Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) is one of the leading institutions in tropical forestry research in the world. Founded in 1929, the former Forest Research Institute became a fully-fledged statutory body, governed by the Malaysian Forestry Research and Development Board (MFRDB) under the Ministry of Primary Industries, in 1985.

Presently, both FRIM and MFRDB are under the purview of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The Institute sits on a 545-ha site adjacent to the Bukit Lagong Forest Reserve in the Kepong municipality, 16 km northwest of Kuala Lumpur. FRIM was awarded the MS ISO 9001:2000 certification in December 2007. It was gazetted as a ‘Natural Heritage Site’ on 10 February 2009 under the National Heritage Act 2005, and officially declared as a National Heritage on 10 May 2012. The Institute is helmed by Dato’ Dr Abd Latif Mohmod as its Director General since May 2008.

Research Areas

FRIM’s research activities are organised under the following divisions:

• Forestry & Environment: To develop technologies and provide solutions to support and ensure the sustainable management of resources and ecosystem services of the natural, urban and recreational forests.

• Forestry Biotechnology: To develop technologies and products based on biodiversity resources for forests and herbal plantations for related industries through biotechnological approaches.
• Forest Products: To focus on the development of R, D and C towards improvement on durability, service life and utilisation of wood resources and ligno-cellulosic materials available for producing various high quality/value-added products.
• Forest Biodiversity: To provide and develop key scientific knowledge to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem services in Malaysia for their wise management and sustainable utilisation.
• Natural Products: To support the national bio-economy agenda via the empowerment of natural product based industries through bioactive feedstock security.
• Economic & Strategic Analysis: To conduct socio-economic research and strategic analysis on forestry and environmental issues for national development.The results of FRIM’s research are published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and also transferred to relevant government agencies involved in overseeing and managing forests, as well as forest-related industries.