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ADDRESS AND OFFICIAL OPENING SPEECH BY
YAB DATUK PATINGGI TAN SRI (DR) HAJI ADENAN BIN HAJI SATEM
CHIEF MINISTER OF SARAWAK
IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE
15TH INTERNATIONAL PEAT CONGRESS
TUESDAY, 16 AUGUST 2016
PULLMAN HOTEL
KUCHING, SARAWAK
Honoured Guests, Distinguished Speakers, Ladies and Gentlemen
To all our guest from outside Sarawak this morning, let me welcome all of you to Kuching, the City of Unity, on the occasion of the 15th International Peat Congress, 2016. I would like to congratulate the Malaysian Peat Society, in partnership with the International Peatland Society and their supporters, for their collaborative efforts in organizing this very important congress.
I am glad that this congress will provide a platform for networking, knowledge sharing and for detailing the challenges that need to be addressed to promote the sustainable development of peat land.
I am sure that the latest scientific findings presented in this congress will provide some significant breakthroughs that will help shape a brighter future in the sustainable development of peatland, especially in Sarawak.
To meet sustainable development goals, we cannot operate in isolation. Collaboration between academics, industrial players, and lawmakers, is essential; as is countries learning from and helping one another. It is fitting that this Congress is being held in Asia for the first time, thus allowing the world, especially those outside of Southeast Asia, to have a better understanding of tropical peatland.
This is of crucial importance, as tropical peat land is still insufficiently investigated and documented compared to temperate and boreal peat. Therefore, I sincerely hope that this congress will be a catalyst to drive further research and development on the subject.
Malaysia has a land mass of 33 million hectares of which 2.43 million hectares are peatland. Of this, about 66% or 1.6 million hectares are located in Sarawak which makes up 13% of our total land areas.
In Sarawak, tropical peatland has been developed for agriculture since generations ago, and lately for oil palm cultivation. The local native communities have been living on the peatland for ages and have been cultivating sago, coconuts and other food crops. Historical records also mentions that in 1901, the first batch of Chinese immigrants were brought in to pioneer the development of central Sarawak, which is predominantly peatland areas.
Realizing the enormous potential of the coastal land and looking at peatland as the most strategic alternative resource due to dwindling arable land, the State Government has decided to open up the coastal lowland areas for agriculture and plantation development. This is to increase food production to cater for the increasing population and at the same time to eradicate persistent poverty, particularly in the rural areas.
The decision to use peatland has allowed the development of one of the fastest growing industries in Sarawak and a major contributor to the State’s total export value in 2015 – about 10%.
As a signatory to multilateral treaties such as the Earth Summit agreement, in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, Malaysia is committed to preserve at least 50% of its land as forest cover. In the Sarawak scenario, we have well exceeded the national commitment with a total forested area of 65%.
The State’s policies for conservation and economic growth have been well planned and executed systematically; from the formulation of the Masterplan for Wildlife in Sarawak in 1996, to the enactment of the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre Ordinance in 1997, both of which play crucial roles in wildlife conservation and to bioprospect our rich biological resources for the benefit of mankind. For the record, Sarawak is the first to have a bio-diversity centre in the country.
In 2015, the Research for Intensified Management of Bio-Riched Areas (RIMBA) project was launched to provide a platform for international collaborative research in developing intensive, practical conservation management procedures for bio-rich areas including the conservation of orangutans in Sarawak. This reflects Sarawak’s commitment to the international community by allowing our forest to be accessible to international researchers.
In the plantation scene, on the other hand, areas that have been identified as orang utan habitats, are well protected and completely off limits to plantation development and logging. In fact, the State has signed a trans-boundary agreement – “the Heart of Borneo”, with Sabah, Brunei, and Indonesia to create a corridor of conservation within developed forests to protect the orangutans as well as other flora and fauna in Borneo.
On top of these, and as one of the 53 decisions and actions that I took since taking over the administration in 2014, I have stopped giving out forest concessions and stopped issuing licenses for large scale commercial plantation on state land to protect our forests from destruction. We are also waging a war against illegal logging to stop indiscriminate felling of trees in our forests.
Peatland is the last frontier of arable land in Sarawak. It used to be known as wasteland but our research has been able to turn the once unproductive peatland into a valuable resource for Sarawak. If properly managed, peatland, like any other soil types, becomes arable land suitable for any industrial agriculture development.
Peatland has thus become an important resource for us, Sarawakians, especially the rural communities. There are many rural farmers who, after being involved in small-scale oil palm planting on peatland, are now generating income to elevate their living and enabling some of them to send their children for higher education.
The oil palm industry has become one of the biggest income earners for the State. So peat research is of paramount importance to support this venture. The more we know about peat, the more effective we can be in managing it, especially its sustainability.
Sarawak is spared from huge peat fires like those that are raging in the neighbouring countries because through the results of researches conducted, Sarawak had been able to maintain a regime to keep its peat tight and moist. The effectiveness of peatland plantations management implemented by the plantation industry in Sarawak has proven to be a success in preventing peat fires in its plantations. If we have not kept our peatland compact and moist via good water management, we might have suffered the same fate as our neighbours.
The State policies and procedures in place had ensured that scientific knowledge about peat had effectively been transferred from the laboratory to the stakeholders, which includes the government, industrial decision-makers and the plantation workers.
The State Government has outlined a clear Land Use Policy, which integrates and balances all aspects of economic development, social well-being of local communities, and environmental conservation. This Policy, which embraces landscape planning, allocates the optimal amount of land for the purpose of agriculture, forestry, and other miscellaneous use. With this Policy, the Sarawak Government has targeted to set aside 6 million hectares of land as Permanent Forest Estates, and 1 million hectares as Totally Protected Areas.
The challenge that we face today is that tropical peatland as compared to other soil type is still quite an understudied soil. As a result, there have been numerous criticisms to our use of the peatland. We can accept criticisms but before that give us the opportunity to state our case with scientific evidence.
Sarawak recognises the impacts of any form of development on the environment and communities. As such, the State emphasises that the palm oil industry must be developed in a sustainable manner. Sustainable development offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance.
We set up the Tropical Peat Research Laboratory (TPRL) in 2008 to develop the scientific, technical knowledge and a clear understanding on the sustainability of oil palm cultivation on tropical peat. Our peat lady Lulie has been there since then to lead the charge to understand the science of tropical peat and to be able to apply the scientific findings to develop our agricultural industry.
For example, it has been discovered that through mechanical soil compaction, oil palm yield can be doubled and peat fires can be controlled.
Moreover, TPRL has also established through their scientific research that carbon dioxide emissions from peatland with oil palm plantations are half of those claimed by some uninformed parties, and that CO2 emissions from these plantations are actually lower than those from undisturbed peatland or forest.
I am very pleased that this Congress has attracted leading professionals from different fields of expertise and industries from all corners of the world. It goes without saying that this large turnout shows you are all hungry for information and updates on tropical peat.
Finally, I wish to congratulate the organizing committee for their enthusiasm and dedication to bring the 15th International Peat Congress to Sarawak. I sincerely hope you will have a successful congress and a memorable stay in Kuching.
Now, it is my pleasure to declare open the 15th International Peat Congress here in Kuching.
Thank you.
