Forest Certification in Malaysia - Yale University
Forest Certification in Malaysia - Yale University
Forest Certification in Malaysia - Yale University
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
74<br />
forest certification <strong>in</strong> develop<strong>in</strong>g and transition<strong>in</strong>g countries<br />
value per unit volume for <strong>in</strong>dustrial round wood and sawn wood than for woodbased<br />
panels. The major export dest<strong>in</strong>ations of <strong>Malaysia</strong>n forest products were Ch<strong>in</strong>a<br />
(31.2 percent) and Japan (25.1 percent). Other important dest<strong>in</strong>ations were Korea (5.6<br />
percent), U.S.A. (4.3 percent) and the Netherlands (3.5 percent).<br />
The forestry sector has contributed significantly towards the country’s socioeconomic<br />
development. This can be highlighted from the follow<strong>in</strong>g statistics for 2002:<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
The forestry sector contributed US$3.7 billion <strong>in</strong> gross value added,<br />
account<strong>in</strong>g for about 4.7 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product<br />
<strong>in</strong> the year 2000;<br />
The total export of the forest sector (exclud<strong>in</strong>g furniture) was valued at<br />
US$2.8 billion or 2.8 percent of the country’s total export earn<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> 2002.<br />
Imports were valued at US$1 billion, mak<strong>in</strong>g the country a net exporter of<br />
US$1.8 billion;<br />
In 1998, the total forest revenue collected by the various states <strong>in</strong> <strong>Malaysia</strong><br />
amounted to US$368.8 million, based on a production of 21.7 million m 3<br />
of round logs. In some states, such as Sarawak, Kelantan and Pahang, forest<br />
revenues made a very important contribution to governments’ revenues.<br />
The forestry sector (exclud<strong>in</strong>g furniture) also provided employment of<br />
about 2 percent of the country’s labour force.<br />
Given the above performance, the timber and timber products <strong>in</strong>dustry is an<br />
important contributor to the economy of the country, <strong>in</strong> terms of foreign exchange<br />
earn<strong>in</strong>gs, employment and value added creation. Throughout the first and second<br />
Industrial Master Plans (1985-1995 and 1996-2005), the timber and timber products<br />
sector has been earmarked to provide domestic and export growth for the economy.<br />
Hence, the decl<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g trade – seem<strong>in</strong>gly caused by import<strong>in</strong>g countries’ negative<br />
perception that the products do not come from well-managed forests – is taken<br />
seriously by the federal government (Yong 2002).<br />
Various efforts have been undertaken to confront this challenge, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g<br />
ascrib<strong>in</strong>g to timber certification and develop<strong>in</strong>g a system that can provide assurance<br />
that the timber products have been manufactured us<strong>in</strong>g timber from sound forest<br />
management practices.<br />
the emergence of forest certification<br />
Initial Support<br />
Given the long-term prospect of limited supply of forest, the government has to<br />
approach development efforts judiciously. The future patterns of forest resource<br />
management <strong>in</strong> <strong>Malaysia</strong> have to be restructured by adopt<strong>in</strong>g strategies of susta<strong>in</strong>able<br />
management by treat<strong>in</strong>g the environment as <strong>in</strong>tegral, <strong>in</strong> order to ensure that maximum<br />
economic and social benefits are derived from manag<strong>in</strong>g this resource. Any<br />
yale school of forestry & environmental studies