Decline of forest area in Sabah, Malaysia: Relationship to state policies,land code and land capability

Forest decline in Sabah has resulted from state policies operating within t he federal context. Approximately two-thirds of Sabah's natural forest rema ins but estimates vary with the data source. Logging and shifting cultivati on have degraded forest quality but commercial estate agriculture, especial ly oil palm, is now the major cause of forest loss. aided by Sabah's land t enure code and the ethnic equality and modernisation agendas of national an d state agriculture policy. The pattern of forest decline is explained by p artitioning of the land resource between gazetted Forest Reserves and land alienated to agriculture, guided by the 1976 land capability classification . (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.