KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 ― The federal government has no intention to pay compensation to state governments which gazette forests as permanent forest reserves and are unable to generate revenue from forest products, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr A. Xavier Jayakumar said it is the responsibility of the state governments to retain the forests in the water catchments.

The state governments can take advantage of the forest reserves by promoting eco-tourism and finding other avenues for generating revenue without having to depend on forest products, he said during the Minister’s Question Time in the House.

"Promote eco-tourism and such. Nowadays, foreigners are interested in eco-tourism. They want to pay top dollar to live in the jungle,” he said when replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Hasan Arifin (BN-Rompin).

Hasan wanted to know whether it is appropriate for the federal government to pay compensation to state governments which gazette forests as permanent forest reserves.

Xavier Jayakumar said the country has 18.24 million hectares under forest, which makes up 55.52 per cent of the total land area. ― Bernama