KUANTAN: A total of 34.275 million trees comprising over 1,000 species have been planted nationwide as of June 13 under the 'Greening Malaysia: Our Trees, Our Lives' campaign, says Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.

He said the number was equivalent to 34.28 per cent of the target of 100 million trees to be achieved by 2025 through the campaign which was officially launched in January last year, and he hoped to see more parties getting involved.

"I call on more community associations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the private sector and individuals to get involved and play a more active role as tax exemption incentives have been provided for contributions to Malaysia's conservation and greening activities," he said.

Takiyuddin was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 19th Malaysia Forestry Conference themed 'Adapting Forestry to New Reality' here today, which was officiated by Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail.

Also present were Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia (JPSM) director-general Datuk Mohd Ridza Awang, Sabah Forestry Department chief conservator of forests Datuk Frederick Kugan, Sarawak Forest Department director Datu' Hamden Mohammad and Pahang Forestry Department director Datuk Dr Mohd Hizamri Mohd Yasin.

Meanwhile, Takiyuddin advised all parties to reduce dependence on forest harvesting activities, and instead, continue to strengthen the implementation of the 'Forest Beyond Timber' concept through ecotourism, herbal and pharmaceutical industries.

He said this was in line with the community's focus on ecotourism after the COVID-19 pandemic, and his ministry was also actively promoting natural resources-based recreation programmes through an allocation of RM9 million for reskill and upskill training programmes which were expected to make forestry departments experts in tropical and natural resources recreation.

Regarding the three-day conference which began yesterday, Takiyuddin said he hoped it would be a platform utilised by JPSM as well as the Sabah and Sarawak forestry departments to share best practices and experiences in areas such as sustainable forest management, conserving biodiversity, climate change, ecotourism and wood-based industries.

Meanwhile, Wan Rosdy in his speech said Pahang had 1.6 million hectares of Permanent Forest Reserve (HSK) land with 2.04 million hectares of forested land which represented 57 per cent of the state's area, making Pahang the largest contributor of forested areas in Peninsular Malaysia.

Of the 2.04 million hectares, Wan Rosdy said 32 per cent or 645,751 hectares had been gazetted as Protected Forests that could not be touched or tampered with, while the state government was committed to gazetting forest land along rivers as HSK involving over 2,000 rivers spanning 12,000 kilometres.

"All the efforts made by the Pahang government should not be viewed lightly or underestimated. This is a great sacrifice and should be taken seriously and given due appreciation by the Federal government.

"The Pahang government hopes that the Federal government can develop a fair and easy formula to expedite the process of providing compensation for each type of forest maintained, whether it's an ecological-protection forest, water catchment forest or wildlife protection habitat," he said.

At the ceremony, Takiyuddin and Wan Rosdy also launched a book entitled 'Thriving Our Green Heritage' in conjunction with JPSM's 120th-anniversary celebration.

-- BERNAMA