Punishing forest offenders: out of court or by the court?

This study compared the extent of compounded and court cases and the penalties charged for the two categories of offences. Data on 119 offences, of which 73% were compounded cases covering the period 1998 to 2002, were analysed. It was found that the mean penalty charged per offence was higher for compounded cases (RM37,180) than court cases (RM26,988). The mean penalties for illegal logging, evasion of royalty and encroachment compounded cases were RM91, 690, RM27, 932 and RM147, 000, respectively. Meanwhile, the corresponding values for the court cases were RM39, 500, RM12 668 and RM47, 760, respectively. Further analysis revealed that there was no significant difference in the mean penalties between the three types of offences for the court cases. However, there were significant differences in mean penalties for the the compounded cases. In addition, the regression model developed showed that for every unit increase in the cubic meter of illegal logging, there was a corresponding increase in the penalty by RM4692.39 for the courts cases and RM3151.17 for the compounded cases. The results suggested that, in terms of deterrence, the courts are the better means for punishing forest offenders

Tree species diversity and economic value of a watershed forest in Ulu Muda Forest Reserve, Kedah

Data on plant diversity are fundamental in the sustainable management of a forest. A study was conducted for a watershed forest, Ulu muda Forest Reserve, Kedah, with the objectives of determining tree species diversity and its economic value based on stumpage value. Results showed that there are 1072 trees with 92 species in 72 genera and 34 families in 1.2 hectare or 893 trees and 77 species per hectare. The most abundant species is Polyalthia rumphii while the largest families in terms of stem number are Annonaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Myrtaceae. About 3.25% of 2830 tree species in Peninsular Malaysia are found in this area. The stumpage value of tree species diversity of this forest is RM 41,445.30 per hectare. The stumpage value of trees below cutting limit is RM 1,863.98 per hectare while that ofupper cutting limit is RM 39,581.32 per hectare. Trees of diameter class >=60cm dbh contributed nearly 80% of the total stumpage value