A MANAGEMENT PLANNING CONCEPT FOR SUSTAINED YIELD OF TROPICAL FORESTS IN SABAH, MALAYSIA

The paper presents a forest management planning concept presently under development at the Forestry Department of the State of Sabah, Malaysia. This planning procedure forms part of a comprehensive forest management system directed towards the sustainable production of timber and other produce in the commercial dipterocarp forests which cover an area of about 2.5 million ha, or approximately 40% of the total landmass of the State. In order to ensure application of this system, different field techniques are presently tested in an area of 55 000 ha logged-over forests (Deramakot Forest Reserve). The planning procedure is an amalgamation of methods successfully applied for sustained yield management in many other parts of the world and consists of a combination of enterprise-level and compartment-level management planning, the latter being a component which so far has not been applied in Sabah. This procedure is aimed at serving the forestry sector in Sabah as a tool to facilitate the changeover from pure exploitation of the forest to sustainable practices.