Since 2025, four states have rejected key safeguards under the amendments to the National Forestry Act that would require a public inquiry before forest reserves are degazetted, as well as the simultaneous replacement of the land. Together, those states account for about 70% of Peninsular Malaysia’s gazetted forest reserves.
So what happens to public accountability when decisions to remove forest protection can be made without a public inquiry? And who should have a say before a forest reserve loses its protected status?
Astro Awani’s Melisa Idris talks to Meena Raman, the president of Sahabat Alam Malaysia, and Law Yao Hua, a journalist who is the founder of Fate of Our Forests, a dashboard that tracks changes in forest reserves in the peninsula.
Source: Astro Awani / YouTube
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