KUANTAN, Tuesday, December 4, 2001 (The Star) - Pahang will gazetteanother 100,396ha of land as forest reserve to add to the 2.1 millionhectares already gazetted in an effort to provide more tree cover.Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob said the government wanted more areasto be protected under the various environmental laws.“The government is concerned with the depletion of forest reserves and toshow our seriousness to safeguard the environment, the government willcontinue with the policy in the years to come.“In the effort to provide more tree cover, the government has included thecreation of palm oil and rubber plantations throughout the state.“These trees are as good as forest trees to provide the greening as partof the government’s strategy,” Adnan said recently.He said Pahang still stands as one of the states with the most tree cover,adding that about 57.12% of the state was covered with forest andplantations.He said that the government would continue with the sustainable forestmanagement as stipulated by the National Forestry Council.He said that under the Eighth Malaysian Plan, the government would onlyfell 10,700 trees as decided by the council.“We are in the midst of providing incentives for the private sector toventure into such plantations on a commercial basis,” he added.To improve logging techniques, Adnan said the government would imposelogging methods that cause minimal environmental damage.He said the time had come for loggers to shift to other logging methods toreduce the environmental damage.