Shah Redza succeeds former MFF chief Jeffri Abd Rasid, who left the organisation on the finish of June 2024 after two years within the position.
The fund was established in June 2021 below the Ministry of Pure Assets and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) to implement a worldwide financing mechanism referred to as the REDD+ Finance Framework on the nationwide stage.
REDD+ stands for “decreasing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation”, with the plus referring to extra actions round conservation, sustainable forest administration and carbon shares. The initiative goals to generate optimistic incentives for curbing deforestation in creating nations by elevating funds through carbon markets.
Shah Redza informed Eco-Enterprise that his focus as MFF’s incoming CEO can be to additional strengthen the supply of the company’s agenda. The veteran conservationist with greater than 30 years of trade expertise has additionally been tasked to help MFF’s work to finalise and roll out the Malaysian Forest Carbon Offset (FCO) protocol in this yr.
MFF has positioned the FCO as a market mechanism which might “permit the switch of emissions discount from forests to consumers, within the type of carbon offsets.” A technical working group was established in November 2024 to help the event of technical requirements for the mechanism; the group contains federal and state authorities representatives in addition to non-public sector and non-profit consultants.
This follows the fund’s launch of the Forest Conservation Certificates (FCC) in Could final yr. Though FCCs are additionally meant to channel non-public sector funds in the direction of forest conservation initiatives, they’re a non-market mechanism and can’t be used as a carbon credit score or to offset the emissions of personal firms. They’ll, nevertheless, be utilized by firms to fulfill biodiversity targets as a part of their environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting necessities, NRES minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad stated at its launch.
“We intend to take MFF to the subsequent stage of revolutionary forest financing mechanisms,” stated Shah Redza, including that the company shall be trying to kind strategic partnership alliances that may facilitate the deployment of recent funding devices.
Shah Redza was beforehand the chief government officer of Enggang Administration Companies, a conservation outfit based in 2022 to supervise environmental administration within the Malaysian state of Pahang. He oversaw initiatives together with the institution of the 142,000-hectare (ha) Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tiger Reserve, in addition to a undertaking to revive some 110,000 of the state’s peatlands.
Previous to his position at Enggang, Shah Redza was a director at Perak State Parks Company, a state authorities entity that manages the 117,500-ha Royal Belum State Park in northern Peninsular Malaysia. He received the Dr Rimington Award 2020 for his contributions to tiger conservation within the state park, which embrace growing the variety of staff patrolling the park and establishing an Indigenous community-based wildlife patrol unit, Menraq.
MFF is ruled by a board of trustees led by chairman Dr Yasmin Rasyid, founding father of non-profit sustainability organisation EcoKnights, who was appointed to the position a yr in the past. Additionally on the board are Dr Ching Thoo, secretary basic of NRES and Muhamad Umar Swift, chief government officer of Bursa Malaysia, amongst others.
In an announcement, Yasmin stated that the fund is at the moment at a “progressive stage”, and is concentrated on implementing the FCC, creating the FCO, in addition to creating a number of methodologies.
“With the appointment of Dato’ Shah Redza as the brand new CEO, we’re assured that he’ll lead and drive MFF as a nationwide built-in advisory company and monetary options supplier for the sustainable forestry sector,” she stated.
