Over 60% of Sabah still covered by forest

KOTA KINABALU: More than 63% of land in Sabah still consisted of forest areas, said Datuk Abidin Madingkir.

The Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department said Sabah’s land area was 7.4 million ha, making it the second-largest state in Malaysia.

“Some 63% of the state is still covered by forest reserves, Sabah parks, wildlife sanctuaries and forest land belonging to the government,” he said during question time at the Sabah state assembly sitting on Wednesday (July 10).

Abidin also said that permanent forest reserves have increased to 566.57ha compared to four years ago.

In 2020, he said, Sabah had 3,574,468.003ha of permanent forest reserves.

“It has risen to 3,575,035.573ha now, about 49% of Sabah’s land size,” he said.