MALAYSIA: Logging chief reason for destruction of biodiversity

Habitat destruction from heavy logging near protected
areas is the top reason for loss of biodiversity and species extinction,
Department of Wildlife and National Parks protected area division director
Dr Ebil Yusof said today. Presenting a paper titled "Overview: Issues, Threats and Challenges To
Protected Areas Management" at a workshop, he said lowland dipterocarp
forests (below 100m) were under extreme pressure. Forest conversion
threatened up to 81 per cent of mammalian species living in the habitat.

Other threats included de-gazettement, illegal encroachment and hunting,
the last two factors being major problems in areas where wildlife
populations were on the brink of extinction, he told participants of the
three-day workshop.

Listing recommendations for better management, he said a protected area
policy should be developed to cover all individual reserves with a
standard policy, objectives, planning and management across state and
institutional boundaries.

Agencies in charge of terrestrial and maritime sites should also review
the status of forests, wildlife reserves, sanctuaries, national parks and
state parks, as it would lead to improving or reclassifying the protected
area system to cover 10 per cent of the original ecosystem or biodiversity
hotspots.

Danish Co-operation for Environment and Development chief technical
adviser Kim Worm Sorensen said the rate of extinction today was comparable
to, if not worse than, the periods of mass extinction. Six species became
extinct every hour. "In rainforests, the extinction rate is 50,000 species
a year," he added.

Malaysia, which is one of the world's 12 mega diversity areas, has 2.12
million ha of national and state parks, wildlife sanctuaries, turtle
sanctuaries and wildlife reserves. Some 3.43 million ha are also protected
as water catchment areas.