The Black Wattle leaves also contain 43 percent protein, and have even been recommended as an excellent fodder for cattle. Planting such a huge area of the tree slap in the middle of the biggest remaining habitat for Sabah s elephant population may be simply asking for trouble. The plant is also said to be a thirsty crop that can absorb a lot of underground water, drawing down the water table and making the land drier. Local microclimate will often dry and heat up once the rainforest is replaced with a plantation scheme. The drier mono-crop plantations will no longer be the cool, damp and heavily clouded woods.
Plantations burn easily.
This is made more likely by the accumulation of dry, leathery leaf litter in such plantations. The processes involved in pulp and paper industry are known to be highly damaging to the environment. The use of chlorine in bleaching the pulp has caused the industry to be the third largest source of dioxin and its related compound in the world. This problem is further compounded by the fact that Malaysia still has no policy on dioxin and the laws to regulate its presence in the environment. Furthermore about 300 chemical compounds have been identified in pulp and paper mill effluents.