" SMS where higher cutting limits are prescribed due to a lower stocking of natural regeneration in the stand.　Research and development efforts are currently being taken to formulate more effective management system for this forest type.　In this regard, the cutting cycle adopted for the Peat Swamp Forest in the state of Sarawak is 45 years with the prescribed cutting limits for Gonystylus bancanus (Ramin) and that of the other species being 40 cm dbh and 45 cm dbh and above, respectively.

4.7The Mangrove Forest, in general, is managed under cutting cycles varying between　20 to 30 years.　However, currently there is no harvesting of mangrove forests in the states of Sabah and Sarawak, while in Peninsular Malaysia mature trees are clear-felled with the retention of seven mother trees per hectare and a three meter wide river bank and coastal strip for ensuring adequate natural regeneration and in the protection of the environment.

4.8In fact, the forest management objectives are clearly enunciated in the National Forestry Policy which was formulated and approved by the NFC and later endorsed by the NLC on 19 April, 1978.　This Policy is being implemented by all the states in Peninsular Malaysia, while the objectives of the Policy are　also being implemented in Sabah.　In the state of Sarawak, the Forest Policy which was approved by the Governor-in-Council in 1954 and having very similar provisions to the National Forestry Policy has remained the basis for forestry practices.　However, with the recent concern by the world community on the importance of biological diversity conservation and the sustainable utilization of genetic resources, as well as the role of local communities in forest development, the National Forestry Policy was revised in 1992 to include these important aspects of forestry.　The salient features of the National Forestry Policy, 1978 (Revised 1992) are as shown in Appendix 2.

4.9Besides, various forest enactments and rules that were formulated and enforced by the respective state authorities since the early 1900s were found to be deficient and weak in areas of forest protection, management and planning, as well as in forest renewal operations which are vital to sustainable management and in the protection of environmental stability and ecological balance.　To overcome these shortcomings and to ensure the effective implementation of the National Forestry Policy, the NFC agreed to review, up-date and uniformize the existing State Forest Enactments, especially in Peninsular Malaysia.　Hence, a National Forestry Act was formulated and passed by an Act of Parliament in October, 1984.　This Act is now being enforced by all the State Forestry Departments in Peninsular Malaysia.　However, to further strengthen its provisions to safeguard and protect the forest resources from illegal logging, the Act was amended in 1993.

4.10In this context, the penalty for the commission of any forest offence has been increased from the maximum penalty of US$2,630 or an imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both to a maximum penalty of US$131,580 and an imprisonment not exceeding 20 years with a mandatory imprisonment of at least one year.　The amended National Forestry Act has also enacted provisions for the Police and Armed Forces to undertake surveillance of forestry activities, especially in curbing illegal logging, encroachment of forest areas and timber theft.

4.11Furthermore, under section 10 (1) of the National Forestry Act, 1984, all the State Forestry Departments in Peninsular Malaysia have also reclassified the PFE into one or more of the following functional classes through a combination of slope and elevation classes:-

5.1Forest harvesting in the inland forest in Malaysia is generally carried out by a combination of crawler tractor-winch lorry.　Under this harvesting system the crawler tractor skids the logs from the felling sites to the skid trails where the winch lorry continues the transportation to the roadside landings.　In Malaysia, the skidder generally does not pick up its load from the felling site because of adverse soil and terrain conditions.　Currently, reduced impact logging (ground skidding) is also being carried out in some forest areas in Peninsular Malaysia and in the state of Sabah, while low impact logging (helicopter logging) is being carried out in the state of Sarawak.

5.2Currently, it has been estimated that the costs of extraction of logs to log landing under helicopter logging range from US$50 – 60/m3, while that for conventional tractor logging is estimated to be US$10 – 13/m3.　Although the cost of helicopter logging is relatively much higher than the conventional crawler tractor-winch lorry system, the harvesting damage to surrounding trees is found to be 3.8 times lower than the conventional system.　Land erosion resulting from forest road construction is also minimized as a result of the 3 km flying range of the helicopter as compared to the optimum skidding distance of 1 km for the tractor.

5.3To further mitigate the adverse effects of forest harvesting, the Forestry Departments have also adopted "Standard Road Specifications" and "Forest Harvesting Guidelines" for strict adherence by all logging contractors both at the planning and implementation levels, especially in Peninsular Malaysia.　All harvesting operations have to be carried out in accordance with these specifications and guidelines, particularly those pertaining to road construction, alignment, gradient, drainage, tree marking, direction of felling and the setting up of log-yards.　The departments' role is to supervise closely the implementation of the environmental conservation measures such as the choice of machinery, construction of water bars and the control of pollution of rivers and waterbodies resulting from logging.　The forest engineers of the Forestry Departments play an active role in providing technical advice and services on all matters pertaining to infrastructural development of the logging sector such as the design and construction of forest roads so as to enhance environmental stability and quality.

6.1Malaysia as a producing member country of the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) is fully committed to achieve sustainable forest management in the overall context of sustainable development.　In 1994, Malaysia had taken action to elaborate and operationalize the ITTO's Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests and its Criteria for the Measurement of Sustainable Tropical Forest Management in managing its natural forest and to ensure it is sustainably managed by the year 2000.　Implicit to this commitment is the acceptance of the ITTO definition on sustainable forest management which is defined as a process of managing permanent forest land to achieve one or more clearly specified objectives of management with regard to the production of a continuous flow of desired forest products and services without undue reduction of its inherent values and future productivity, and without undue undesirable effects on the physical and social environment.

6.2In this connection, a National Committee on Sustainable Forest Management in Malaysia comprising representatives from the Ministry of Primary Industries, Malaysia; the Forestry Departments of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak; the Forest Research Institute, Malaysia; the Malaysian Timber Industry Board; the Malaysian Timber Council and the Faculty of Forestry, University Putra, Malaysia was established in February 1994 at the Ministry to ensure that the elaborated ITTO's Criteria for the Measurement of Sustainable Tropical Forest Management in the Malaysian context are fully implemented.　To further support the Committee's work, the ten State Forestry Departments in Peninsular Malaysia had also formed a Working Party on Sustainable Natural Forest Management, Peninsular Malaysia at the Forestry Department Headquarters, Peninsular Malaysia in February, 1994.

6.3After a series of meetings, the Committee had formulated a total of 92 activities to operationalize the ITTO's 5 criteria and 27 indicators on sustainable forest management at the national level, covering the forest resource base, continuity of flow, level of environmental control, socio-economic effects and institutional framework; as well as management specifications for each activity, to ensure its effective monitoring and evaluation in the field.　A summary of the number of criteria, indicators, activities and management specifications formulated at the national level is as shown in Appendix 3.

6.4In the process, the Committee had added two additional indicators, while omitting two of the proposed ITTO's indicators.　The two additional indicators were the indicator on Plantation Establishment of Non-wood Forest Produce and Annual Planting Targets under the ITTO's criterion on the Forest Resource Base and the indicator on Expenditure Budgets for Forest Administration under the ITTO's criterion on Socio-Economic Effects.　The reason for omitting the ITTO's indicator on Availability of Environmental Assessment Procedures under the criterion Socio-Economic Effects was that this indicator was also included under the criterion on the Level of Environmental Control which the Committee deemed to be more appropriate, while the omission of the indicator on the Relationship of National Policy to ITTO Guidelines under the criterion on Institutional Frameworks was that the National Forestry Policy of Malaysia had adequately met the objectives of the ITTO guidelines in terms of sustainable forest management.

6.5For the purpose of this paper, a Forest Management Unit is defined as an area of forest land that is managed by an organizational entity which decides on and subsequently implements forest activities to ensure the economic, ecological, biological and socio-cultural sustainability of　the area.　The area being managed may be owned by an individual or several individuals grouped together or by a community within a single administrative boundary, all under a specific forest management plan within which forest activities are regulated by a national or state forest service.　The size of the unit should be large enough to yield economic harvests in terms of public revenue and private profits, and to provide for the conservation of key wildlife species.　In general, the unit consists of forest districts having a number of forest reserves, which are further divided into compartments and sub-compartments for the purpose of effective management, conservation and development of the forest resources.

(i)as mentioned earlier, under Article 74 (2) of the Malaysian Constitution, forestry comes under the jurisdiction of the respective State Governments.　As such, each state is empowered to enact laws on forestry and to formulate forestry policy independently.　The executive authority of the Federal Government only extends to the provision of advice and technical assistance to the states, training, the conduct of research and　maintenance of experimental and demonstration stations;

(ii)the implementation　of　Criteria, Indicators and　Activities, as well as Management Specifications are monitored and　evaluated at the state level by the　Federal agencies and bodies, such as the National Forestry Council;

(v)under section 4 of the　National Forestry Act, 1984, each Director of the State Forestry Department is responsible to the State Authority for the preparation and implementation of the State forest management plan, reforestation plan and programmes relating to amenity forests.

6.7In this regard, the National Committee on Sustainable Forest Management in Malaysia had identified a total of 84 activities to be implemented at the forest management unit level under the 6 criteria of the ITTO and its 23 indicators, covering resource security, the continuity of timber production, conservation of flora and fauna and other forest resources, an acceptable level of environmental impact, socio-economic benefits, and planning and adjustment to experience.　In its development, the Committee had added 7 additional indicators from those identified at the national level to this level which are as follows:-

6.8Of the 84 activities identified for implementation on a state basis, a total of 70 activities or 83% are identical to those identified at the national level. Moreover, in Peninsular Malaysia, against each of the activities identified at the national and forest management unit levels, the respective State Forestry Departments had also formulated management specifications (benchmarks) for its effective monitoring and evaluation.　A total of 206 and 191 management specifications have been formulated at the national and forest management unit levels respectively.　Of the 191 management specifications formulated at the forest management unit level, a total of 161 or 78% of these specifications are identical to those formulated at the national level.　A summary of the number of criteria, indicators, activities and management specifications formulated at the forest management unit level is as shown in Appendix 4.

6.9Furthermore, in formulating the 92 activities and the 84 activities for implementation at the national and forest management unit levels respectively, the National Committee on Sustainable Forest Management in Malaysia had reviewed the Principles and Criteria for Forest Management of the Forest Stewardship Council and those of the Tropenwald Initiative, and had also taken into account the Principles and Recommendations as enshrined in the ITTO's Guidelines on the Conservation of Biological Diversity in Tropical Production Forests.

7.1Timber certification can be defined as a process which results in a written certificate being produced by an independent third party attesting to the location and management status of the forest in which the timber originated.

(i)forest management certification or forest auditing which entails an independent assessment of a forest management operation, according to specific economic, social, environmental and ecological criteria, indicators, activities and management specifications.　This forest assessment typically includes an evaluation of the economic viability of the operation, the social and environmental impact of the forest management activities and the ecological health of the forest.　It covers forest inventory, management planning, silviculture, harvesting, forest road construction and other related forest management operations; and

(ii)product certification　which entails the tracking of forest produce throughout the entire production　process, from the forest to the shop-floor.　This "chain-of-custody" involves verifying the flow of forest produce from the stump in the forest, through milling and manufacturing processes, to the finished product.　It includes log transportation, log storage, primary processing, intermediate product transport and storage, various phases of further processing, transport and distribution between them, and finally distribution of end products to consumers.

7.3In the context of forest management certification, although Malaysia believes that it should be consumer-driven, market-based and on a voluntary basis; it also believes that to some extent government involvement is necessary as currently all forest lands in Malaysia are owned by the government, except for a few thousand hectares of plantation forests which are privately owned.　The involvement of the government is also necessitated by the financial requirements of forest management certification schemes in view that most of these schemes are yet to be self-financing.

7.5Hence, the National Timber Certification Council, Malaysia (NTCC) was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in October, 1998.　It is a non-profit company managed by a Board of Trustees comprising a chairman and two representatives each from academic or research and development institutions, timber industry, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and government agencies.

7.7The criteria, indicators, activities and management specifications used for undertaking forest management certification in Peninsular Malaysia are a sub-set of those formulated for sustainable forest management at the forest management unit level on a state basis. It encompasses 71 activities and 164 management specifications under a total of 6 criteria and 28 indicators.　A summary of the number of criteria, indicators, activities and management specifications is as shown in Appendix 5.

7.8The rationale for this is that forest management certification only involves the sustainability of the PFE, especially its production forests.　Hence, the activities that had been omitted from those formulated for assessing sustainable forest management at the forest management unit level are as follows:-

7.9The relationship and number of criteria, indicators, activities and management specifications formulated at the national level and forest management unit levels for sustainable forest management, as well as for forest management certification at the forest management unit level are as shown in Appendix 6.

7.10This set of criteria, indicators activities and management specifications for forest management certification was used for certifying three forest management units in Peninsular Malaysia, namely, the states of Selangor, Pahang and Terengganu, under the Malaysia-Netherlands Joint Working Group's (JWG) Pilot Study on timber certification in mid-1996.　The Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) and the Netherlands Timber Trade Association (NTTA) were the focal points for the Study.　Under the initial planning, three timber products, namely, sawn timber, plywood and mouldings would be subjected to the certification process, following which the 'certified' timber products would enter the Keurhout Hallmark System implemented in The Netherlands to track these products to the final end-users.　A third party, SGS (Societe Generale de Surveillance) Malaysia, Sdn. Bhd., was appointed to undertake the Study.　Thus, the criteria used for the chain-of-custody assessment were based on the SGS QUALIFOR Programme.

7.11At the first assessment of the three states in September, 1996, SGS had found that all the three states had complied with most of the management specifications.　However, the assessment had also identified several areas in which there was incomplete compliance against the Malaysian Criteria and Indicators (MC&I) for forest management certification.　In view of this, 'Audit Statements' on forest management were issued to the three State Forestry Departments.　It was agreed that the Departments would demonstrate continuous improvements to achieve full compliance with the requirements of the MC&I for forest management certification by the year 2000.

7.13The report by SGS following the surveillance visits noted that forest management had shown improvement since the initial audit, mainly with regard to mapping, documentation, marking and monitoring of growth plots, development of Virgin Jungle Reserves in each forest district, implementation of enrichment planting in disturbed areas, and clear marking of buffer zones for permanent rivers and streams.　However, improvements in field operations such as road construction and maintenance, reduced impact harvesting, maintenance of water quality, environment assessment and monitoring had not been fully addressed.　However, in line with the phased approach, SGS issued new Audit Statements for the three states.

7.14In this context, the first shipment of sawn timber arrived in Rotterdam in January 1997.　Up to 9 December, 1999, a total of 48,674m3 of sawn timber had been shipped.　As at 3 December, 1999, a total of 48 companies in Peninsular Malaysia have been awarded Chain-of-Custody Certificates by SGS.　A total of 41 Dutch companies are involved in importing such 'audited' timber.　In fact, arrangements were made by the NTTA for the initial shipments of sawn timber to be manufactured into products to be used in building projects in various municipalities and local authorities which had restrictions on the use of tropical timber.　The response from these municipalities and local authorities was found to be encouraging.

7.15In Sabah, a forest certification exercise was also conducted by SGS, where the forest management model area in the Deramakot Forest Reserve was certified as being a "well-managed forest".　The management concept and practices in Deramakot are in full compliance with the MC&I and hence the ITTO's criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management.

8.1With the adoption of the new ITTO documents on Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests and the Manual for the Application of Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests (Part A – National Indicators and Part B – Forest Management Unit Indicators) at the 24th Session of the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC) held in May 1998 at Libreville, Gabon and the 26th Session held in June, 1999 at Chiang Mai, Thailand respectively; Malaysia had taken action to revise its MC&I which was formulated based on the earlier guidelines of ITTO, and in particular, the ITTO's Criteria for the Measurement of Sustainable Tropical Forest Management.

8.2The revision of the MC&I was co-ordinated by the NTCC through a preliminary meeting among the Forestry Departments of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak in July, 1999 to agree on a common set of Criteria and Indicators both at the national and forest management unit levels for sustainable forest management for the whole country based on the ITTO's Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests, as well as the Activities required to operationalize these criteria and indicators which were based on the 'Action To Be Taken' as contained in the ITTO's Manual for the Application of Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests (Parts A and B).

8.3This was followed by regional consultations with interested parties to identify appropriate Standards of Performance for each of the Activities.　These consultations were conducted by the Forestry Departments of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak in their respective regions in August, 1999.　In the case of Peninsular Malaysia it entails the refinement and/or addition to the Management Specifications of the MC&I formulated earlier in 1994.　These regional Standards of Performance were then integrated into the draft MC&I for the whole country through a meeting held between the three Forestry Departments of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak which was co-ordinated by the NTCC in September, 1999.

8.4The draft MC&I was then tabled at the national-level consultation held in October, 1999 where a total of 85 organizations and companies, representing interested parties such as the timber industry, social and environmental non-governmental organizations, trade unions, women's organization, academic/research institutions and government agencies, were invited to attend.　In this regard, a total of 111 participants representing 58 organizations, including two representatives from the Forest Stewardship Council participated.　Through this open and transparent process, Malaysia had adopted a set of MC&I for forest management certification which will be used in assessing forest management practices in all forest management units for the purpose of certification under the NTCC's scheme, which is currently being developed.

8.5In this context, under the 7 criteria of ITTO, a total of 64 indicators, 202 activities and 171 standards of performance were formulated at the national level; while 56 indicators, 176 activities and 154 standards of performance were formulated for assessing sustainable forest management at the forest management unit level.　A sub-set of those formulated at the forest management unit level was taken for forest management certification purposes, comprising 53 indicators, 166 activities and 142 standards of performance as shown in Appendix 7.　Unless otherwise stated, this set applies at the national and forest management unit levels, as well as for forest management certification at the forest management unit level.　Furthermore, the standards of performance are for Peninsular Malaysia only.

(iii)the words "and competency" to ITTO's Indicator 1.5 – Number and adequacy of trained professional and technical personnel at all levels to perform and support management, implementation, research and extension also under Criterion 1 which now reads as Number, and adequacy and competency of trained professional and technical personnel at all levels to perform and support management, implementation, research and extension.

8.7Malaysia has also addressed the gender issue in the ITTO's Indicator 1.5 and Indicator 7.8 at both the national and forest management unit levels.　Besides, for Indicator 1.5, the information on Research and Extension will be recorded separately instead of as one category as suggested by ITTO, again at both the national and forest management unit levels.

8.8For the MC&I for sustainable forest management at the forest management unit level and for forest management certification, Malaysia has also included the following additional indicators/items from those proposed by ITTO at the national level only to this level:-

(i)ITTO's Indicator 7.3 - Quantity (volume) and value of wood and non-wood forest products for subsistence use, including fuelwood, as the use of wood and non-wood forest products for subsistence use is insignificant in Malaysia and has a very negligible impact on its overall economy; and

(i)ITTO's Indicator 5.5 - Percentage of original range occupied by selected endangered, rare and threatened species, as this indicator is best reflected at the national level only in view that the protection of selected endangered, rare and threatened species is a national responsibility;

(ii)the item on ex situ conservation in ITTO's　Indicator 5.6 – Existence and implementation of a strategy for in situ and/or ex situ conservation of the genetic variation within commercial, endangered, rare and threatened species of forest flora and fauna at the forest management level, as this is deemed to be best covered and implemented at the national level;

(iii)ITTO's Indicator 7.2 - Quantity (volume) and value of wood and non-wood forest products traded in the domestic and international markets, as all relevant data on trade of wood and non-wood forest products are collected at the national level; and

8.11　　 Although 3 indicators formulated for assessing sustainable forest management at the forest management unit level are currently not used for forest management certification, these indicators will be taken on board once new knowledge is gained in their application through more field-testing.　These indicators are as follows:-

(iii)ITTO's Indicator 6.9 - Existence and implementation of procedures for assessing changes in the water quality of streams emerging from production forests as compared with streams emerging from the same forest type kept free from human intervention.

8.13Consequently, under the Malaysia-Netherlands certification arrangement, action was taken to compare the revised MC&I with that of the Dutch Minimum Requirements pertaining to the principles, criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management at local level in December, 1999; although similar exercises were undertaken in August, 1998 and June, 1999.

8.14It was observed that the MC&I exceeded in most instances the requirements of the Dutch Minimum Requirements and that the two sets of standards are comparable on a one-to-one basis with minimal adjustments.　In fact, only 29 indicators together with 48 standards of performance under 6 criteria, excluding the Criterion 3 – Forest Ecosystem Health and Condition, of the MC&I were required to meet the Dutch Minimum Requirements for timber certification as indicated in italics in Appendix 7.　This revised MC&I would be used to assess forest management practices in the states of Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Perak and Negeri Sembilan, and for the re-assessment of the states of Selangor, Pahang and Terengganu under the Malaysia-Netherlands timber certification arrangements.

9.1In order to ensure that the agreed activities are implemented in the field by the respective State Forestry Departments in Malaysia, a Task Force comprising representatives from the Ministry of Primary Industries, Malaysia; the Forestry Departments of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak; the Forest Research Institute, Malaysia; the Malaysian Timber Industry Board; the Malaysian Timber Council and the Faculty of Forestry, University Putra, Malaysia was established in May, 1995.　To complement this effort, Peninsular Malaysia had also formed a Technical Monitoring Committee at the Forestry Department Headquarters, Peninsular Malaysia in October, 1995 to monitor the implementation of all the activities undertaken by the respective State Forestry Departments in Peninsular Malaysia.

9.2The Task Force would develop an effective mechanism and procedures for the periodic monitoring on the implementation of all the activities, and produce reports on their progress to the higher authorities in Malaysia for their information and further action.

9.3In this context, Malaysia is currently developing internal assessment procedures and a computerized monitoring system for sustainable forest management based on the MC&I.　This is jointly being undertaken with the support of the Deutche Gessellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) of Germany and is expected to be fully operational in June, 2000.

10.1As the long-term prospect of abundant supply of forest is limited and technological innovations are inadequate, discrete and unpredictable, one has to tailor development efforts judiciously so as not to sacrifice development itself.　In this regard, the future patterns of forest resource management and use in Malaysia would have to be restructured by adopting strategies of sustainable management which are innovative and imaginative through enhanced human resources development, and treating environment as an integral part of management in order to ensure that maximum economic and social benefits are derived from managing this resource.

10.2　　　Moreover, recognizing that the development of the forest resource itself is a continuous process which involves intentional and planned changes to the environment through various anthropogenic activities, it must, therefore, be accompanied by conscious efforts in guiding these environmental changes so that the sustenance of economic growth will serve the purpose of providing a better standard and quality of life itself.　These changes must be undertaken through proper long-term management of the forest resource by maintaining an optimum equilibrium between resource utilization and the need to protect the environment as environmental stability is a prerequisite for the sustainable production of forest goods and services.

10.3In this connection, an Assessor Training Programme on Forest Certification for Southeast Asian Countries, to be jointly organized by the NTCC and the Smartwood Programme of the Rainforest Alliance with financial support from GTZ, is scheduled to be held in Kuala Berang, Terengganu from 20-24 March, 2000.　The objectives of this Training Programme are: first, to train individual professionals to participate in forest management certification teams; second, to raise the awareness and availability of the FSC certification system in the region; and third, to foster the development of future certification courses offered by the NTCC.　A total of 20 personnel from countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia will be trained in carrying out assessment for the purpose of forest management certification.　The MC&I will be one of the documents used in this Training Programme.

10.4Other projects planned for this year include a MTIB/GTZ study on chain-of-custody in timber certification.　Drawing upon the experiences of the Malaysia-Netherlands Pilot Study on timber certification, this project will expand the scope to cover other timber products, such as builders' carpentary and joinery, panel products and furniture, as well as timber products from plantation forests.

10.5The other remaining states in Peninsular Malaysia, namely, Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Perak and Negeri Sembilan will also be assessed this year by independent third party assessors using the revised MC&I, together with the re-assessment of the states of Selangor, Pahang and Terengganu.

10.6The level of management will also be refined once the current silvicultural management systems are further developed for application at a lower management level, perhaps at the forest district level, forest reserve level or even at the compartment level.　In this connection, the GTZ project on Sustainable Forest Management and Conservation in Peninsular Malaysia which is involved in the refinement of the current forest management systems, the improvement of silvicultural practices and the development of a cost-effective forest planning system for application at the operational level would greatly enhance this effort.

10.7The criteria and indicators developed for forest management certification will also be reviewed and refined periodically to reflect new concepts of sustainable forest management.　These will be based on evolving knowledge about the functioning of forest ecosystem, anthropogenic intervention on the forests whether planned or unplanned and the changing needs of society for forest goods and services.　Besides, the capability to measure indicators will increase and scientific knowledge will improve about the nature of 'best' indicators to measure sustainability of the forest resources.

11.1The criteria and indicators at the national level would provide a common framework for monitoring and evaluating progress towards sustainability at the national level.　However, they do not specify requirements for sustainable forest management practices in the field.　In this context, the criteria and indicators at the forest management unit level will assess directly the sustainability of forest resource management, conservation and development in practice.　It should also be noted that no single criterion or indicator is alone an indication of sustainability.　Rather, the set of criteria and indicators should be considered as an integral system to assess the practice of sustainable forest management.

11.2Although timber certification has been recognized as a potential tool to promote sustainable forest management, the efficacy of this tool is still subjected to considerable debate at the international level.　Moreover, the use of trade instruments to pursue environmental objectives may increase domestic resistance to external pressures devoted to fostering global environmental concerns.　Hence, a free trade policy coupled with incentives and not punitive measures, as well as a supportive international economic climate that enhances the sustained and environmentally sound development of all types of forest should be promoted and encouraged.

11.3Nevertheless, the implementation of timber certification in Malaysia is being actively pursued to ensure continued market access of Malaysian timber products particularly in the environmentally sensitive market. In this context, as timber certification is a consequence of sustainable forest management, Malaysia had in 1997 created a "Green Award" for the forest district that best managed its forest resources and in accordance with the MC&I for sustainable forest management.

11.4As part of the programme to promote the MC&I, and recognizing the important role played by the logging contractors towards its full implementation, the Forestry Department, Peninsular Malaysia had organized three regional seminars involving participants from the logging and wood-based industries in March, May and August of 1997.　The seminar highlighted the need for sustainable forest management and the role and responsibilities of the logging contractors and the wood-based industries in ensuring full implementation of the MC&I.

11.5The key principles in ensuring sustainable forest management are that ecological constraints must be considered early in any forest land development; that the allocation of forests to other uses should be considered only after thorough economic, social and ecological evaluation; that forest should only be converted to other permanent non-forestry uses if it could be demonstrated that this would produce sustainable benefits in a more desirable form than the forest itself could produce; that wherever possible, forest areas which are already degraded should be selected for non-forestry uses rather than clearing yet more forest areas; and that special efforts be taken to manage forest areas that are critical for the maintenance of watersheds and in the conservation of biological diversity.

11.6While there is no denying that there are still some outstanding issues unresolved, nevertheless, given the constraints, Malaysia has certainly not been side-stepping conservation and environmental issues in managing and developing its forest resource.　This renewable asset will continue to be managed in accordance with national objectives and priorities so that the country will continue to enjoy the benefits generated from the forest and forest industries.