The Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM;
Malay: ''Institut Penyelidikan Perhutanan Malaysia'') is a statutory
agency
Agency may refer to:
Organizations
* Institution, governmental or others
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of the
Government of Malaysia
The Government of Malaysia, officially the Federal Government of Malaysia (; Jawi script, Jawi: ), is based in the Federal Territories of Malaysia, Federal Territory of Putrajaya, with the exception of the legislative branch, which is located in ...
, under the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES). It is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
that promotes sustainable management and optimal use of
forest
A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...
resources in
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
by generating knowledge and technology through research, development and application in tropical forestry. FRIM is located in
Kepong
Kepong is a town in northern Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of Stat ...
, near Kuala Lumpur.
FRIM is the world's oldest and largest re-created tropical rain forest.
History
In 1926, the chief conservator of the forest (equivalent to today's director of forestry), G.E.S Cubitt, asked F.W. Foxworthy to establish a separate forest research unit for the Forestry Department. It was Foxworthy who selected the present site, at Kepong. He was also to become the institute's first chief research officer.
The site comprised an area that was practically stripped of its original
forest cover
Forest cover is the amount of trees that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/ square miles). Nearly a third of the world's land surface is covered with forest, with clos ...
except for a few remnant trees at the more inaccessible localities. Lalang-grass scrub on the hillsides made way to vegetable terraces on the lower slopes, while the valley cradled a few ponds, the left-overs of a past tin-mining operation.
Within two years in 1928, the first of experimental plantation (mainly
dipterocarp
Dipterocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indo ...
s, tall hardwood species) were in place, carefully nurtured into being using "nurse" trees of other species as shade and food providers (being nitrogen-fixers). By that time the construction of the main building had begun. Completed the following years, this building was to remain the sole centre for the laboratories,
herbarium
A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study.
The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...
, and museum, as well as the Chemistry, Zoology and Sivilculture sections of the institute, until new buildings were added after World War II. The herbarium collection, that was also moved to Kepong, numbered 1,500 accessions.
The end of the decade saw some 125 hectares of plantation established at the institute. Plantation trials with exotic species started in the early 1930s. The plantations covered 154 hectares just before the outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939, and before the Japanese occupation of the
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...
in 1941–1945. By this time the dipterocarp and non-Dipterocarp arboreta contained 75 species (represented by 360 individual trees), while the Herbarium collection numbered nearly 40,000 accessions.
Establishment
Just before
Malaysia won independence from the
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
in 1957, some 220 hectares of plantations had been established at the institute, while the Dipterocarp and non-Dipterocarp arboreta held 201 and 168 species respectively. The herbarium collection had grown to 53,600 accessions. The Timber Research Branch had moved from
Sentul Sentul may refer to:
Plants
* Sandoricum koetjape, a tropical fruit grown in Southeast Asia
In Indonesia
* Sentul, Indonesia
* Sentul International Circuit, a motor racing circuit
In Malaysia
*Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, a suburb
* Sentul Komuter stat ...
to become a part of the institute at Kepong.
Six years later, Encik Abdul Rahman Mohd. Ali was appointed the institute's first Malaysian director and chief research officer. The ground of the institute expanded by a further 192 hectares in 1962 and 1964 to total 600 hectares.
In 1977
Salleh Mohd Nor
YBhg Tan Sri Dato’Salleh bin Haji Mohd Nor (born 20 October 1940, in Kuala Pilah (town), Negeri Sembilan) is a Malaysian forester, conservationist and academician. Salleh was the first director-general of the Forest Institute of Malaysia (FRI ...
was appointed to the post of director general of the institute. Eight years later, the institute was transformed into a statutory body. Through an Act of Parliament, the Malaysia Forestry Research and Development Board (MFRDB) was formed to administer the institute, which was now named FOREST RESEARCH INSTITUTE of MALAYSIA (FRIM). This historic change was announced by the then Prime Minister Dr
Mahathir Mohamad
Mahathir bin Mohamad (; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author and doctor who was respectively the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and from 2018 to 2020. He was the ...
when he visited FRIM on 11 June 1984. The formal inauguration of FRIM took place later, on 5 April 1986.
Current FRIM Director General in 2023 is Dr. Ismail Parlan, who holds a PhD from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Masters (Forest Management), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), 2001.
In 2025, the site was designated as a
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
.
Gallery
Image: FRIM_1_0006.jpg, A fern plant (FRIM)
Image: FRIM_15_0003.jpg, An infected leaf (FRIM)
Image: FRIM_5_0052.jpg, A fungus on the forest floor (FRIM)
Image: FRIM_2_0008.jpg, A fern frond (FRIM)
Image: FRIM_37_0101.jpg, Life beneath the canopy trees (FRIM)
Image: FRIM_6_0053.jpg, Veins of GREEN (FRIM)
Image: FRIM_7_0068.jpg, The GREEN Forest
Image: FRIM_29_0054.jpg, The tree bark
References
External links
*
Official Facebook pageTourism Malaysia - FRIM
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Federal ministries, departments and agencies of Malaysia
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
Research institutes in Malaysia
Nature sites of Selangor
Forestry in Malaysia
Research institutes established in 1926
1985 establishments in Malaysia
Government agencies established in 1985
Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (Malaysia)
Winners of the Nikkei Asia Prize