Forestry and sustainable land-use : a case-study in Kelantan

Kumari K., . and Kavanagh M., . Forestry and sustainable land-use : a case-study in Kelantan. pp. 175-186.

It is the policy in land-use planning throughout Malaysia for mining to be given the highest priority followed by agriculture and then forestry. There might appear to be good logic in this in so far as mining gives the highest economic yield per unit area and it can only be conducted where there are mineral resources to mine. Agriculture also has the potential to give high return and it should only be conducted where the soil and water conditions are suitable. Forests on the other hand although yielding good economic returns and providing essential environmental services covered much of Kelantan Darul Naim until recently and in the past it may have seemed reasoanable to allocate forestry to those areas that were deemed unsuitable for mining or agriculture. However an oversimplified interpretation of this policy could easily lead to the impression that forestry is the least important land-use of the three. That would not be true. There is a problem however in that an economic value is often not attached to many of the benefits that forests provide; for example the standing forest itself has a value that is never included in State or national accounts (e.g. as a bank of land timber and non-timber products (which all have capital value) and in relation to such environmental services as flood mitigation and recreation). These values are usually difficult to quantity in monetary terms.

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Abstract

It is the policy in land-use planning throughout Malaysia for mining to be given the highest priority followed by agriculture and then forestry. There might appear to be good logic in this in so far as mining gives the highest economic yield per unit area and it can only be conducted where there are mineral resources to mine. Agriculture also has the potential to give high return and it should only be conducted where the soil and water conditions are suitable. Forests on the other hand although yielding good economic returns and providing essential environmental services covered much of Kelantan Darul Naim until recently and in the past it may have seemed reasoanable to allocate forestry to those areas that were deemed unsuitable for mining or agriculture. However an oversimplified interpretation of this policy could easily lead to the impression that forestry is the least important land-use of the three. That would not be true. There is a problem however in that an economic value is often not attached to many of the benefits that forests provide; for example the standing forest itself has a value that is never included in State or national accounts (e.g. as a bank of land timber and non-timber products (which all have capital value) and in relation to such environmental services as flood mitigation and recreation). These values are usually difficult to quantity in monetary terms.

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Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	10 ref.; Summaries (En)
AGROVOC Term:	MALASIA
AGROVOC Term:	UTILIZACION DE LA TIERRA
AGROVOC Term:	ORDENACION FORESTAL
AGROVOC Term:	CIENCIAS FORESTALES
Depositing User:	Ms. Norfaezah Khomsan
Last Modified:	24 Apr 2025 05:56
URI:	http://webagris.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/20429

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