MNS: Protect first, then plant

September 18, 2010
By PRISCILLA DIELENBERG
Star

INSTEAD of planting new mangrove saplings in unprotected areas, the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) wants the state to first concentrate on protecting existing mangrove swamps.

One such critical area is the north Seberang Prai coastal belt, spanning about 2km to 2.5km long from Teluk Air Tawar to near Kuala Muda, said MNS Penang branch advisor D. Kanda Kumar.

He said the coastal swamp should be gazetted as a protected area.

“The mangrove trees have been there for a very long time. The size of the swamp varies from only a few strands to about 10m wide at some parts, and more than 100m wide at other parts.

“Natural reclamation and erosion have also occurred at certain places, and some of the trees have also been cut,” he said.

Kanda Kumar said the coastal mangrove was quite rich in terms of animal biodiversity, especially during the migrant bird season between September and March.

“At least four species of globally threatened migrant birds can be found there — the Asian Dowitcher, Chinese Egret, Nordmann’s Green-shank and Lesser Adjutant.

“It also has slightly more than 1% of the global population of Chinese Pond Herons, and 1% of the world population of Common Redshank,” he said.

He added that the coastal swamp in north Seberang Prai was globally recognised as an important bird area by Birdlife International and classified as an important wetlands area by Wetlands International.

He also said there were other mammals not commonly seen in Penang at the coastal swamp, such as mongooses and otters.

Kanda Kumar was speaking in light of the felling of six young mangrove trees of about 2m tall near the Gurney Drive roundabout, said to have been planted by the state on Aug 31.

He had said that it was a waste of time and money to plant the trees at Gurney Drive if it was not gazetted as a protected area.

Kanda Kumar said that in Penang, there were two known large protected mangrove forests — at the southern part of the National Park near the Pantai Acheh Village on the island and at the Byram forest reserve near the Pulau Burung landfill on the mainland.

He said: “Unprotected mangrove areas included the Gurney Drive, Tanjong Tokong and Bayan Bay areas, and there used to be other protected mangrove areas in Balik Pulau that had since been de-gazetted for aquaculture.”

State to take stern action

Thursday September 2, 2010
Star

GEORGE TOWN: The state government has issued a stern warning to those who cut down mangrove trees off Gurney Drive — “You will be prosecuted”.

State Health, Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said he had ordered rangers from the state Forestry Department to investigate who had chopped down six mangrove trees at the popular recreational area.

“The trees are Government property, planted in public places on government land by government officials. What do they think they are doing?” Phee, when contacted yesterday, asked.

Saying that the felling was illegal and a form of vandalism, Phee said there were provisions in the law to bring the fellers to book.

“They better stop (the felling) right now,” Phee warned.

It was reported on Wednesday that six young mangrove trees measuring about 2m high were felled. The six trees were among 300 saplings that the state had planted in the mud flat near the Gurney Drive roundabout last year.

On rubbish accumulated on the mangrove trees, Phee said it was proof that Government projects could not succeed without public participation.

“Some people dispose their rubbish without any regard for the environment. Those that end up in the sea get washed in during high tide and end up hooked on the mangroves,” Phee said in reference to the mangrove trees that had entrapped plastic bags and other colourful litter in their branches.

Thumb Up for Selangor

Logging activities to be stopped

Oct 9, 2009
Star
By SALINA KHALID

THE Selangor state government will no longer issue permits for logging on government land starting Jan 1 next year.

The blanket ruling will cover all logging activities for the inland and the mangrove forests in the state.

A source had informed The Star that the state government, in its exco meeting on July 22, had decided to stop all logging for the inland forest with immediate effect, while the ruling on the mangrove forest would be enforced on Jan 1.

It means all inland forest logging activities has stopped about two months ago while logging concessionaires holding the licence to log mangrove forest along the state’s coastal area could only do so until the end of the year.

Their licences will not be renewed upon its expiration on Dec 31.

The rule, however, does not cover the clearing of privately-owned land.

Selangor Forestry Department director Dr Yunus Zakaria said the department had not issued any new licence for logging concession this year.

He said any logging being carried out were done using the licence issued since 2006. It allows them to log until the licence expires.

He added that those concessionaires who were given the licence to log (from the previous government) were still allowed to continue until their concession expires or until their logging in the area was completed.

Asked whether they could apply to renew the licence next year, Dr Yunus said they could submit their application to them and they would forward it to the state government for approval.

“We have informed them about the expiry date of their licences,” he said.

The National Forest Council had set a quota of 1970ha of forest that could be logged for timber in Selangor.

The figure is the maximum area that could be harvested for timber every year.

However, Dr Yunus said the actual logging allowed through the licence approval was less than that of the quota by the National Forest Council.

When asked about the logging this year, he said it was much less and not even a quarter of the quoted figure allowed for harvesting.

“There are seven logging concessions for mangrove forests in Selangor,” said Dr Yunus.

“But only five of them are carrying out logging activities and sharing an area of 800ha in Pulau Ketam,” he said.

Article 74(2) of the Federal Constitution provides that land and natural resources are matters under the jurisdiction of the state governments.

It states that the state is empowered to enact laws and policies on forestry independently and a State Forestry Director is appointed to manage the administration and regulation of forest harvesting; revenue collection which includes premiums, royalties, deposits, cess and other charges, the management and development of forest resources as well as planning and coordination of the development of forest-based industry.

The states, through their respective Forestry Department, constitute permanent reserved forests and classify them for timber production and protection such as water catchment areas, wildlife reserves and bird sanctuaries, virgin jungle reserves, state parks and amenity forests.

All forest produce from these permanent reserved forests or state land remain the property of the state and all exploitation of forest produce must be licensed and administered by the state.

The state forestry directors have the power to arrest, search, seize and investigate forest-related offences, and impose fines and prosecute offenders.

In accordance with the requirement of National Forestry Act 1984, the State Forestry Departments are expected to submit annual reports to both the state authority as well as the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia.

Malaysia’s forest policy has always emphasised the balance between protection and production. Regulations are in place with regard to forest management operations, which specify in detail harvesting guidelines, codes of best practices, forest inventory and construction of forest roads.

All harvesting and related operations are carried out by licensed contractors.

These licences stipulate intensity of extraction, harvesting sequence, tree size limitations, transport routes and standard of road.

Harvesting timber, for both inland and mangrove forest, is allowed in the country, with the logging licence issued by the relevant state Forestry Departments.

The licence for harvesting the trees is granted to the concessionaires under the selective management systems to ensure the sustainability of the forest.

It advocates the selection of a cutting regime based on diameter limits and species composition of the standing trees. It means the logging is permitted to zones that have met the maturity criteria of the trees.

Meanwhile, the chopping of mangrove trees in Selangor is only allowed on those that have reached a minimum of 30cm in diameter.

With the average growth of about 0.6 to 0.8cm per annum, it will need about 10 years for mangrove trees to reach the minimum diameter before they can be harvested.

According to the Malaysian Nature Society, only 1.8% of Malaysia’s land is covered in mangroves, with over 50% of these mangroves lost between 1950 and 1985.

Forestry Department statistics show that Peninsular Malaysia had 85,000ha of mangrove forest in 2003, down from 86,497ha in 2002.

The Selangor Forestry Department statistics show that in 2008, a total of 18,088ha of the coastal area in the state is covered with mangrove forest.

Those who are felling the trees that are smaller would be fined if they are caught.

Contractors who cut immature tree can be fined a maximum of RM50,000. At the same time, those who are carrying out illegal logging in the state have to pay a heavier fines.

Under Section 15 of the National Forestry Act, 1984 (Amendment 1993) those illegal loggers can be fined up to a maximum of RM500,000 and mandatory imprisonment of one year minimum and a maximum of 20 years.

Politicians in bed with bad company at Sg Pulai

May 15, 09
GreenPea
Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/104389

Johor was a state endowed with vast tracts of coastal mangrove. Note the past tense used.

Ironically, it is also the only state in the country with the highest number of Ramsar sites. The recognition for the protection of wetlands such as mangrove swamps of international importance was awarded to Pulau Kukup, Tanjung Piai and Sungai Pulai in January 2003; all located in the southwest of the state.

The three sites are part and parcel of the bigger Pulai river basin which incidentally is one of the highest fishery production centres in the country due to its unique geographical location.

In terms of bio-diversity, the wetlands are home to the endangered dugongs, turtles and seahorses as well as being the flyway of migratory birds. Unfortunately, the eagerness of the state in listing its Ramsar sites is not matched by its protection measures.

In the last one decade, the region's pristine mangrove forests have seen tremendous destruction - from the construction of the port of Tanjung Pelepas to the setting up of the 2,100MW Tanjung Bin coal-fired power plant to, now, the reclamation of a further another 913ha of the forest for a petro-chemical hub.

The development, which has largely escaped scrutiny of the Malaysian public, has ignored various national laws and guidelines.

Firstly, the approval of the Preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment (which means no public review) reports for the power plant and the petro-chemical hub are highly questionable as public participation was sorely inadequate.

A coal-fired power plant and a petro-chemical hub carry with them inherent environmental and health effects that have yet to be clearly communicated to the local communities.

Secondly, a provision under the Environmental Quality Act (Prescribed Activities) Regulations requires development projects encroaching into more than 500ha of coastal wetlands to be subjected to a Detailed EIA (not just a Preliminary EIA) which compels the report to be reviewed by the public.

Thirdly, the Sg Pulai wetlands are clearly identified as an Environmentally Sensitive Area Rank 1 by the National Physical Plan - a plan that was approved by the cabinet and tacitly endorsed by the various state governments.

Forget about scrutiny by public regulatory bodies like the Department of Environment which is powerless when our legislators ie, the politicians, are in bed with corporate devils.

All three projects are operated and owned by various subsidiaries of a giant public-listed company, which, hypocritically, professes to uphold Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility.

To salvage its tarnished image, the company now attempts to green-wash its activities. To ensure that the strategy is effective, it needs the endorsement of the greenies.

In November, 2007, it enlisted the ‘help' of none other than the Malaysian Nature Society by funding a coffee-table book project to document...ahem...the rich biological heritage of Sg Pulai.

Recently, it also managed to quell dissenting voices from the fishing communities by compensating some full-time fishermen to the tune of RM10,000 each and further promising a monthly RM800 compensation scheme for the next 20 years. So, looks like the fisher folks are throwing in the towel.

In 2007, using a tried and tested formula to pacify initial uproar through the mainstream media, the Johor menteri besar ‘ordered' the project developers to submit a DEIA report.

But the menteri besar has since turned his back on the environment, ignoring the threat posed to food security and potential health problems arising from these development activities in the much-hyped Iskandar Development Region.

Tomorrow, in typical oxymoron fashion - ‘destroy first, restore later'- the menteri besar of Johor, Ghani Othman, will sink his feet into the Sg Pulai mud to plant some mangrove saplings to show the state's ‘commitment' to the environment and further green the image of the environmental crime perpetrator.

Your readers may never have heard of Sg Pulai and will probably never get a chance to experience its beauty but they ought to know of this carnage and hopefully will stand up against further destruction of our precious, life-giving wetlands.

Sabah to conserve 78,000ha of mangrove, wildlife reserves

Friday July 18, 2008 MYT 3:45:57 PM
Staronline
By RUBEN SARIO

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is permanently conserving wetlands and forests three times the size of Kuala Lumpur at a wildlife rich region on the state's east coast.

Sabah Forestry Department director Datuk Sam Mannan said the state cabinet approved the setting aside of some 78,000ha of mangrove and wildlife forest reserves in the Lower Kinabatangan-Segama region.

The cabinet made the move when giving its nod to the suggestion by the Borneon Biodiversity and Ecosystems Conservation Phase II programme to list the area as part of the global Ramsar Site Network.

Named after a place in Iran, Ramsar is an international convention on wetlands that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. It it was first established in 1971 and came into force in 1975.

Ramsar falls under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and is managed by the Ramsar secretariat, which shares its headquarters with the International Union on the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Switzerland.

Mannan said the area included were Trusan Kinabatangan, Kuala Segama-Maruap Mangrove Forest Reserves and Kulamba Wildlife Forest Reserve.

He said the site would be tabled and registered at the next “Conference of the Parties” (CoP10) to be held in South Korea in October. With that, Sabah would have the largest Ramsar Site in Malaysia, the others being five other areas ranging from 526ha to 6,610ha totalling 55,000ha in Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak.

“Sabah's proposed area represents the largest contiguous area of wetland forests in the country,” Mannan said, adding there were numerous benefits from listing the wetlands as a Ramsar site.

These include international prestige for achieving the gold standard in the conservation of wetlands of global importance, access to international assistance on the research of wetlands.

Other benefits include external funding for management activities such as forest management plan preparation, enhanced protection, bio-diversity assessments and increased access to expertise, he said.

“The listing will also further raise the profile of Sabah’s conservation efforts internationally and this is bound to have a multiplier effect on the state’s growing nature-based tourism industry,” Mannan said in thanking the Sabah cabinet led by Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman for the listing decision.