Page 16 - GS58346 Tasik Chini

1. DEFORESTATION FOR TIMBER

• Malaysia's deforestation rate is accelerating faster than that of

any other tropical country in the world, according to data from the

United Nations

• Deforestation has already left thousands homeless. Without trees
and plants to absorb heavy rainfalls, deforestation has caused

erosion and faster runoff, which has led to larger and more

frequent flood.

• The forest area decreased by 861.70 ha in 2002 in Tasik Chini.

• Rivers far from the timber harvesting areas are fouled by erosion
run off. In many places were rainforests once stood, rows of palm

trees extend for as far as the eye can see. Most rain forest

animals can’t live on the palm oil plantations.

• Malaysia was the second largest timber exporting nation after
Indonesia in the early 2000s. But by that time Malaysia's exports

of raw logs dropped to only 17 percent of the nation’s 35 million

cubic meters of felled trees. The rest is domestically processed

for furniture and other products.