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Number of complaints received by Perhilitan over wildlife conflicts

Believe it or not, this is the inside of a permanent forest reserve - the Segari Melintang Forest Reserve in Perak.

When Malaysiakini visited this coastal forest in 2020, this portion of the “forest reserve” comprised quarries.

Other parts were used by the local council as a landfill while logging activities were also underway, all of them legal.

On paper, a total 5.73 million hectare or about 44 percent of Peninsular Malaysia is “forest”.

But of that, only 84 percent is Permanent Forest Reserve. That is 4.85 million hectares. The rest are state or private-owned forests, and other reserves.

And of the Permanent Forest Reserve, about 61 percent are ”production forest”, leaving 1.93 million hectares protected. This is 14 percent of Peninsular Malaysia -  a far cry from the 44 percent considered “forest” on paper.

The Habitat Foundation programme director

Human-tapir conflicts

Imagine this large area is a large forest complex

When parts of it become something else - a quarry, a plantation, build homes or build a road, for example - the forest is cut up into smaller fragments.

The wildlife living in each fragment will now have to rely on this patch of forest they live in for everything, be it food, minerals or mates.

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