KUANTAN, Jan 29 ― No logging permits have been issued or logging activities are underway at Rompin State Park or Taman Negeri Rompin (TNR), about 180 kilometres (km) from here, as alleged on social media over the past two days.
The Pahang State Forestry Department informed that TNR is classified as a protected forest under Section 10 (1) of the National Forestry Act 1984 which does not allow any commercial logging activities to be carried out.
In this regard, the state forestry department said the forest harvesting activities that had gone viral were likely to have occurred in areas approved for logging in government forest land, Mukim Endau/ Pontian, Rompin district about three km from the TNR border.
“There is a 1.5km wide buffer zone created along the TNR border with the surrounding area, with no logging activities allowed in the zone to maintain the state park’s environment.
“Besides that, monitoring and checks are carried out regularly by the staff of the Forestry Department to ensure that logging activities in the area do not violate the conditions and boundaries set,” according to a statement by the Pahang Forestry Department to Bernama here, today.
In this regard, the department hopes that those who uploaded the allegations can first check the matter with state forestry department because inaccurate information can cause anxiety among the people.
The department also welcomes people to channel information related to dubious forestry activities so that further action and investigations can be carried out accordingly.
Yesterday, several pictures of logging activities went viral on Facebook with photo captions claiming that the incident took place at TNR, and claiming that such activities have taken place over the years.
TNR, located about 35km from Rompin Town, formerly known as Endau Rompin State Park was established on December 7, 2000 and was “rebranded” last year as an ecotourism destination with forest attractions classified as evergreen lowland tropical forests. ― Bernama
