A Report on the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme - Rengah ...

Target groups
The Malaysian Timber Certification Council scheme is targeted at forest managers and at timber
product manufacturers and exporters.
Certified forest management units
As of October 2003, seven states – out of a total of
13 states – have been certified. In December 2001 As of October 2003, seven
the following three states, with a total of 2,307,238
hectares, were certified: Pahang State, Selangor states – out of a total of 13
State and Terengganu State. The average size of
states – have been certified
these three certified forests is 769,079 hectares.
On 6 October 2003 four more states in Peninsular
Malaysia have been certified: Johor, Kedah, Perak and Negeri Sembilan. A total of 4,111,406 hectares
have now been certified in Malaysia. The average size of these forests is 587,344 hectares. In
all cases the governments of these respective states are the official owners of the certified forests.
Tenure types in Malaysia vary. In Peninsular Malaysia, concessions are allocated for 20–30 years for
forest areas of over 20,000 hectares. Concessions of 0–1,000 hectares are allocated for 1–2 years;
1,001–2,000 hectares for 1–5 years; and 2,001–20,000 hectares for 10–30 years (Woon & Norini
2002).
In Sabah, the state government introduced the Sustainable Forest Management Licence Agreement
(SFMLA) in 1997, which grants the right to plant, rehabilitate and harvest forest under the principles
of sustainable forest management (SFM) for a period of 100 years to a particular forest reserve of
approximately 1,000,000 hectares. While in Sarawak all forest concessions are for 25 years (Woon &
Norini 2002).
Of the three regions, it is in Sarawak that forest tenure seems to be the most problematic. An ITTO
mission to Sarawak, in 1989–1990, pointed out that one of the weaknesses ‘… in the structure of the
concession system is the lack of synchronization between the length of the licence period and the
forest management cycle. The practice of issuing licences for shorter than the felling cycles, without
any guarantee of renewal, is not helpful to long-term management’ (ITTC 1990:35).
Furthermore, politically the ultimate power to issue or revoke a licence in Sarawak lies in the hands of
the Minister of Natural Resources, who is also the Chief Minister. When there was a competition for
power between two rival camps in 1987, 25 timber licenses were revoked that had been previously
issued by the former Chief Minister to his family and political allies (Majid Cooke 1999:88).
Forest types
The MTCC scheme for forest management is generally applicable to the Permanent Forest Estate
(PFE), which in Malaysia includes Dry Inland Forests, Peat Swamp Forest and mangrove Forest.
With regard to plantations, in the Malaysian Criteria and Indicators, Activities and Standards of Performance
for Forest Management Certification (MC&I 2001) plantations established in the PFE are
treated as a fully integrated component of the management of an FMU. This is reflected in a number
of indicators that cover both natural forests and plantation forests – including Criterions 2.1, 3.1, 3.2
and 3.4. 2
In October 2002 a national workshop recommended that the National Steering Committee (NSC) be
expanded to comprise an additional seven members from the plantation sector. Under the expanded
NSC, a Technical Working Group (TWG) should then be formed to draft the plantation standard,
which should in turn be deliberated by the NSC prior to adoption. 3
Plantation sector included from 2002