Implementing Agency:
Department For International Development (DFIDSEA)

Managing Institute:
Department For International Development (DFIDSEA)

Project Code: 164-502-004	Start Date: 01/09/1993	End Date: 01-Mar-98
Commitment: £1,620,000	Status: Awaiting Confirmation of Completion	Type of Funding: Bilateral - TC

Project Background:
Sustainable management is the broad concept behind the Malaysian National Forest Policy. It extends beyond the sustained yield of timber to include the conservation of adequate areas for recreation, education, research, and the protection of the country's flora and fauna. This is reflected in legislation under the National Forestry Act (1984) as amended in 1993 and the Protection of Wildlife Act (1980). It is also exemplified by the setting aside of over 4.7 million hectares of forests dedicated to the protection of biodiversity and the environment as well as by the retention of pockets of unlogged forest as Virgin Jungle Reserves (VJR) with the forest reserves.

"Dynamic conservation" has also become a fundamental aim in Malaysia. With an estimated 14,500 species of flowering plants and perhaps ten times as any fauna species, the biodiversity is remarkably profuse. Maintenance of the full range of this genetic base is not possible. But much of the diversity lies in the production forests of the lowlands; it is these therefore which have important implications for future biodiversity management.

Demonstration and development areas (DDA) are the location in which much of the work will take place. Their purpose is to provide a showcase for both learning and training in sustainable forest management. The first DDA has been selected in Pasoh Forest Reserve in Negeri Sembilan State, Peninsular Malaysia, using criteria agreed jointly by Malaysian and UK scientists. It is a readily accessible forested area of low undulating plains bordered by rubber and oil palm plantations and with a core of high steep hills. Pasoh FR is an integral part of the country's timber production system, containing examples of both the current Selective Management System of logging and of the earlier Malayan Uniform System which removed all the trees above a certain diameter limit. The Reserve also contains VJRs, parts of which have been studied intensively by the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), including a 50 ha permanent sampling plot in which all woody trees greater than 1cm diameter have been tagged, identified, mapped and measured for diameter.

Malaysia is uniquely well equipped to take the international lead in developing new approaches to the management of natural tropical forests because of its diversity, legislation for control of the Permanent Forest Estate, documented histories of research management, comprehensive knowledge of tree flora, and the strength of its forest services and research capacity.

Project Objectives:
Strengthening capacity of collaborating institutions to develop and assess sustainable management systems for timber production, biodiversity conservation and valuation of costs and benefits of non-timber forest products and services.

Intended Outputs:
A wider and deeper understanding of approaches for the sustainable management of forests; conservation of biological diversity; and of the essential links between the rational harvesting of timber and other forest products, and the conservation of both the productive and the environmental values and benefits of forests, taking into account the needs of the local population as appropriate.

The acquisition, adoption, development and utilisation of additional technologies and systems for sustainable forest management, within a strengthened system for international co-operation among Commonwealth countries.

The capacity of the collaborating institutions in Malaysia and UK to undertake the above investigations and to develop sustainable multiple-use forest management systems raised through the provision of training, equipment and consultancy inputs over a three year period.

Research activities on the effects of logging and timber extraction on selected groups of plants and animals, the genetic diversity of dipterocarps, and multiple-use forest management systems.

Research concerning the valuation of the costs and benefits of non-timber forest products and services.

A database with geographic information system mapping facilities on which data collected in the research programmes can be stored and manipulated.