Earlier in March, RimbaWatch - formerly known as the Rimba Disclosure Project - released a study which revealed that Malaysia is set to lose 2.3 million hectares of forest, reducing forest cover in the country to 47.35%. The "State of the Malaysian Rainforest 2023" report further put that into perspective by explaining that the area earmarked for deforestation would roughly be 100 times the size of Kuala Lumpur, and larger than the size of Perak, Penang and Melaka combined. The top driver of this loss was said to be fuelled by timber plantations - the “forest” plantation program in Peninsular Malaysia, the licenses for planted “forest” (LPF) in Sarawak and industrial timber plantations (ITP) in Sabah - but also by regulatory, social and environmental issues. We speak to Adam Farhan, the co-founder and director of RimbaWatch, to dive into the findings of their study.

Image Credit: RimbaWatch

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