The Star, Malaysia : Use trained lumberjacks, loggers told

Saturday, September 14, 2002

Use trained lumberjacks, loggers told

By SYED AZHAR

KUANTAN: Licences for logging contractors will not be issued if they do not have trained and certified lumberjacks by next January.

Forestry Department director-general Datuk Zul Mukhshar Md Shaari said the new condition was to ensure that the impact on environment from logging activities would be reduced.

“From next year, logging contractors must submit the names of their tree fellers before the licence is issued to start work on approved concessions.

Zul Mukhshar said licences would not be issued until the department was satisfied that the lumberjacks employed by the logging contractor were trained and certified.

“The issuance of the licence would be delayed if the contractor dragged its feet in hiring a trained lumberjack.

“And until they hire a lumberjack, no licence would be issued,” he told The Star after chairing the three-day meeting of Forestry Department heads here yesterday.

Zul Mukhshar said if they did not have any trained and certified tree fellers, the forestry department had a list of 500 trained lumberjacks for the logging company to choose from.

“In other words contractors will not have reasons not to employ a trained and certified lumberjack,” he said.

He pointed out that the new condition was purely an administration purpose and did not need any amendment to the National Forestry Act.

At the three-day meeting of Forestry department heads, Zul Mukshar said it was agreed that uncontrolled tree felling was one of the main cause of forest destruction resulting in many tree saplings destroyed in the process.

He said the department was interested in promoting directional tree felling techniques to reduce the impact on the environment during logging activities.