SABAH FORESTRY DEPARTMENT

ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL IMPACT

The SFM involves a wide range of activities, of which some may pose negligible impact to the environment. The severity of impact varies depending on the scale of the disturbance. The project implementation may not have severe impact to the environment since no logging will be carried out and the focus of the management will be on conservation, natural forest management, recreation and ecotourism development. Still, the implementation of this project may result in some form of disturbances to the environment from within the project itself or from the adjacent activities. Forestry developments in USM that may generate impact to the environment are infrastructure development (construction & maintenance) of roads and build-up area; timber stand improvement; forest conservation activities; and forest recreation & activities.

Therefore, an Environmental Monitoring Programme (EMP) was established to mitigate and minimize the scale of impact within the USM-SFMP area. The key environmental components that were identified in the EMP are as follows:

  1. Soil Erosion;
  2. Water Quality;
  3. Waste Pollution;
  4. Flora & Forest Ecosystem;
  5. Wildlife; and
  6. Social Aspect