PUBLIC SUMMARY RECERTIFICATION AUDIT on SELANGOR FOREST MANAGEMENT UNIT for FOREST MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATION Certificate Number
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PUBLIC SUMMARY RECERTIFICATION AUDIT ON SELANGOR FOREST MANAGEMENT UNIT FOR FOREST MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATION Certificate Number: FMC 0007 Date of First Certification: 1 Sept 2010 Audit Date: 4th March - 8th March 2019 Date of Public Summary: 11 Jun 2019 Certification Body: SIRIM QAS International Sdn. Bhd. Block 4, SIRIM Complex No. 1, Persiaran Dato’ Menteri Section 2, 40700 Shah Alam Selangor MALAYSIA Tel : 60-3-5544 6400/5544 6448 Fax : 60-3 5544 6763 Website: www.sirim-qas.com.my SQAS/MSC/FOR/30-27a Issue 1 Rev 0 Page 1 of 22 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No. 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 2. INTRODUCTION 4 2.1 Name of Selangor FMU 4 2.2 Contact Person and Address 4 2.3 General Background on the Selangor FMU 4 2.4 Date First Certified 4 2.5 Location of the FMU 4 2.6 Forest Management System 5 2.7 Annual Allowable Cut/ Annual Harvest Under the Forest Management Plan 5 2.8 Environmental and Socioeconomic Context 5 3 AUDIT PROCESS 5 3.1 Audit Dates 5 3.2 Audit Team 5 3.3 Standard Used 5 3.4 Stakeholder Consultations 5 3.5 Audit Process 6 4. SUMMARY OF AUDIT FINDINGS 6 Attachments 1 Map of Selangor FMU 13 2 Details of the Auditors and their Qualification 14 3 Recertification Audit Plan 17 5 Recertification Audit Findings (2019) and Corrective Action Taken 20 6 Verification on Previous Surveillance 2 (2017) Audit Findings and Corrective Action Taken 22 SQAS/MSC/FOR/30-27a Issue 1 Rev 0 Page 2 of 22 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This recertification audit on the Selangor Forest Management Unit (hereafter referred as the Selangor FMU) was conducted on 4th -8th March 2019 to assess the continued compliance of the overall forest management system of the Selangor FMU against the requirements of the Malaysian Criteria and Indicators for Forest Management Certification (Natural Forest) [MC&I(Natural Forest)] using the verifiers stipulated for Peninsular Malaysia. The scope of this recertification audit was limited to the forest management system and practices on the Permanent Reserved Forest (PRF) within the Selangor FMU. This recertification audit was conducted by a 3-member team comprising Hj Roslee Jamaludin, (Lead Auditor), Dr. Mohd Nazre Saleh@Japri (Auditor) and Puteri Arlydia Abdul (Auditor). Based on the findings of this recertification audit, it was found that Selangor FMU had continued to comply with the requirements of the MC&I (Natural Forest). This recertification audit had resulted in the issuance of 4 (four) Observation for Improvements (OFIs) were raised. This public summary contains the general information on the Selangor FMU, the findings of the recertification audit, (OFIs) raised as well as the decision on the continued certification of the FMU. SQAS/MSC/FOR/30-27a Issue 1 Rev 0 Page 3 of 22 2 INTRODUCTION 2.1 Name of FMU Selangor Forest Management Unit 2.2 Contact Person and Address Name : Dr. Mohd Puat bin Dahalan Designation : Director Address : Tingkat 3, Podium Utara, Bangunan Sultan Salahudin Abdul Aziz Shah, 40650 Shah Alam, Selangor Phone # : 03 5544 7490 Fax # : 03 5510 2358 2.3 General Background on the Selangor FMU The Selangor FMU is managed by the Selangor State Forestry Department (SSFD). The SSFD is committed in the management of the FMU on a sustainable basis. The administration of the FMU is divided into three (3) forest districts namely the Selangor Tengah, Pantai Klang Forest District, and Hulu Selangor Forest Districts. Selangor FMU is located within coordinates Lat 30 51’ 55’’ N; Long 1000 45’ 55’’E (Top left) and Lat 20 35’ 2’’ N; 1020 9’ 5’’E (Bottom right). The Selangor FMU managed by the Selangor State Forestry Department (SSFD) comprised of 250,128 hectares of PRF of the state’s total land area of 792,534 hectares. The PRF consists mainly of 148,240 of Inland Forest, 82,890 ha of Peat Swamp Forest and small patch (18,998 ha) of Mangrove Forest. The Inland Forest within the PRF also includes 11,381 ha of Forest Plantation which is planted mainly with Acacia mangium, of which 9,543 ha are leased to the Perbadanan Kemajuan Pertanian Selangor (PKPS) for harvesting and replanting. The remaining 1,838 ha are managed by the SSFD. However, the forest plantation area was excluded from the total PRF area of 250,128 ha, hence, the total area certified in the Selangor FMU was only 238,747 ha. A Forest Management Plan (FMP) covering the period from 2011 to 2020 had been written and presented during the audit. The mid-term review was completed on December 2015 covering the period from 2011 to 2015 was also presented. The Selangor FMU continues to be managed on the Sustainable Yield Management (SYM) basis under a Selective Management System (SMS) on a 30-year rotation period. For the Tenth Malaysia Plan, the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) for the FMU had been set at 982 ha. However, the Selangor State Government has placed a moratorium of no logging operation for a period of 25 years since 2010, as stated in “Ucapan Budget Dewan Undangan Negeri Selangor 2010, Item 122”. Therefore, no ongoing harvesting activities conducted until year 2035. A map of the FMU showing the significant features of the forest is attached in Attachment 1. 2.4 Date First Certified 1th September 2010 2.5 Location of the FMU Selangor FMU is located within coordinates Lat 30 51’ 55’’ N; Long 1000 45’ 55’’E (Top left) and Lat 20 35’ 2’’ N; 1020 9’ 5’’E (Bottom right). SQAS/MSC/FOR/30-27a Issue 1 Rev 0 Page 4 of 22 2.6 Forest Management System The FMU had followed the principles of sustainable forest management (SFM) and the requirements of the Licence Agreement of the State government. A Forest Management Plan (FMP) (2011) to (2020) was presented during this audit. 2.7 Annual Allowable Cut/Annual Harvest under the Forest Management Plan For the Tenth Malaysia Plan, the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) for the FMU had been set at 982 ha. However, the Selangor State Government has placed a moratorium of no logging operation for a period of 25 years since 2010, as stated in “Ucapan Budget Dewan Undangan Negeri Selangor 2010, Item 122”. Therefore, no ongoing harvesting activities conducted until year 2035. 2.8 Environmental and Socioeconomic Context The Macro Environmental Impact Assessment (MEIA) for Selangor FMU that had been done in 2011 was available during the audit, and still applicable to be used. In addition, a total of eight (8) quarries that was given licence to operate within the FMU, and each of the quarry licence has their own EIA report. Site verification on the two HCVF areas namely Compt. 5, Semangko PFR (22 ha) – the presence of population Meranti Bukit ((Shorea platyclados) in Selangor, Compt. 14, Kanching PFR (6.25 ha) – the presence of critically endangered (CR) species of Merawan Kanching (Hopea subulata), and VJR of Compt. 13, Pulau Klang confirmed that the areas were protected, monitored, maintained and managed by SSFD. The Orang Asli or local communities did not have any right of ownership over land in the PRF. However the Orang Asli were allowed under the Act to freely access the forest and collect forest resources for their own consumption. The Selangor FMU recognized and supported these legal rights of the Orang Asli. There was no case reported of forest operations carried out by the SSFD/logging contractors in aboriginal reserves or areas. Neither was any civil court case pertaining to legal or customary tenure or use rights within the PRF recorded. 3. AUDIT PROCESS 3.1 Audit Dates 4th March - 8th March 2019 3.2 Audit Team 1. Hj.Roslee Jamaludin ( Lead Auditor) 2. Dr.Mohd.Nazre Saleh @ Japri 3. Puteri Arlydia Abdul The details on the experiences and qualifications of the audit team members are as in Attachment 2. 3.3 Standard Used Malaysian Criteria and Indicators for Forest Management Certification (Natural Forest)[MC&I(Natural Forest)] using the verifiers stipulated for Peninsular Malaysia. 3.4 Stakeholder Consultations A stakeholder consultation was conducted in February 2019 for a period of one month. However, there is no comment received from the stakeholders. SQAS/MSC/FOR/30-27a Issue 1 Rev 0 Page 5 of 22 3.5 Audit Process The audit was conducted primarily to evaluate the level of continued compliance of the Selangor FMU’s current documentation and field practices in forest management with the detailed of the standard of performances (SOPs) listed in the MC&I(Natural Forest), using the verifiers stipulated for Peninsular Malaysia. For each Indicator, the auditors had conducted either a documentation review, consultation with the relevant personnel of the FMU, local community or stakeholders or field audit or a combination of these methods. Depending on the compliance with the verifiers for a particular indicator, the auditors then decided on the degree of the FMU’s overall compliance with the indicator and decided whether or not to issue a major or minor NCR or an OFI which is defined as follows: (i) a major NCR is a non-compliance with the requirements of the MC&I (Natural Forest); (ii) a minor NCR is a deviation or a lapse in complying with the requirements of the MC&I (Natural Forest); and (iii) an OFI is a situation where the auditor has noted an area of concern on the capability of the forest management system to achieve conformance to the requirements of the MC&I (Natural Forest) but without sufficient objective evidence to support a non-conformance. The coverage of this recertification audit is as shown in the recertification Audit Plan in Attachment 4.