Awg Tengah: One carbon study permit issued so far

KUCHING (Nov 30): One carbon study permit has been issued to a local company so far to study and assess the true potential of an area to carry out carbon activities.

Besides that, three more carbon study permits are in the final process of being issued, said Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.

“Out of the three, one involves the study of blue carbon in mangrove forest area. Blue carbon refers to the carbon stored in the marine ecosystem mainly by mangrove forests and seaweed.

“This ecosystem plays an important role in the absorption and storage of large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,” he said.

Awang Tengah, who is Second Minister of Natural Resources and Urban Development, said this in his ministerial winding-up speech yesterday.

Commenting further, he said that activities involving conservation in relation to blue carbon are very important to balance carbon absorption consistently in the future.

He informed that Sarawak is the first state in Malaysia to legislate the regulation of carbon activity through amendments to the Sarawak Land Code and the Forests Ordinance which were approved by the DUN on May 18 and 19 respectively.

Through amendments to the Forest Ordinance, 2015 and the drafting of The Forests (Forest Carbon Activity) Rules 2022, carbon trading in Sarawak can now be implemented, he added.

He said carbon trading is a new potential to generate income from forest resources.

“While for carbon storage activities, an area of 1.318 million hectares or 3.257 million acres in the Miri-Bintulu waters has been approved in principle to be issued with a Licence for Carbon Storage to Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros).

“In order to facilitate carbon trading activities to be more systematic and orderly and to support Malaysia’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, the Environment (Reduction of Greenhouse Gases Emission) Bill, 2023 has been approved by this DUN,” he said.

Moreover, he added, the Sarawak government has also conducted a study titled ‘Sarawak Climate Change Policy and Low Carbon Society Blueprints In Cities and Towns (Kuching, Miri, Sibu and Bintulu)’.

“This is to devise mitigation and adaptation measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen climate resilience,” he pointed out.