Minimising the hydrological impact of forest harvesting in Malaysia's rainforests

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511535666.045

36 - Minimising the hydrological impact of forest harvesting in Malaysia's rainforests

from Part V - Critical appraisals of best management practices

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 January 2010

H. C. Thang and

N. A. Chappell

Edited by

M. Bonell and

L. A. Bruijnzeel

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H. C. Thang: Affiliation:
Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Salahuddin, 50660 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
N. A. Chappell: Affiliation:
Lancaster University, UK
M. Bonell: Affiliation:
UNESCO, Paris
L. A. Bruijnzeel: Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam

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Summary

INTRODUCTION

Malaysia has a long experience of forestry management, with the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia being established in 1901. Measures to improve the prospects of natural forest regeneration after the first cut were first applied in 1910, improved in 1927, and again in 1950 with the introduction of the Malayan Uniform System (MUS) and latterly with the application of the Selective Management System (SMS) since the late 1970s (Thang, 1987; Jusoff and Mustafa, 1996; Dawkins and Philip, 1998, p. 154). The guidelines associated with these management systems aim to enhance regeneration in part by limiting collateral damage to trees remaining after the cut. This has the indirect effect of: (a) restricting damage to natural canopies and hence reducing changes to transpiration and wet-canopy evaporation (Asdak, et al., 1998, Chappell, et al., 2001, van Dam, 2001), and (b) requiring more careful skidding or yarding systems, thereby reducing ground damage (Pinard et al., 2000) and hence soil erosion (Douglas et al., 1993; Chappell et al., 1999).

Methods of commercial forestry in Malaysia developed greatly from the mid-1950s onwards, with Malaysian companies now expanding their operations to other tropical countries. Inevitably, with the advancement of forestry technology has come a greater degree of mechanisation, and the potential for greater impact on the physical and biological environment (Wyatt-Smith et al., 1964).

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Type: Chapter
Information: Forests, Water and People in the Humid Tropics
Past, Present and Future Hydrological Research for Integrated Land and Water Management
, pp. 852 - 865

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511535666.045 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2005

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