Malaysia's Rainforests and the Permanent Forest Reserve System

A parcel of forested land in Malaysia is not “protected” simply because it is full of trees — its protection begins on the day the land’s name appears in the Gazette. Without that gazettement, the same forest can be licensed for development at any time. This is the foundation of Malaysia’s entire Permanent Forest Reserve (PFR) system.

Why are Malaysia’s forests administered by the states, not the Federation?

Many assume that “national forest” means the forest is owned and controlled by Putrajaya. The reality is the opposite. According to the Malaysia Policy on Forestry published by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Article 74(2) of the Federal Constitution — read together with List II (the State List) in the Ninth Schedule — places forests under the jurisdiction of the state governments.

This means that each state “has the power and freedom to enact laws and administer forestry policy in its own state.” The role of the Federal Government, in turn, is limited to providing advice, technical assistance, training, as well as research and development.

To avoid 13 conflicting legal regimes, the Federal Government drafted a single model act — the National Forestry Act 1984 — which was then adopted one by one by the Legislative Assembly of each state in the Peninsula. Coordination, in turn, is carried out through the National Land Council, established under Article 91(5) of the Constitution since 22 January 1958 to harmonise land, mining, agriculture and forestry policy between the Federation and the states.

How does a piece of land become a Permanent Forest Reserve?

The process begins and ends with the Gazette. Under section 7 of the National Forestry Act 1984, the State Authority may constitute any land as a PFR by publishing a notification in the Gazette that:

• specifies the location and area of the land; and
• declares that the land becomes a PFR from a specified date.

From that date, the land legally becomes a Permanent Forest Reserve. Forest reserves that were gazetted under earlier forest laws are automatically deemed to be PFRs (section 8), and a state may also acquire private land to constitute it as a PFR where it thinks fit (section 9).

Once gazetted, section 10 requires the Director of Forestry — with the approval of the State Authority — to classify each PFR under one or more of 11 functional classes. It is this class that determines whether the forest may be logged or must be fully preserved.

#	Permanent Forest Reserve class (section 10)	Primary purpose
a	Timber production forest under sustained yield	Sustainable logging
b	Soil protection forest	Preventing erosion
c	Soil reclamation forest	Restoring degraded land
d	Flood control forest	Managing water flow
e	Water catchment forest	Protecting water resources
f	Wildlife sanctuary forest	Protecting fauna
g	Virgin jungle reserve	Native ecological reference
h	Amenity forest	Public recreation
i	Education forest	Teaching
j	Research forest	Scientific study
k	Forest for federal purposes	Federal use

One important detail is often overlooked: under section 10(4), a PFR that has not yet been formally classified is deemed to be a timber production forest. In other words, the default state of a PFR is that it can be logged, not protected — unless it is specifically classified for protection.

Taking any forest produce — timber, rattan, even honey — from a PFR without a licence or permit is an offence under section 15.

Can a PFR be degazetted?

Yes, and this is the most controversial part of the system. Section 11 allows the State Authority to excise land from a PFR if it is satisfied that the land:

• is no longer required for the purpose for which it was classified; and
• is required for economic use of higher value.

To offset that loss, section 12 directs the state, “where possible”, to replace the excised land with an area of roughly equal size as a new PFR — taking into account soil and water conservation, the needs of the timber industry, the state’s economic development, and the availability of suitable land. Every degazettement must in turn be published in the Gazette (section 13).

The flaw in the original design is that these decisions could be made without public involvement. The National Forestry (Amendment) Act 2022 attempts to close that gap. According to Bernama, the amendment introduces a requirement for a public inquiry before a PFR can be excised or replaced, in addition to raising penalties to fines of between RM20,000 and RM5 million and imprisonment of between 7 and 20 years.

However, because forestry is a state matter, the federal amendment only takes effect once each state adopts it. As of writing, it is in force in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan from 1 February 2025, making it the second regime to have a public inquiry procedure after Selangor.

Why do Sabah and Sarawak have different laws?

Because forestry is a state power, there is no single uniform act covering all of Malaysia. Sabah and Sarawak — with wider autonomy under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 — never adopted the National Forestry Act 1984. They retain their own legislation.

Region	Principal law	Administrator
Peninsular Malaysia	National Forestry Act 1984 (adopted by each state)	Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Department + state departments
Sabah	Sabah Forest Enactment 1968	Sabah Forestry Department
Sarawak	Sarawak Forests Ordinance	Sarawak Forest Department

Although the instruments differ, the core concept is similar: all three regimes provide for a Permanent Forest Estate that is gazetted and classified by function. This is why a conservation issue in Sarawak cannot be resolved by referring to the 1984 Act — the applicable law depends entirely on the state.

How large are Malaysia’s forests and PFRs?

The figures show just how large this system is. According to data compiled by the Timber Trade Portal (Malaysian Timber Council, 2017), Malaysia has approximately 18.27 million hectares of forest cover, or roughly 55.3% of the country’s total land area.

Of that total, about 13.24 million hectares are gazetted as Permanent Forest Reserves, divided into:

• Sarawak: ~4.9 million hectares
• Peninsular Malaysia: ~4.8 million hectares
• Sabah: ~3.54 million hectares

In the Peninsula alone, tropical rainforest covers about 5.76 million hectares or 43.62% of its land area, according to the Malaysia Policy on Forestry. Note that the method of counting also changes: OpenDOSM states that data before 2017 included proposed PFRs that had not yet been gazetted, while data from 2017 onwards only counts areas that have actually been gazetted — so cross-year comparisons should be made with care.

What’s next

If you follow conservation issues, the most useful thing to identify for any forest area is its gazette status: is it a gazetted PFR, and under which section 10 class? A “timber production forest” and a “virgin jungle reserve” are both PFRs, but their fates are very different.

Useful next steps:

• Check the relevant state Gazette for the gazettement or degazettement of PFRs in the area you care about.
• Track whether your state has adopted the National Forestry (Amendment) Act 2022 — without that adoption, the public inquiry requirement does not apply there.
• Distinguish PFRs from national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, which are established under separate laws with different levels of protection.

This article is an AI-generated draft that has not undergone expert review; please verify the section numbers and latest figures directly from the text of the Act and official sources before relying on it for any official purpose.