How Drones Are Being Used to Fight Deforestation in 2019

How Drones Are Being Used to Fight Deforestation in 2019

By Mark Sheehan Deforestation has been a serious global problem for several decades. Illegal logging has been happening for decades; wildfires and other disasters take their toll as well. Enforcing laws can be a dangerous game and reforestation cannot keep up. Drones are changing the way we combat these losses….

Corrupt Forestry officials Aid and Abet illegal Logging

Corrupt Forestry officials Aid and Abet illegal Logging

Forestry officials are our eyes in forests. They are tasked with keeping an eye on logging to ensure that no illegal activity takes places in the country’s much-depleted forests. But what happens when the eyes of these officials are willfully blind to such logging? What happens is this: loggers can…

Illegal Loggers must be ‘Deterred’

Illegal Loggers must be ‘Deterred’

Despite the efforts of the authorities to clamp down on the practice, illegal logging is going on unabated in Malaysia’s forests. Few loggers end up facing serious consequences for breaking the law. For one thing, few of them are even caught. For another, even those that are caught may escape…

‘It Isn’t Us.’ Palm Oil Cultivators Reject Blame for Mangrove Forest Loss

‘It Isn’t Us.’ Palm Oil Cultivators Reject Blame for Mangrove Forest Loss

First came the findings, now come the quibbles. The findings: Daniel R. Richards and Daniel Friess, two geographers from Britain’s University of Sheffield and Singapore’s National University, respectively, argue in a recently published paper that the primary driver of mangrove forest destruction in Malaysia has been extensive deforestation by palm…

Illegal Logging Carries on Unabated in Pahang

Illegal Logging Carries on Unabated in Pahang

The Lentang Permanent Forest Reserve, in Pahang, is just what its name says it is: a forest reserve where the woods are protected by law so that they can stay intact permanently. Has that prevented illegal loggers from wantonly destroying whole swaths of virgin forest? You’ve guessed it: no. Illegal…

New Sabah Road Project Threatens Habitats of Elephants and Orangutans

New Sabah Road Project Threatens Habitats of Elephants and Orangutans

The Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah state is home to rich and varied ecosystems of exotic species, featuring a photogenic kaleidoscope of iconic animals: proboscis monkeys, several species of hornbills, the Asian pygmy elephant and Borneo’s emblematic orangutan. The reserve’s forests are at constant risk of further environmental degradation…

Malaysian Pulp Giant makes Sustainability Guidelines; Breaks Them

Malaysian Pulp Giant makes Sustainability Guidelines; Breaks Them

Indonesia’s second-largest pulp and paper producer Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) introduced a new sustainability policy in June.  The updated policy was greeted with guarded skepticism by environmental NGOs including Greenpeace, and it seems their doubt may have been well-founded. APRIL’s new policy stated that they had stopped all…

Supposed Geothermal Project looks more like a Backdoor Logging Deal

Supposed Geothermal Project looks more like a Backdoor Logging Deal

Spirits were lifted and hopes raised for sustainability last year when plans for Malaysia’s first geothermal power plant were publicized in Sabah, Eastern Malaysia. After the discovery of geothermal surface manifestations in a 50 square-kilometer area near the town of Tawau, it was determined that the area had the potential to…

Sarawak Raids 240 Companies Linked to Illegal Logging in Malaysia

Sarawak Raids 240 Companies Linked to Illegal Logging in Malaysia

A recent sizing-up of illegal logging in Malaysia revealed that the Forest Department of Sarawak conducted 240 raids, confiscated 12,000 cubic meters of timber and submitted a total of 122 investigation papers to the state government as of July this year. Much of this legal action has to do with…