STATE governments are being urged to act fast in opening up new forest plantations to help ensure the long-term sustainability of the local timber industry and help alleviate the current acute rubberwood shortage.

Makmur Plus Industry Sdn Bhd chairman Sheikh Ibrahim Sheikh Ali said domestic timber supply is running dry, which could put some of the local timber mills out of business.

"There has been no progress in the local forest plantation sector to ensure a steady supply of rubberwood, which is the main raw material to make furniture.

"(But as a suggestion,) remnants of forest plantations previously planted with oil palm and rubber or land too small to be managed under natural forest and degraded forest areas can be degazzetted and turned into new forest plantations," Sheikh Ibrahim told Business Times recently.

Makmur Plus is the first and only rubber forest plantation company in Malaysia awarded by the Johor State Government in 1999 to grow commercial timber, particularly rubberwood, over a 1,000ha area.

With a paid-up capital of RM2 million, the company holds a 30-year lease to grow and harvest rubberwood every 15 years.

Malaysia aims to almost double its forest plantation area to 500,000ha from the current 270,000ha spread out in Sabah, Sarawak, Johor, Terengganu and Pahang.

A forest plantation is a dedicated area which plants and harvests 11 timber species in a well-managed and sustainable environment, usually for commercial purposes.

Out of the 11 timber species, five have high commercial value - Meranti, rubberwood, Sentang, Acacia and teak used to make furniture pulp and paper, among others.

By establishing dedicated forest plantations, flora and fauna in the natural forest nearby will be protected from the commercial activity.

However, the initiative - a brainchild of the then Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik - requires a lot of money and a long-waiting period.

"State governments should assist the industry to plant commercial timber because natural resources are limited and timber mills have no supply. Pahang's timber supply for example has halved to 2,400ha," said Sheikh Ibrahim.

The former deputy director-general of the Forestry Department for Peninsular Malaysia said Malaysia should emulate Australia and New Zealand.

"These two countries have surplus supply of timber from their forest plantations, enough to cater to their domestic timber industry for the next 30 years," he said.

He added that to avoid environmental problems, forest plantations can carry out staggered planting of about 40ha every cycle and continue with the industry's no burning policy.

It is understood that some of the reasons behind the state governments' slow push for new forest plantations include the small number of furniture players in Sabah and Sarawak compared with Peninsular Malaysia.

Managing forest plantations is also costly and involves a lot of foreign workers and long gestation period to recoup investment.

Sheikh Ibrahim said timber grown at forest plantations will be subjected to internationally-recognised certification standards because buyers want to ensure that the furniture they buy comes from a sustainably-managed forest.

Malaysia has some 2 million hectares of natural forest cover. Timber located over 1,000 metres at sea level and over a 40 per cent slope gradient are not allowed to be fell.

State governments urged to help overcome shortage of rubberwood