Illegal Logging In Malaysia is Relatively Minute and Not Significant

Illegal logging is a perennial and prolongs worldwide issue. Undeniably, it is one of the primary and real underlying causes of rainforest destruction and moral decay. Many believe that this is the one responsible for aggravating corruption and other social problems. The far-reaching devastating effects and consequences especially negative impact toward the country cannot be underestimated. 

WWF defines it as the related trade and corruption as occurring when timber is harvested or traded in violation of relevant national or sub-national laws or where access to forest resources or trade in forest products is authorized through corrupt practices.

On the other hand, the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), of which Malaysia is a member, defines illegal logging as the removal, transportation, processing, buying or selling of wood in a manner that is against the provision of relevant laws of the particular country.

According to a widely used definition, corruption is the misuse of entrusted powers for private gain. It involves the authorization to harvest or trade logs or timber products is secured through corrupt application of laws or administrative procedures. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission or from a protected area; the cutting of protected species; or the extraction of timber in excess of agreed limits. Through illegal logging much higher rents are extracted from forests than through legal operations.

The problem of corrupt officials in forest administrations is aggravated by the fact that the majority of forests are public and thus at the mercy of those officials. As corruption in the forest sector is almost always deeply intertwined or often associated with illegal logging, so it appears to be a major problem of the timber-producing countries in the developing world.

Undeniably, corruption adversely affects society and causes the devastating effects to the government. It costs government millions of Ringgit in lost revenue, and undermines the good governance.

In order to counter forest corruption as well as illegal logging, improved law enforcement is a precondition. Concomitant measures are, for instance, the improvement of the institutional framework of a state, and increased civil society participation in policy shaping, management, implementation and monitoring processes. Economic measures such as cutting red tape, increasing competition are also important aspects of the fight against corruption.

In Malaysia, although corruption in the forest sector is widely considered to exist at a petty level but it can have a serious adverse impact on the governance if not seriously address to the root cause. By directing corrective measures at root causes is the effective way to avoid spillover effects, Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia is solving the problem by addressing the root causes.

Currently, total forested land in Malaysia is 5,807,383.53 hectare and the timber productions from illegal logging are relatively minute and not significant at the level of 0.03% to 0.23% from 2005 till 2010 as shown as follows:

	YEAR
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Timber Production(m³)	4,405,091	3,806,316	4,189,222	4,208,724	3,686,717	4,161,568
Production from illegal logging(m³)	1,345	6,537	2,980	9,778	4,297	2,635
Percentage (%)	0.03	0.17	0.07	0.23	0.12	0.06

On the other hand, the detection of illegal logging in the Permanent Reserved Forests and government land from 2006 until 31 December 2011 are 222 cases as follows:

Number of Cases of Illegal Logging Detected (2006 – 2011)

Status	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	Total
Permanent Reserved Forests	23	20	29	22	43	21	158
Government lands	11	18	13	8	11	3	64
TOTAL	34	38	42	30	54	24	222

The number of illegal logging cases in the permanents reserve forests and government lands are under control and have been declined from 211 cases in 1993 to 24 cases in 2011. The declining trends of illegal logging cases in Peninsular Malaysia can be seen in the following table:

The declining trends of illegal logging in Peninsular Malaysia

The law enforcement operations resulted in the arrests of 196 people suspected for their involvement in illegal logging from 2006 until 2011 as shown in the following table:

Arrest of Suspect for Illegal Logging, Compounds and Compensation,  Confiscation of Machinery and Heavy Equipment

YEARS	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	Total
Numbers of Arrests	18	34	56	36	39	13	196
Compounds and Compensation (RM million)	2.6	3.1	4.2	1.3	1.4	*	12.6
Confiscation of Machinery and Heavy Equipment (units)	71	54	63	38	91	18	335

                                                                                                * Data are still in verification

In Peninsular Malaysia, estimated losses due to illegal logging activities recorded from 2004 to 2011 are RM 10.699, 909.16 million. The details are as follows:

Year	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	TOTAL
Case	36	28	34	38	42	30	54	24	286
Value (RM)	856,059	644,199	1,339,765.4	2,979	2,889,111	1,553,188.44	1,835,938.88	501,232.11	10,699,909.16

Malaysia has always done its best in fighting against illegal logging, which is not only destroys the country’s unique rainforests, but also causes a series of environmental problems including flooding.