Executive Summary - Second Forest Management Plan (2nd FMP)

This document is the Second Comprehensive Forest Management Plan (2^nd FMP) for Sustainable Forest Management License Agreement (SFMLA) 04/97 area in Forest Management Unit No.14 (FMU 14), comprising a total area of approximately 87,656 hectares where NFM areas to be managed is 54,643 ha (including of 2,091 ha for Conservation) and situated at and within the Sapulut Forest Reserve, a Class II Forest Reserve (Commercial Forest), hereinafter referred to as the "Licensed Area". This 2nd Forest Management Plan (FMP) has been prepared in accordance with Clause 47 (i) of the Sustainable Forest Management License Agreement (SFMLA) 04/97, and it supersedes and replaces the First 10-year (2003 - 2013) of medium-term Forest Management Plan (1st FMP) of the said area. 

This executive summary provides an overall framework for Sapulut Forest Development Sdn Bhd (SFDSB) in managing the Licensed Area for the next 10 years based on SFM principles and criteria. The 2nd FMP is prepared to provide the update and detailed descriptions of the Licensed Area, background information, past history and outlines the development and implementation of activities to best to meet the SFM objectives. This 2nd FMP takes a much more comprehensive, multiple-use of forest resource approach to forest management than the previous medium-term management plan. It presents guiding principles, a forest vision, and resource management goals that set the direction for a new management approach. 

The strategies and objectives in the 2nd FMP have evolved over more than a decade since SFDSB manage the Licensed Area. The objectives and strategies are designed consistent with the resources available and also in meeting the stakeholder's concerns and expectations in managing forests with regard to the environment. It also addresses transparency in doing business. Changing situation, new knowledge, new technologies and changing management approaches and business philosophies were taken onboard. They were derived based on wide-ranging consultations with various stakeholders and organizations especially the Sabah Forestry Department (SFD), and also reflects SFDSB's operating experience in the area for the past 10 years or so.

Based on our past performance and lesson learnt as well as our commitment to support and promote forest conservation and sustainable, environmentally sound forestry practices, this 2^nd FMP includes a number of significant changes, some of which includes:

• We have excised 17 compartments (7,644 ha) from NFM and Conservation compartments to pave the way for the establishment of the Maliau Buffer Zone Forest Reserve (Class I).
• Subscribe to Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) as our harvesting technique in the NFM.
• Introduced Integrated Mosaic Planting with RIL in some of the degraded and poorly stocked forests in NFM compartments.
• Implement forest inventory in natural forest management (NFM).
• Activities that are not compatible with the objectives of NFM were discontinued and aborted.

Moving forward, part of this document (2nd FMP) is the way forward for the next decade, 2014 till 2023. it looks at linking existing policy established by the government, such matters related to forest certification, forest and biodiversity conservation, climate changes and several others. More importantly, it takes on board the unaccomplished activities or programmes identified in the earlier management plan and strengthening the capacity of SFDSB from the context of human capital, financial as well technical.

The 2^nd FMP document that follows is organized into ten (10) main chapters to provide a comprehensive source of information and guidance on the management issues of  the Licensed Area, so that everyone involved in managing this area is working towards the same end. Chapter 1 of the plan is an introduction, presents the guiding principles, policy statements and management objectives. These values and goals set the direction for the management plan - the compass that guides our navigation in SFM endeavors. the primary objectives, amongst other, include managing forest resources (natural forest) for a sustainable supply of timber and other forest products, protecting unique ecological features and managing to conserve and/or enhance forest biodiversity, and supporting the State Government policy to manage forest reserves based on SFM principles. 

Chapter 2 describes what all the cogs and wheels are – the basic information pertaining to the Licensed Area. The information amongst others includes location, legal prescription and local situation of Licensed Area, such as physical resources and its features – climate, hydrology, topography, geology and soils, forest resources, infrastructure, socio-economic, etc. The aim is to provide the physical, socio-economic and environment context in which SFDSB has to work, and sets the scene for future management (options).

While Chapter 3 is a comprehensive review of our operations during the 1^st FMP, which provides a yardstick to examine the effectiveness of our management performance for the past 10 years and to identify the gap between aims and achievement.  The impact of the last plan on different aspect of forest are critically evaluated and form the basis for 2nd FMP planning prescriptions. Overall, in the past 10 years, the achievement in SFM efforts was encouraging, whereby SFDSB has adequately progressed in restoring and enhancing degraded forests within the natural forest management (NFM) areas. In addition, successfully to secure and protect the licenced area from any extensive illegal activities, forest fires and further encroachments by the local communities.

Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 are the heart of the plan. Chapter 4 describes the forest resources currently available and its limitation, while Chapter 5 describes how the plan will be implemented in a sustainable manner to provide the optimum of social, economic, and ecological benefits, and achieving a balance between short-term and long term economic returns.

The total Licensed Area in the 1^st FMP was about 96,300 ha. However, a total of 7,644 ha were excised and converted into Class I Forest Reserve (Protection FR), the Maliau Buffer Zone FR. Hence, the total is now reduced to 87,656 ha comprising of 258 compartments, while all three (3) main land-use functions, namely Conservation, Natural Forest Management (NFM) and Industrial Tree Plantation (ITP) are remain unchanged. The areas that have been set aside for conservation (2,091 ha) area riparian reserves, steep areas with slopes >25˚, wildlife habitat (or HCVF) and watershed. On the other hand, the production zones comprise of two main of land-uses, NFM (52,552 ha) and ITP (33,013 ha). The NFM areas are further sub-divided into two management regimes i.e NFM natural system and NFM Mosaic Planting.

The long-term goals of management within the Production Zone are to ensure a continuous and sustainable production of timber, and to enhance the commercial timber productivity in poor and degraded areas. The basis for individual stand prescriptions and harvest schedules result from planning that seeks to balance current and future stand level forest conditions with the "big picture", and the conditions across the entire management area.

Forest Inventory results show that the annual allowable cut (AAC) is 11,685 m³ or 22.31 m³ per ha, which is very low for the NFM area. Hence, there will be no harvesting in the NFM area, at least within this planning period. 

Nevertheless, it was estimated that about 25 compartments (≈ 9,905 ha) are considered to be poorly stocked with commercial tree crops, as well as natural regenerative capacities. For these reasons, it would be commercially unfeasible to practice NFM system in the short term. Therefore, these compartments are designated for mosaic planting, some form of intensive restoration is prescribed, with the ultimate aim of practicing NFM as conditions allow in the future. Selective salvage logging will be carried out using Reduce Impact Logging (RIL) by tractor and Logfisher, through the removal of residual timbers >35cm up to 120 cm dbh in preparation for assisting regeneration or restoration forest stocking levels. These area will be harvested with RIL at least 1,415 ha/year commencing in year 2016. These are expected to yield a total of about 327,616 m3 of timber. For this planning period, the choice of main indigenous species earmarked for planting shall include but is not limited to the species such as Laran, Binuang, Talisai and Magas.

The basic idea behind ‘mosaic planting’ is to establish fast-growing and high-yielding indigenous tree plantations whilst maintaining small patches of natural forest within the planted area. The target proportion of planted forest to natural forest is roughly 40% and 60% respectively. Therefore, the actual area allotted for planting is about 3,962 ha, whereas the remaining area of 5,943 ha will be treated with liberation thinning. The scattered patches of natural forest integrate with the man-made forest to form a forest mosaic that likely supports a greater level of structural, functional, and biological diversity. Planting operations are scheduled to begin one year after harvesting in 2017 and will be completed within 7 years. Therefore, the area is expected to be fully planted by year 2023.

Other activities, which are being prescribed in this chapter of the plan and to be undertaken during the 2^nd FMP period, are forest protection, R&D and socio-economic development programs for the local communities living adjacent to the Licensed Area.

There are other uses that link to High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs) such as, wildlife, biodiversity, and watersheds that are within the Production Zone but their values cannot be clearly identified and described and to form the basis of a zone. In this case, proper mitigation measures for the identified HCVFs are prescribed in Chapter 6 of the Plan. Chapter 7 highlights the requirements of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Forest Certification. In this chapter, various mitigation measures were recommended to manage the impact of the forestry activities, which are to be undertaken in the Licensed Area. It is also highlighted in this chapter, the intent of the SFDSB’s licensed area to be fully certified by the end of 2015 under any internationally recognized forest certification scheme.

Chapter 8 of the plan prescribes the issues on monitoring, internal auditing and reporting. Our monitoring will include all aspects of forest management such as, timber harvesting operations, road construction, soil protection, environmental impacts and wildlife. It is envisaged that “BOLEH” (Biodiversity Observation for Land and Ecosystem Heath) approach will be introduced for forest health and functionality monitoring. The internal audit team will also be established which is responsible to carry out regularly internal monitoring and auditing of all forestry activities in the Licensed Area to ensure that SFDSB, and its contractors are in conformance with the SFMLA conditions, the RIL Code Practices, EIA and in compliance with the legal requirements.

Manpower and budget requirement to manage the Licensed Area are described in Chapter 9. Human resources are the most important assets of SFDSB because they are the critical deciding factor for achievement of the organization goals. The current staff strength and profile are described, including the organization chart and training requirements.

Chapter 10 is on financial analysis. A total of RM150.6 million are estimated to be required to run the operations and activities in the FMP over the planning period.

It is also important to note that this 2^nd FMP is a flexible, “living” document that allows for change. This plan will be implemented through adaptive management, which makes provisions for changes based on a process of scientific evaluation, monitoring, assessment and feedback.