THE Sarawak Timber Association (STA) is ready and committed to implement the mandatory Environmental Compliance Audit (ECA) that will go into force on July 1.
The association, representing about 600 members – companies involved in the timber trade and industry in Sarawak – said they have been ready as “environmental stewards of the forestry sector” since 2015.
“STA has consistently demonstrated its commitment by actively encouraging the forestry sector to uphold environmental regulations, particularly Natural Resources and Environment (Audit) Rules, 2008 as administered by Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB),” it said in response to Deputy Premier Awang Tengah Ali's Hassan's announcement on the ECA.
The association said as part of its ongoing commitment to improving environmental stewardship, it had conducted a series of Environmental Quality Monitoring (EQM) and ECA training sessions since 2015.
The training, to give participants essential skills in water sampling protocols, equipment handling, and identification of potential contaminants affecting water quality, were conducted by STA's training arm in collaboration with NREB and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), it added.
STA said both its EQM and ECA training courses are registered with HRD Corp and are claimable under the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF).
In his ministerial winding up yesterday, Awang Tengah, who is also Sarawak's Second Minister for Natural Resources, told the legislative assembly that the state is able to maintain 7.65 million hectares or 62% of its forest cover, through “improvements and enhancements to existing policies and the implementation of various sustainable forest management programmes”.
The policies and measure, he added, had anchored Sarawak as the largest contributor to forest cover in Malaysia, accounting for 42.4% of the 18.05 million ha of forested area in the country. – May 16, 2024.
