Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) is outraged by Kedah Menteri Besar Syed Razak Syed Zain's insistence that heli-logging in the Ulu Muda forest reserves will not harm the environment.

Last week, Syed Razak ( photo ) reportedly said that using helicopters to transport logs in the harvesting of timber would not affect the forest reserves.

Totally baseless

Syed Razak also said "it is wise for us to cut the trees and earn some income for the state rather than let the trees rot as many of them have aged".

In his statement, Mohamed said: "We regret that the MB's statement is totally baseless and reflects lack of understanding of forest ecosystems and the vulnerability of water catchment forests to disturbances."

Mohamed, however, conceded that helicopter logging is better than conventional logging if an area is designated for such activities.

"If the Ulu Muda forest reserves play a very critical role as water catchment forests, no logging activities should be allowed at all, including helicopter logging," he said.

Mohamed said the agriculture ministry and the drainage and irrigation department have asked the cabinet to gazette the area as water catchment forests under the National Forestry Act 1984, due to its importance to the environment and agriculture sector.

"These forests provide water to the Pedu, Muda and Ahning dams," he explained.

'Preserve biodiversity'

On the state government's argument that helicopter logging has minimum environmental impact, Mohamed countered that the project requires construction of a 400km road to extract timber during the first phase alone.

He said some 250,000 trees will be removed if the project goes o­n. This will affect some 3.8 million other small trees and, in turn, other flora and fauna.

"The logging activities will result in erosion and sedimentation of the three dams and hence impair water supply to the northern states of Kedah, Perlis and Penang, including to Malaysia's largest padi

planting areas. Indeed, it is already known that all these states are in water deficit," he said.

Mohamed said recent studies have shown that the Ulu Muda forest reserves are rich in biodiversity, with a wide range of flora and fauna and possibly new species of plants and animals. There has been a proposal to designate the area a national park.

"There is no economic justification for this project. The state will o­nly earn timber royalties of RM6 million a year for 10 years. Conversely, hidden benefits from the ecological functions of the forest have not been financially valued," he said.

"If properly valued, estimates suggest that the economic benefits from the conservation of the area will easily be RM1 billion per annum."

He also refuted Syed Razak's statement that "logging will help remove old trees to help forest regeneration" as nonsensical from an ecological perspective.

"The Ulu Muda forests have existed in a dynamic and natural balance for thousands of years without any intervention," he added.

'Scrap project'

He also disagreed with the state government's plan to hold a demonstration of the heli-logging method at the forest reserves to prove that the project will not harm the environment.

Mohamed said such a demonstration will not be able to assess the full magnitude of the environmental impact as the logging project will involve a total area of 123,000 hectares.

"The o­nly sensible and prudent thing for the state to do would be to scrap the project and protect the forest reserves without delay," he said.

Last week, Syed Razak said the project would be carried out immediately after the state receives approval from the Department of Environment, which is now studying the latest Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) o­n the proposed project.

The earlier EIA was not approved "due to technicalities" which did not meet DOE conditions

The DOE also rejected an EIA from Sarawak logging company WTK Holdings and Yayasan Islam Kedah last year.