‘Work closely towards integrated watershed management’
KUCHING: Agencies involved in environment, land use and natural resources planning need to work together towards a more integrated watershed management ( IWM) in Sarawak.
The coordination and collaboration among these agencies are crucial in ensuring that watersheds or river basins are managed sustainably to meet different needs including conservation of wildlife habitat.
Permanent secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development and Natural Resources Wan Lizozman Wan Omar said different agencies could no longer work in silos for it is crucial to ensure the rivers are used in a sustainable and healthy way when pursuing development.
“Impacts from upstream will accumulate at downstream, affecting the quality of water at lower reaches of the river and activities that are dependent on water,” he said when officiating at the Integrated Watershed Management ( IWM) for Power Generation, Water Security and Environmental Sustainability: High Level Briefing and Capacity Building Workshop here recently.
Natural Resources and Environment Board ( NREB) Sarawak in collaboration with Sarawak Energy Berhad ( SEB) and WWF-Malaysia had organised the workshop at a leading hotel here.
The workshop served as a platform to gain a consensus among leading ministries and set policy direction for IWM in Sarawak. It was held in conjunction with World Rivers Day, a celebration of the world’s waterways on Sept 30.
IWM is a process of coordinating management, development and conservation of water, land and related resources across sectors in the watershed for the benefits of all stakeholders.
Wan Lizozman said water catchments in Sarawak currently cover about eight million hectares whereas approximately four million hectares have been officially gazetted.
“Most of the rivers within gazetted catchments are found to be polluted due to poor land management. It is hoped that all water catchments, including all proposed catchment areas can be gazetted as soon as possible in order to improve the river conditions”, Wan Lizozman added.
During the plenary discussion, workshop facilitator Thomas Vanderbyl said that living rivers, sufficient water, water quality, land uses and risks management are the five key aspects for integrated watershed management in Sarawak based on the outcomes of the group discussions held earlier.
During this workshop, WWFMalaysia held a role-play for the participants to create better understanding of the watershed and how human activities affect the rivers, both upstream and downstream.
About 50 participants from agencies such as Ministry of Utilities, Ministry of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development, Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports, Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Transportation, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Research, Drainage and Irrigation Department Sarawak, Public Works Department, Sarawak Forest Department, Sarawak Rural Water Supply Department, Sarawak Planning Unit, Department of Environment, Department of Health, Resident and District Offices, Kuching Water Board. Sibu Water Board, Sarawak Development Institute and United Nations Development Programme Malaysia participated in the workshop.