CAB 431

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION 1

ASSIGNMENT 1 (5%)
 1) i. OVERVIEW OF TIMBER AS NATURAL RESOURCES IN MALAYSIA

Malaysia has a total forested area of 18.27 million ha that equates to 55.3% of the total land
area. It is divided between Sarawak with 8.03 million ha, Peninsular Malaysia with 5.80 million
ha, and Sabah with 4.44 million ha

The data presented does not include agricultural tree crops such as oil palm, rubber, cocoa or
other trees grown for horticultural products.

Timber is a valued natural resource that serves directly as a material for use in construction, paper
manufacturing, specialty wood products such as furniture, and as a fuel source.

While in the West, it is common to use woods like Pine, Oak and Mahogany for furniture, here in
Malaysia, we use a wide variety of equally sturdy tropical woods like Chengal, Teak and
Rubberwood.

In Malaysia, Teak has been identified as suitable timber species for commercial production. It is
moderately hard, easily worked and durable. The natural appearance of the Malaysian Teak wood
lends itself to simple & also to complex designs which subtly blend in with the surrounding
architecture & interiors.

Rubberwood is also known as plantation hardwood, or "Hevea" for the genus that the tree
belongs to. In 2002, the Malaysian Ministry of Primary Industries marketed it under the name
"Malaysian Oak".

Resak is the most familiar timber hardwood species in Malaysia. It is one of the best timber wood
preferred by most of the construction companies. Many countries import resak wood from
Malaysia because of its quality and standard rate.
The Malaysian most expensive wood is `Agarwood’: It is a highly valued and rare natural
product that is known for its unique fragrance and purported health benefits. Due to its rarity and
the complex and labor-intensive process required to produce it, agarwood is one of the most
expensive natural products in the world.

The timber industry has become the main contributor to the country’s export revenue. Malaysian
wood and wood products especially furniture has been exported to over 160 countries around the
world.
‘The Sun Daily 23 August 2022; KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s timber exports went up
13.79% to RM13.2 billion in the first six months of 2022 compared with RM11.59 billion in
the corresponding period last year, due to the reopening of the economy post-pandemic
and the quality of timber products that are recognized internationally.’

The forestry sector in Malaysia comprises four major sub-sectors with regard to wood-based
processed materials and goods:
(i) sawn timber,
Sawn timber is produced mainly in Peninsular Malaysia (nearly 70%); 20% comes
from Sarawak, and 10% from Sabah (Hoare, 2015).

(ii) veneer and panel products (i.e. plywood),

The majority of plywood is produced in Sarawak (about 70%), while 20% comes from
Sabah and the remaining 10% from Peninsular Malaysia.

(iii) mouldings and builders’ joinery and carpentry (i.e. doors, windows, etc.) and,
Timber is a cost efficiency building material which has many great characteristics for
outdoor structures and products. It is often chosen due to its good lasting performance
and natural appearance, depending on timber type/grade.

(iv) furniture and associated components.

It is found Malaysia wood is durable and lightweight with good staining and polishing
qualities. Its beautiful grain and versatility make it a much sought-after material for
furniture making. It is relatively high-grade wood in furniture.
The industry is predominantly owned by Malaysian companies and roughly 80-90% of these
businesses are small and medium enterprises (Forest Legality Alliance).

Asia is the major export market destination for Malaysia’s timber products, notably Japan
(plywood being the main product exported) but also others such as India, Thailand and China
(logs, sawn wood and plywood). The US and the EU are other important markets importing
significant volumes of wood-based products from Malaysia, plywood, sawn wood and furniture.
The US and EU markets are predominantly supplied by Peninsular Malaysia (Hoare, 2015).

What are the wood resources in Malaysia?

In Malaysia, there are over 2500 species of timber tree, and most of them have been
taxonomically identified by scientific names. Table below shows the lists of Malaysian timber
which are grouped botanically into hardwoods and softwoods.
Commonly harvested species from natural forests include Meranti (Shorea spp.), Keruing
(Dipterocarpus spp.), and Merbau (Intsia spp.), although many more species are harvested.
Commonly harvested species from plantations include Acacia (Acacia spp.), Eucalyptus
(Eucalyptus spp.).

Malaysia has three (3) main types of timber sources:

1) Natural (or semi-natural) forests:

Natural forests are under state ownership, except for some alienated (privatized) land
where forest clearance is permitted for private use.

Forests under state ownership:

are broadly classified as either Permanent Reserved Forests (PRF) or state land forests.
PRF areas can include both commercial forests, protected forests and communal
forests.
State land forests:
are generally used for commercial purposes and often planned for conversion to other
land use.
The State Forest Departments in Peninsular Malaysia directly manage most of the
commercial areas within the PRF and issue annual cutting permits to companies for
timber harvesting.
Sabah and Sarawak have issued long term concessions to private companies to
manage commercial forests within the PRF.

Below are the details of Malaysia’s State Land Forest & Privatized/Alienated Land:

About 34% of the Permanent Reserved Forest (PRF) is designated as protected.

Such protected forests are managed by the state and include:
a) non-harvestable forests (areas above certain altitudes, slopes),
b) virgin jungle reserves,
c) recreational forests,
d) catchment forests and reservoirs;
e) National and State Parks, Wildlife & Bird Sanctuaries.
 Currently Peninsular Malaysia has 1.83 million ha of protected forests, Sabah has 1.88
million ha, and Sarawak has 0.82 million ha.

Although the convertible land shown about 13.24 mil ha. However, It is not advisable to
convert all under state land policies. The change in world climate has alarming the
country policies.

2) Timber plantations.

Timber forest plantations are often established in the Permanent Reserve Forest (PRF),
managed under private concessions.

Peninsular Malaysia has 120,000 ha of timber plantations and Sabah approximately

158,000 ha, while Sarawak has so far planted 446,000 ha within 2,368,000 ha of LPF
(License for Planted Forests) concession areas.

Sabah plans for extensive expansion of timber plantations to support the timber industry.

Timber plantations have not been well established on private land, since it is perceived to
be more profitable to grow oil palm or rubber trees.

3) Agricultural areas:
Agricultural areas provide a significant source of timber to the industry in relation to
existing rubber tree plantations (for latex) and to salvage logging for site preparation
before planting oil palm or rubber trees.

Rubber trees:
are felled when they are considered to be over-mature for latex production, usually after
25 years.

Rubber tree plantations are dominated by smallholder farmers associated with

government agencies (FELDA; RISDA & LIGS) that support planting, latex processing and
replanting.

Malaysia has an estimated 1.08 million ha of rubber tree plantations (of which nearly 60%
are going untapped due to currently low prices of latex).
 Sarawak has 165,000 ha planned for rubber tree plantations and Sabah has developed
250,000 ha, including 190,000 ha supported by RISDA & LIGS smallholder agencies.

ii. Any timber, logging or deforestation issues in Malaysia contest (Current issues of the last 5
years):

Deforestation is human-caused permanent conversion of forest area to non-forest land

use such as agricultural, industrial, mining, roads, dams, municipalities and residential
development.
Uncontrolled deforestation will have various adverse effects on the ecological system and
environmental stability.

Below is the photo of deforestation that is taking place in Malaysia:

Deforestation is occurring on a significant scale in Malaysia. Between 2001 and 2021,

Malaysia lost 17 per cent of its rainforest cover.

`Rimbawatch, through its study titled "State of the Malaysian Rainforest 2023″, said it had
collated and analysed data on past and potential future deforestation, and concluded
that Malaysia had deforested 349,244 ha between 2017 to 2021. Sarawak and Pahang, it
said, experienced the highest rates of deforestation.’

The main cause of deforestation is agriculture (poorly planned infrastructure is emerging

as a big threat too) and the main cause of forest degradation is illegal logging.

New Straits Times:

‘KUALA LUMPUR: Environmental groups claim corruption within government agencies
who have been entrusted with protecting our forests are the root cause behind the high
number of illegal logging cases recorded every year. Among the main agencies they red-
flagged was the Forestry Department.27 Feb 2023’
 Reuters
`Under Malaysia’s constitution, forest management falls largely under state, not
federal control. That has led to economic interests being prioritized over the
environment and rights of indigenous people, green groups say.

Jayakumar said states were reluctant to give up their right to manage and control
their forests, making it “very difficult” to change the constitution.

“That is a no-go area,” he said at his office, decorated with a life-size art sculpture of a
Malaysian tiger. But states have taken on federal government messages about the need
to curb deforestation and change the economic model, he added.’

Today, 84% of global palm oil production occurs in Indonesia and Malaysia, accounting
for 57% and 27% respectively, making palm oil another major cause of deforestation in
Southeast Asia.7 Mar 2022

As in many tropical areas around the world, Borneo's rainforests are being cut and
degraded for timber, palm oil, pulp, rubber and minerals.

The slash and burn activities will make the forest area completely destroyed and effect the
ecosystem of the area, even the uncontrolled burning can cause serious forest fire and
indirectly lead to the extinction of flora and fauna.

The increase in these activities is being matched by a growth in illegal wildlife trade
(poaching), as cleared forests provide easy access to more remote areas.

iii. Discuss the effect towards local environment, social or economy.

The illegal logging, deforestation, poaching activities have given negative impacts
include: destruction of forest cover, loss of biodiversity, ecological imbalance, soil
compaction, soil erosion, flooding, desert encroachment and disruption of hydrological
cycle.
Threats to biodiversity which refers to the diversity of living species, ecosystems and
genetic resources on earth. Humans are highly dependent on this biodiversity for survival
especially for maintaining the environment, ecosystem services and natural resources for
economic activities.
The loss of biodiversity is due to various factors including habitat loss,
deterioration in forest quality, and exploitation of excessive forest resources,
pollution and climate change.

According to the World Bank Group and Asian Development Bank's Climate Risk Country
Profile: Malaysia (2021), under the worst-case scenario of climate change, average
temperatures in this country are expected to rise by 3.11 degrees Celsius by the 2090s.
8 Mar 2023

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had predicted an increasing in global

warning within the range of 20°C to 50°C based on the rate of increasing greenhouse
gases at this time.

Timber, logging, residential development, oil palm plantation trade are economic activities
which involve large value of money (the valuable export). Straight regulations and
enhancement always facing challenge from issue of corruption.

The Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister, Nik Nazmi Ahmad
revealed the numbers The Dewan Rakyat (on 26 Feb 2023):
`The number of cases might be higher as not all are reported or identified. The main cause
is corruption in the Forestry Department.
There are 90 cases of illegal logging last year, 60 were recorded in Sarawak. Perak
recorded the second highest number of cases at 11 while Kelantan logged 10.

The New Straits Times, 27 Feb 2023

"The main cause is corruption in the Forestry Department. "As long as you allow that
(corruption) to continue, enforcers themselves turn their away from these activities. "You
need to stop corruption." Gurmit questioned the government's effort as the number of
cases had not dropped throughout the years.’
 Forestry and its industries remain one of the most important socio-economic sectors in the
country. There’s a need for useful and enlightening information about Malaysian forestry
and its various roles is crucial both of its sustainable management as well as to enhance
public and non-governmental organization awareness .

Malaysia’s economy has traditionally been fueled by its natural resources but is expanding
into commerce, medical tourism, science, and tourism.
Malaysia has a newly industrialized market economy, ranked third-largest in Southeast
Asia and 36th-largest in the world.

Malaysia is famous for its multicultural society, diverse and tasty culinary scene, as well
as tropical nature landscapes.

The low cost of living and education in Malaysia is a major pull factor; Parents also believe
Malaysia offers a better environment for English study than the neighboring countries.
Korean, Japan, China and Hongkong has contributed to Malaysia MM2H programme.

iv. Suggestion of strategies to provide a sustainable timber resources for built environment in
Malaysia.

As the timber industry is one of the main contributors to the Malaysian economy, logging
activity can be considered an important activity to cater to the demand.

Timber is still one of the most sustainable building materials available and is known
as the ultimate renewable. The forests that produced the timber floors, fences and
frames that you find in most homes are continuing to regrow and produce more timber
products every day.

Timber that has been harvested responsibly from well-managed forests that are
continuously replenished and ensure that there is no damage to the surrounding
environment.

The source of steel and concrete materials is finite, whereas timber is infinitely
renewable. The tree sequesters carbon from carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere as
it grows, and stores it for a finite period before it re-releases it back into the cycle.28 Jul
2021

Malaysia's pledge to retain at least 50% of its land mass under forest cover is its flagship
environmental policy to showcase its sustainability commitment. As of 2022, Malaysia
has kept 54% of its forests.4 Jan 2023

According to the Sustainable Development Report 2021, Malaysia ranked 65 out of 165
countries with an SDG Index at 70.9%.21 Apr 2023
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Malaysia is a global call to action to end
poverty, protect the earth’s environment and climate, and ensure that people everywhere
can enjoy peace and prosperity.

The government has gazetted national parks as part of its attempts to save forests. The
Malaysian government has gazetted national parks since 1939. Forest reserves are
valuable natural heritage areas and need to be protected. Logging, hunting, and
development activities are not allowed in these areas.

To reduce the effects of deforestation, more trees need to be planted in places where they
were chopped down. Loggers should also make it a point to replant a tree for every tree
that they chop off. In this way we can at least have our forests replaced when they are
taken away.

In 2020, Malaysia was awarded a gold medal for achieving the biggest increase in forest
area certified by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) with
over 950,000ha of certified forest or an annual increase of over 20%, making it a total of
more than 5.2 million ha.

In 2021, the country launched the Malaysian Forestry Policy to reaffirm the importance of
certification with special reference to the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS)
in promoting sustainable forest management (SFM).

The scheme provides an independent audit of timber product manufacturers or exporters

through Chain of Custody (CoC) certification to ascertain that the timber-based products
manufactured or exported are sourced from sustainably-managed forests.
All MTCS-certified timber products are also allowed to carry the PEFC label, which is
accepted in many developed countries, most notably in Europe,” according to the MTCS
website.

The key objective of forest management in Malaysia has been to ensure continuity of
product flow, while conserving our complex ecosystems and maintaining our rich and
varied flora and fauna

At this juncture, Malaysia’s continued achievements in sustainable agri-commodity

emphasize that the development of the timber industry can and must go hand-in-hand with
the conservation of tropical forests.

Forestry in Malaysia has experienced rapid changes from being a resource supplier to
platform for a range of economic activities.
The timber industry soon experienced changes in its management concept, where it
shifted from sustainable timber management to sustainable forest management.

The change was brought about by the demand for high quality forest products instead of
quantity, stimulated by customer demand.

The furniture industry in the country started off as an industry for fulfilling the household
needs. The industry during the Colonial period and the post independence period were
strongly localized to the areas rich in resources.

The furniture industry soon changed from an industry of manufacturing necessities to an

industry of manufacturing luxuries.
This was demonstrated by the production of high-end furniture. The rise in its demand
brought about by the commercialization in manufacturing of furniture, resulted in the
introduction of high-tech equipment and cheap methods for mass production.

Malaysia and the world are putting more concern in Research & development (R&D) for
hi-tech products that can reduce the use of timber. In short term, improve the state
forestry authorities enforcement budget in training of man power, increase the number of
Forestry authorities staff and vehicles for patrolling, updated with hi-tech vehicles and
equipment in sourcing proof of illegal logging and re-plant the trees. All these acquisition
of appropriate equipment and tools for enforcement have been proven to positively
impact the detection rate of deforestation especially illegal logging.

Forest law enforcement plays an important role in safeguarding forests and ensuring
sustainable harvesting. With enforcement in place, preventive measures can be taken,
which include monitoring of non-compliance with forest-related rules and prosecution of
those who violate those rules. More specifically, as part of safeguarding forests,
enforcement teams carry out patrols or surveillance to detect criminal activities, the
investigation of crimes, the arrest of offenders and prosecution of criminals. In carrying
out their duties, forest authorities face multiple issues that may affect the effectiveness
and efficiency of their enforcement activities.