Malaysia's Green Spaces

Malaysia has one of the world's megadiverse ecologies, with a biodiverse range of flora and fauna and tropical rainforests making up 59% to 70% of total land area, 11.6% of which is pristine. It also has the world's fifth-largest mangrove area.

Significant threats come from human intervention, such as agriculture, forestry and urbanisation, including the construction of roads and damming of rivers.

MY Forest Watch will look at the effects of these threats, empowering non-state actors, which include local communities, the public, non-governmental organisations, in having a stronger voice in the governance of the country's forest.

Areas in focus include Important Bird & Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), the Central Forest Spine initiative especially the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex, and the Heart of Borneo.
Malaysian forest cover
62.3% or about 20,456,000ha

Primary forest
18.7% or 3,820,000ha

Planted forest
1,807,000h

Change in Forest Cover
Loss of 8.6% (1,920,000ha) between 1990 and 2010

issues

  • Forest governance and policy issues
  • Trade and certification
  • Forest / biodiversity monitoring
  • Participation of civil society and local community stakeholders in forest governance and monitoring processes is still low
  • Lack of understanding among the public
Resultant issues: Illegal and unsustainable logging causes severe effects on Malaysia's environment and its people, which include
  • Flooding
  • Water disruption
  • Loss of wildlife species
  • Loss of livelihood

Target Areas

MY forest by state