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Status and Trends of Biodiversity

Overview

Malaysia is one of the world’s megadiverse countries. The flora of Malaysia is very rich and conservatively estimated to contain about 15,000 species of higher plants with over 1,100 species of ferns and fern allies, many of which are endemic. The fungi constitutes another important flora diversity, but the total number of species is not known. The country has a tropical climate but has a wide range of habitats, which form the cradle of the country’s biodiversity. This richness is reflected in a number of ecological plots established in the country, most notable of which are 814 species of trees enumerated in a 50 hectares plot in Pasoh, Peninsular Malaysia and over 1,200 species in the 52 hectares plot in Lambir, Sarawak. A large expanse of tropical rain forest primarily occupies the hills and mountains, and often forms the protected spines of the country in both Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Endemism in plant species is particularly high in montane habitats and edaphic habitats like limestone hills and ultra-mafic soils. Overall, for example, 746 of the 2,830 tree species found in Peninsular Malaysia are endemics. Malaysia is also rich in plant genetic resources. For example, in the group of edible fruits, there are 28 species of durian (Durio spp.), 22 species of mangoes (Mangifera spp.) and 49 species of mangosteen and its wild relatives (Garcinia spp.). Malaysia has a great diversity of fauna too. The diversity of vertebrates includes about 300 species of wild mammals, 700 to 750 birds, 350 reptiles, 165 amphibians and more than 300 freshwater fishes. A conservative estimate places the number of species of invertebrates at more than 100,000.

Number and Extent of Protected Areas

Malaysia has already designated more than 5,000,000 hectares of its forested land as protected area which covers watershed protected areas, wildlife sanctuary, and totally protected forest areas accounting for 15.3% of its land area. This includes 23 terrestrial National and State Parks encompassing more than 850,000 hectares. Malaysia has also designated 136 marine protected areas, of which an area of two nautical miles around 40 islands has been gazetted as marine parks.

Percentage of Forest Cover

Forest cover in Malaysia is estimated to be 19.52 million hectares or 59.5% of the total land area.

National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan

Major features of National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan

The document contains 15 strategies and 87 actions. Its objective is to ensure that biodiversity in Malaysia will be conserved and utilized in a sustainable manner. Its vision is to transform Malaysia into a centre of excellence for conservation, research and sustainable use of tropical biodiversity by the year 2020. In addition to the NPB, Malaysia has also developed a number of sectoral policies and laws governing biodiversity, such as the National Forestry Policy, National Environment Policy, 3rd National Agriculture Policy, National Wetlands Policy, Forestry Act 1984, Wildlife Protection Act 1972, National Park Act 1980 and Fishery Act 1985. At a sectoral level, agencies have also identified priority areas, including developing policy for protection of plant genetic resources, inventorying poorly-known groups of biological organisms such as lower plants and insect diversity, increasing the number of Virgin Jungle Reserves and implementing the National Policy for Integrated Coastal Zones Management. Malaysia made a commitment to maintain at least 50% of its forest cover and trees in perpetuity at the Rio Summit in 1992.
 

• National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan (English)

Implementation of the Convention

Measures Taken to Achieve the 2010 Target

Malaysia has already fulfilled the 2010 target requirement of conserving 10% of national biodiversity. In building our national inventory of flora and fauna, 9 expeditions were carried out under the Eighth Malaysia Plan (2001-2005) which will be further increased to 15 under the Ninth Plan (2006-1010). Endangered species are continually protected through research, captive breeding, in-situ conservation and awareness programs. To improve the protection of biodiversity, a review of the present law that governs trading and captive breeding of wildlife will be undertaken. Biodiversity will continue to be the mainstreamed and appropriate safeguards will be developed and introduced.

Strengthening institutional framework: To address legal and institutional gaps in the management of natural resources, a National Council on Biodiversity and Biotechnology, under the stewardship of the Prime Minister, was established in 2001 comprising relevant federal ministers and chief ministers of all states. It aims to give policy directions on the mainstreaming of biodiversity and the development of biotechnology. In 2004, Malaysia strengthened its institutional setup for the management of conservation at the federal level when the restructuring of the ministries led to the formation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Initiatives in Protected Areas

Malaysia attaches great importance to establishing protected areas for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. At least 7 out of the 87 actions listed in the NPB are related to protected areas. In recent years, there has been a positive response to declare state lands as national protected areas, resulting in an increase in the number of National Parks. Despite progress in the establishment of protected areas, there are still habitats that are under-represented, such as limestone hills and coastal dipterocarp forests. In terms of immediate measures to rehabilitate the degraded mangroves areas in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) has allocated RM40 million for National Mangroves Replanting Programmes. However, financial resources are insufficient to meet the requirements for the conservation of the total biodiversity of the country.

Initiatives in Access and Benefit Sharing

Malaysia is in the process of formulating federal legislation on access and benefit-sharing. Presently, the guidelines developed by the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department require that an agreement be signed between the bioprospector and the collaborating Malaysian agency. The states of Sabah and Sarawak already have legal instruments in place, namely, Sabah Biodiversity Enactment 2000 and Sarawak Biodiversity Centre Ordinance 1997. Malaysia has also formulated the Protection of New Plant Variety Act 2004.

Initiatives for Article 8(j)

Documentation of the status and trends of traditional knowledge and practices for biodiversity conservation is an ongoing activity for the establishment of an inventory of traditional knowledge on the use of species and genetic diversity, and related to implementation of the National Policy on Biodiversity.