Forests for People

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• Academia Timber Industry Consultative Forum – MTC

currently sits on the curriculum committee of Universiti

Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Teknologi Mara (Jengka) and

Politeknik Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah

• Familiarization programme for university lecturers – exposure

to latest machinery and good production management in an

actual factory environment (‘train the trainers’)

• Technology study/acquisition missions – providing industry

access to hi-tech factories and facilities in developed countries

• Guidebooks – Specifying Timbers and Incentives for Wood-

based Industry, Design Data for Timber Engineering, On-site

Timber Identification and Architectural Use of Timber in

Malaysia

• Glulam Interest Group – comprised of industry members,

engineers and architects, among others, who produced a

Roadmap for the Development of a Glulam Industry in Malaysia.

Outreach and stakeholder engagement

Promotion of SFM and industry development comprises a range

of outreach and stakeholder engagement activities. Apart from

dissemination of information via bulletins and publications, regular

seminars, workshops and dialogues are also conducted for more

direct and meaningful interactions between various stakeholders on

relevant topic and issues. MTC’s stakeholder engagement activities

include an annual familiarization programme for local and foreign

journalists and the Malaysian Forest Dialogue (MFD).

The MFD Steering Committee is a multi-stakeholder enterprise

comprising representatives from several stakeholder groups, includ-

ing the WWF-Malaysia, Malaysian Nature Society, Business Council

for Sustainability and Responsibility Malaysia, HSBC

Bank Malaysia Bhd, Malaysian Timber Certification

Council (MTCC) and MTC. The primary focus of MFD

is to create a dynamic platform for a multitude of stake-

holders to discuss various issues concerning sustainable

development of forestry and the forest industry. Topics

that have been covered since its inception include:

• Challenges and Opportunities in Financing

Sustainable Forestry and Timber Trade (2006)

• Socio-economic Issues in Financing Sustainable

Forest Management (2007)

• Strategizing Future Directions for the Timber

Industry (2008)

• Forest, Land and People: An Opportunity for

Understanding (2009)

• Code of Conduct: Strengthening Confidence in the

Timber Industry (2011).

Conducted under the Chatham House rule, which

protects the identity of sources to encourage open

and inclusive discourse, the two-day dialogue gener-

ally attracts the participation of approximately 150

representatives from Government agencies, academia,

environmental non-governmental organizations, social

groups and industry members.

Celebrating the International Year of Forests, 2011

By and large, all activities implemented by MTC cele-

brated and amplified the contributions of the nation’s

Improving capacity on environmental protection and health and safety measures

through capacity-building projects under the European Union Forest Law

Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) initiative

Creating awareness on sustainable forest management through

familiarisation programmes for stakeholders

Image: Malaysian Timber Council