JOHOR BARU – An environmental protection NGO active in exposing government and corporate moves behind the loss of Malaysia’s rainforests has discovered a total of 43,539ha of jungle lands – including those officially earmarked for conservation – being offered for sale online.
The Rimba Disclosure Project (RDP) through a survey found that these lands were being sold through 28 listings on well-known websites such as mudah.my, iProperty, PropertyGuru and Facebook.
“These listings include land within forest reserves, Central Forest Spine habitat linkages and indigenous customary land.
“The vast majority of these listings are advertised for conversion to agriculture with a 99-year lease,” it said in a statement.
According to RDP, one of the plots being sold is supposedly located within the Nenggiri Forest Reserve in Gua Musang.
The 809.3ha land is classified as agricultural and is being sold for RM10,000 per acre.
Meanwhile, in Kelantan, various plots of land are being sold, with the cheapest going for RM5,000 per acre, while the most expensive is valued at RM10,000 per acre.
RDB describes its independent and non-political initiative as providing transparency on those responsible for the loss of Malaysia’s rainforests.
It has identified 28 listings showing forest lands for sale. Of these, 13 are advertised for logging.
Along with 29 other NGOs, it is now demanding that relevant state menteris besar and forestry departments conduct investigations into these sales and prioritise the protection of Malaysia’s forests.
“We are concerned over the likely conversion of forested lands which are being advertised for sale in the states of Perak, Selangor, Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan, which will result in Malaysia being ‘locked-into’ further deforestation in the future, and which will exacerbate issues of biodiversity loss and land degradation, the climate crisis, and flooding,” the statement said.
On January 10, the Vibes discovered plots of jungle land being sold online on majalah.com, two of which were located in the Sg Nipah Forest Reserve and Ulu Jelai Forest Reserve.
Also in December, it was reported that the Environment Department approved 46 environmental impact assessment reports for land projects in Pahang, some of which concern logging and agricultural development. – The Vibes, February 3, 2022
