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Friday, December 06, 2002
Group wants logging stopped in Kalabakan KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Environmental Protection Association wants the state government to stop all logging activities to protect the environmentally-rich Kalabakan region near the south-east Tawau district. Association acting president Datin Sue Jayasuriya said a recent survey by the association showed that the jungles in the area were being cleared although a RM4.5bil-proposed pulp and paper mill project earmarked for the area had been shelved. “Our recent aerial survey showed that most of the affected areas are almost bald. We have pictures to back up our claims,” she said. Jayasuriya said a legal requirement for strips of forests to be maintained along rivers was apparently ignored as logging activities were being carried out right up to the riverbanks. She said logging tracks were also obvious along hill ridges thus worsening the soil erosion and subsequently causing sedimentation in nearby rivers. “Water quality in the rivers has really suffered,” Jayasuriya said. She questioned why state forestry laws banning the felling of trees below certain sizes were being ignored as well. “The logging activities are certainly contradictory to the Environment Protection Act 2002. Was the environmental impact assessment approved?” she asked.
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