Sarawak has gazetted three new Permanent Forest Estate (PFE) areas as of May this year, bringing the state’s total protected forest area to more than 4.1 million hectares.
Deputy Premier and Second Minister for Natural Resources and Urban Development Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said the three new PFE areas are Data Julan Protected Forest, Suro-Tutoh Protected Forest and Ulu Trusan Protected Forest.
“The Data Julan Protected Forest covers 25,501 hectares while the Suro-Tutoh Protected Forest and Ulu Trusan Protected Forest covers 17,117 hectares and 111,717 hectares respectively. This brings the total PFE areas to 4,149,010 hectares, encompassing 123 PFE areas,” he said.
He said this in his ministerial winding up speech in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting today.
Awang Tengah said the state government remains committed to expanding protected areas, strengthening wildlife corridors and conserving endangered species as a significant contribution to global biodiversity conservation and the wellbeing of future generations.
In pursuing these efforts, he said scientific research has become an important foundation in supporting data and evidence-based conservation.
“The Forest Department Sarawak (FDS) has conducted numerous scientific research expeditions throughout the state since 2008 including two latest editions at the Sabal Forest Reserve and Simunjan Forest Reserve.
“Findings from these studies were presented at the 2026 Scientific Expedition Seminar and successfully recorded the discover of two new species namely Sulettaria kimiana (a species of ginger/Tepus Kimi) in the Sabal Forest Reserve and Hemiplecta gambut (a species of land snail/peat snail) in the Simunjan Forest Reserve.
“These discoveries demonstrate the richness of the state’s forest biodiversity and the importance of continuous research in ensuring the sustainability of natural resources for present and future generations,” he said.
At the same time, Awang Tengah said FDS continues to intensify efforts to digitalise operations within the forestry sector to improve efficiency, transparency and the overall effectiveness of forest management.
He said among the latest initiatives was the implementation of the Electronic Removal Pass (ePASS) system in central Sarawak to strengthen transparent digital traceability within the timber supply chain up to logging locations.
“FDS is also leveraging technologies such as drone seeding and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology to improve forest restoration, assess forest productivity, and measure biomass and carbon stock for science- and data-based forest management,” he said.
