Muda vice-president Lim Wei Jiet said the party was disappointed with state governments for allowing uncontrolled deforestation, especially after the devastating monsoon floods which had affected thousands of people.

Lim said forests are water catchment areas which are important to prevent floods and landslides, as well as to maintain biodiversity.

He urged the federal government to increase the percentage of protected forest areas.

“The percentage of forest areas needs to be increased by 30% before 2030 so that our goal to ensure that 50% of the country is covered in forests is achieved,” he said.

He called for improvements to an ecological fiscal transfer mechanism and the feasibility of payment for ecosystem services to be studied, to support biodiversity conservation efforts.

Leaders and communities involved in forest conservation, such as the Orang Asli, should be empowered, Lim said.

The Orang Asli community should be the key decision-maker in conservation projects, especially for improving the management of protected areas in Malaysia, he said.

He also called for sponsorship of civil society groups working on forest protection.

An environmental group said recently that Peninsular Malaysia will suffer deforestation amounting to a minimum of 72,584 hectares, roughly three times the size of Kuala Lumpur or nearly the size of Singapore.

The Rimba Disclosure Project group said a total of 86 environmental impact assessment reports involving forested land had been approved, 28 listings of forests for sale identified, and one project involving deforestation was ongoing.