GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government has identified about 955.22 hectares of state land and land belonging to other agencies with mangroves since 2018 to be potentially gazetted as permanent forest reserves.
State Forestry Department director Muhammad Ezhar Yusuf said the state government, through the state Forestry Department, had set this year as its target to gazette mangroves in the state.
"This year alone, the state is targeting to gazette 428.61 hectares of mangroves as permanent forest reserves. This includes the mangrove forests in Air Hitam Dalam and Penaga in Seberang Prai Utara, Sungai Jawi, Juru in Seberang Prai Tengah and Pulau Betong in the southwest district.
"As of now, we have some 381.04 hectares of mangroves which have been gazetted under the National Forestry Act 1984.
"These mangroves are in the Byram Forest Reserve in Seberang Prai Selatan and Balik Pulau Forest Reserve in the southwest district. We also have mangroves on state land," he told the New Straits Times.
However, no data was available on the mangrove forests on state land.
Elaborating, Ezhar said the state government, through the state Forestry Department, also carried out conservation efforts along the state's shores. He added that since 2005 until December last year, a total of 242,483 mangrove saplings had been planted in an area measuring 80.95 hectares.
"It is undeniable that unmitigated development will threaten areas with biological importance such as the mangrove forests, especially in areas which have yet to be gazetted under the National Forestry Act 1984.
"In this regard, the state government, through the Penang Structure Plan 2030, has made retaining permanent forest reserves as a major strategy, which also includes gazetting mangroves as permanent forest reserves until 2030," he said.
About six per cent of Penang had been gazetted as forest areas, measuring about 6,568.77 hectares.
Of the total, about 5,386.77 hectares were permanent forest reserves gazetted under the Forestry Act 1984 (Act 313). A total of 1,182 hectares were gazetted under the National Parks Act 1980 as state parks.
Ezhar said Penang was among the states which did not practise logging in its permanent forest reserves. The last time logging was carried out was back in 1972.
The state Forestry Department's records showed that the last time a permanent forest reserve was degazetted was in 2003, involving the Pantai Acheh Forest Reserve.
The degazettement was for the purpose of declaring it as the Penang National Park and regazetting it under the National Parks Act 1980 on April 10, 2003.
"Penang means business in the protection of our forests. This is evident when part of Pulau Jerejak measuring 285.84 hectares was gazetted as a permanent forest reserve on March 26 last year.
"The gazettement increased the area of permanent forest reserves in the state by 5.5 per cent, from 5,100.93 hectares in December 2019 to 5,386.77 hectares last year," he said.