LANGKAWI: The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti), through the Malaysian Space Agency (MYSA), inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Sabah Forestry Department to collaborate on the use of space technology and remote sensing for the management of forest resources, especially in the Sabah Forest Reserve.
In a statement, Mosti said the scope of the collaboration involves monitoring and mapping forest areas throughout Sabah based on space technology, which is a new approach to the management of forest resources and digitisation of forestry information.
Through this collaboration, several application system packages have also been developed specifically to assist the Sabah Forestry Department in the management of forest resources, namely the iForSABAH application for forest cover management and monitoring and the e-PESISIR system which focuses on monitoring the country’s coastal areas.
“The use of space technology gives a significant impact on the management of forest resources, especially to assist the Sabah Forestry Department in mapping and updating forest cover accurately and regularly every two years since 2010.
“The full operation of the application systems that have been developed has also reduced operational costs in the field by up to 40 per cent and saved work execution time,” said the statement.
Mysa Director-General Azlikamil Napiah and Sabah Chief Forest Conservator Datuk Frederick Kugan signed the MoU.
In the same statement, Mosti said this is the third collaboration between the two parties after the ones signed in 2013 and 2017.
“This strategic collaboration is also in line with the implementation of various activities planned under the Malaysian Space Exploration Action Programme 2030 (MSE2030) launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on May 24, 2023 at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition 2023 (LIMA’23),” the statement added.
