PUBLIC SUMMARY SURVEILLANCE 2 AUDIT (FOURTH CYCLE) ON PERAK FOREST MANAGEMENT UNIT FOR FOREST MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATION Certificate Number: FMC-NF 00004 Date of First Certification: 7 July 2010 Audit Date: 22-25 September 2020 Date of Public Summary: 18 December 2020 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 41 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No. 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 2. INTRODUCTION 4 2.1 Name of FMU 4 2.2 Contact Person and Address 4 2.3 General Background on the Perak FMU 4 2.4 Date First Certified 4 2.5 Location of the FMU 4 2.6 Forest Management System 4 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 6 3.4 Stakeholder Consultations 6 3.5 Audit Process 6 4. SUMMARY OF AUDIT FINDINGS 6 Attachments 1 Map of Perak FMU 17 2 Experiences and Qualifications of Audit Team Members 18 3 Comments Received From Stakeholders and Responses by Audit Team Leader 21 4 Surveillance 2 Audit Plan 29 5 Details on NCRs and OFIs Raised During this Surveillance 2 Audit and Corrective Actions Taken 32 6 Corrective Actions Taken and Final Status of NCRs and OFIs Raised During Previous Audit. 38 SQAS/MSC/FOR/30-27a Issue 1 Rev 0 Page 2 of 41 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Surveillance 2 Audit on the Perak Forest Management Unit (hereafter referred as the Perak FMU) was conducted on 22-25 September 2020 to assess the continued compliance of the overall forest management system of the Perak FMU against the requirements of the new Malaysian Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management (MC&I SFM) using the verifiers stipulated for Peninsular Malaysia. The scope of this audit was limited to the forest management system and practices on the Permanent Reserved Forest (PRF) within the Perak state, Malaysia. This audit was conducted by a 4-member team comprising Mohd Razman Salim (Lead Auditor), Hj Roslee Jamaludin (Auditor), Ismail Adnan Abdul Malek (Auditor), and Dr Zahid Emby (Auditor). Based on the findings of this Surveillance 2 Audit, it was found that Perak FMU had continued to comply with the requirements of the MC&I SFM. This audit had resulted in the issuance of one (1) Major and three (3) Minor Non-Conformity Reports (NCRs) respectively. In addition, eight (8) Opportunities for Improvements (OFIs) were raised. This public summary contains the general information on the Perak FMU, the findings of the surveillance audit, NCRs 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 41 2 INTRODUCTIONS 2.1 Name of FMU Perak Forest Management Unit 2.2 Contact Person and Address Dato’ Mohamed Zin bin Yusop Director, Jabatan Perhutanan Negeri Perak, Persiaran Meru Utama, Bandar Meru Raya, 30020 Ipoh, Perak Darul Ridzuan Phone # : 05-5288100 Fax # : 05-5288101 2.3 General Background on the Perak FMU The Perak FMU is managed by the Perak State Forestry Department (PSFD). The PSFD is committed in the management of the FMU on a sustainable basis. The administration of the FMU is divided into five forest districts namely the South Perak, Kinta/Manjung, Kuala Kangsar, Larut Matang and Hulu Perak. The PRFs within the FMU consist mainly of inland Dipterocarp forests covering an area of 938,198.95 ha with the remaining 42,216.34 ha under mangrove forests and 7,260.55 ha of forest plantations. The production forest area is managed under a Selective Management System (SMS) with a 30-years rotation period. The Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) for the Perak FMU had been set at 7,744 ha. A Forest Management Plan (FMP) covering the period from 2016 to 2025 had been presented during the audit. The FMU currently comprises of 987,675.82 ha of PRF or 47% of the State’s total land area of 2,102,122.00 ha. During this audit, Perak FMU has succeeded to gazette of 339.92 ha of the forest to Permanent Forest Reserved (PRF). Unfortunately, the state government has degazetted of 1,268.03 ha of the PRF in Perak FMU. Thus, the size of FMU has decreased from 988,603.94 ha to 987,675.83 ha. A map of the FMU showing the significant features of the forest is attached in Attachment 1. 2.4 Date First Certified 7 July 2020 2.5 Location of the FMU The FMU is located approximately between latitudes 3040’30” to 5053’30”N and Longitudes 100012’30” to 1010 54’00”E. 2.6 Forest Management System The FMU had followed the principles of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM). The inland forest is managed under a Selective Management System (SMS) with a 30-year rotation period. A Forest Management Plan (FMP) covering the period from 2016 to 2025 presented during the audit. SQAS/MSC/FOR/30-27a Issue 1 Rev 0 Page 4 of 41 2.7 Annual Allowable Cut/Annual Harvest under the Forest Management Plan For the Eleventh Malaysia Plan (2016-2020), the annual allowable cut (AAC) for the FMU had been set at 7,744 ha giving a total of 38,720 ha for the 5-year period. During this surveillance 2 audit, the size of the FMU is 987,675.83 ha. 2.8 Environmental and Socioeconomic Context Macro-level environmental impact assessment (MEIA) has been conducted by the Perak FMU in 2007. Recommendations to mitigate the impacts of forest operations on the environment presented in the MEIA report were incorporated into the mid-term review of the Perak FMP (2016 – 2025). Environmental impact assessments on rare and threatened species of flora and fauna in Perak FMU were also implemented. Perak FMU management has established standard procedures for the identification and demarcation of sensitive areas to serve for the protection of soil and water resources. Areas exceeding 1,000 meters above sea level or with slopes of more than 40 degrees were excluded from logging, demarcated and mapped as protection forests. The maintenance objectives of catchment areas including aquatic environment were stated in the FMP (2016 – 2025). The management of catchment areas and soil protection forest was for resource sustainability, biodiversity conservation and local climate stabilization; to reduce risk and enhance capacity for quantity and quality of water supply; to develop water usage in a planned and systematic manner; and to preserve and enhance catchment and aquatic environment. Cooperation exists, and documented, between forest managers, conservation organizations, research institutions and regulatory authorities in implementing conservation and management activities. Such agencies including USM, PERHILITAN, WWF, JAKOA, NGOs and others with similar interests. For year 2020, about 4,767 ha of harvested areas (as of 16 September 2020) has been issued the harvesting licence in 2020, the figure still below the AAC for 2020 (7,957 ha). Records of payments made were available as shown in the ‘Laporan Analisis Prestasi Kutipan Hasil Tahun 2020”. The records from January to August for the year 2020 were verified. The payment was for the Royalties, Premium, Deposit, other forest resource and compensation. With regards to employment of local people, a perusal of the license files showed that a number of the licensees and their workers were from the local areas. Through an examination of the PSFD’s employee master list and service record it was found that a number of the PSFD employees were also from the local area. The Orang Asli land legislated as Orang Asli Reserves and Areas (through the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954) and the PRFs gazetted under the National Forestry Act 1984 were by law mutually exclusive. This principle was followed through in practice whereby no forestry activity was carried out on those areas recognized by the Act as aboriginal reserves and areas. 3. AUDIT PROCESS 3.1 Audit Dates 22-25 September 2020 (15 man-days) 3.2 Audit Team Mohd Razman Salim (Lead Auditor) Hj Roslee Jamaludin (Forester) Ismail Adnan Abdul Malek (Forester) Dr Zahid Emby (Sociologist) SQAS/MSC/FOR/30-27a Issue 1 Rev 0 Page 5 of 41 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 Sustainable Forest Management [MC&I SFM] using the verifiers stipulated for Peninsular Malaysia 3.4 Stakeholder Consultations A one-month stakeholder consultation was conducted beginning in August 2020 to solicit feedback from stakeholders on the compliance of the Perak FMU against the requirements of the MC&I SFM. The comments by the stakeholders and responses by the audit team are shown in Attachment 3. 3.5 Audit Process The audit was conducted primarily to evaluate the level of continued compliance of the Perak FMU’s current documentation and field practices in forest management with the detailed of the standard of performances (SOPs) listed in the MC&I SFM, 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 SFM; (ii) a minor NCR is a deviation or a lapse in complying with the requirements of the MC&I SFM; 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 SFM but without sufficient objective evidence to support a non-conformance.