Forests are the most important national treasure in ensuring a stable ecosystem and are closely related to the country’s socio-economic development. They therefore need to be managed sustainably.
Perak Darul Ridzuan State Menteri Besar, Dato’ Seri Saarani Bin Mohamad said that up till September this year, a total of 1.37 million trees were successfully planted within an area of 5,026 hectares throughout the State of Perak.
“The State Government has taken the initiative of realising the Malaysian Greening Programme agenda through the 100 Million Tree Planting Campaign which was launched on 5 January 2021.
“This programme is very much in line with the commitment of the Perak State Government in mobilising the Climate Change Initiative, that’s also in line with the agenda outlined in the Prosperous Perak 2030 plan.
“Perak aims to plant 10 million trees or 2 million trees per year throughout the state for 5 years starting from 2021. In 2021, we have achieved the target of planting two 2 million trees with an area of 5,568.01 hectares throughout the state,” he said in his speech in conjunction with the Council Perak State Level International Day of Forests Celebration 2022 at The Treasure@Taman Herba, Gopeng, today.
The Perak 2022 International Day of Forests celebration ceremony was completed by DYMM Paduka Seri Sultan Perak, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah.
Also seen leaving, the Raja Permaisuri Perak, Tuanku Zara Salim; Raja Muda Perak, Raja Jaafar Raja Muda Musa dan Raja Puan Besar Perak, Raja Nazhatul Shima Sultan Idris Shah dan Raja Di Hilir Perak, Raja Iskandar Dzulkarnain Sultan Idris Shah and Raja Puan Muda Perak, Tunku Soraya Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah.
At the event, Sultan Nazrin was pleased to present a sapling to the Kinta District Officer, Meor Hezbullah Meor Abd Malik and the Managing Director of The Treasure@Taman Herba Gopeng, Eidia Erriany Abdul Rahim.
Sultan Nazrin and Tuanku Zara Salim also agreed to complete the tree planting and visit the exhibition.
According to Dato’ Seri Saarani, the Perak State Forestry Department has classified a total of 485,613 hectares of Permanent Reserve Forests as Protected Forests and 295,400 hectares of them as Watershed Forests.
“The function of the protected forest class is to further strengthen the number of forested areas in the State of Perak that continue to be preserved and protected.
“The State Government is also committed to biodiversity management such as the establishment of the Central Forest Spine (CFS) ecological corridor area.
“The importance of this CFS is to reduce the conflict between humans and wildlife caused by forest fragmentation and the natural paths of wildlife that are blocked by development projects,” he said.
by Rosli Mansor
