Duty to protect forest reserve
INCIDENTS of wild animals straying from their habitats into human settlements, like the baby elephant that wandered into Sekolah Kebangsaan Lintang, Sungai Siput, Perak, a few days ago, are reported by the news media from time to time. There have also been reports on human conflicts with wildlife and death of wild animals due to road accidents.
These incidents will continue to happen if the authorities do not preserve and protect wildlife habitats.
The authorities at state and district levels should ensure that any development plans involving land use change do not conflict with physical planning, especially the National Physical Plan (NPP).
Approved by the Cabinet on April 26, 2005 and adopted by all state authorities, the NPP is a written statement that summarises strategic policies for determining the direction of physical development and protection for the whole of Peninsular Malaysia. The NPP is updated every five years.
The NPP has identified forest fragmentation as a threat to forest conservation and biodiversity. There is no doubt that the opening (destruction) of some of the forested areas is needed for the nation’s socio-economic development.
But with proper planning and sustainable management, the loss of forested areas can be minimised and forest fragmentation can be prevented.
The elephant calf that wandered into Sekolah Kebangsaan Lintang is believed to have been separated from a herd living in the Piah Forest Reserve (HS Piah).
According to the NPP and State Structure Plan, HS Piah that is connected to the Air Cepam Forest Reserve (HS Air Cepam) and Temengor Forest Reserve (HS Temengor) in the north; Korbu Forest Reserve (HS Korbu) and the former Chior Wildlife Reserve (RHL Chior) in the south; and Perias Forest Reserve (HS Perias) in Kelantan is part of the Wildlife Corridor in the Titiwangsa Range’s Central Forest Spine (CFS) forest complex, which is also in the network of Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
The conversion of part of HS Piah, HS Korbu and the entire RHL Chior, which are habitats for several species of totally protected endangered mammals, to agriculture and extractive (logging) activities may create conflicts between wildlife and humans in the nearby settlements.
From the entire area of HS Piah, only 17,107 hectares are gazetted for classification as Water Catchment Forest according to Section 10(1)(e) of the National Forestry Act, 1984 (Act 313) whereas the rest are classified as timber production forest under sustained yield according to Section 10(1)(a) of the same Act.
Before this, part of HS Piah was gazetted for classification as Virgin Jungle Reserved Forest according to Section 10(1)(g) of the National Forestry Act. This has been repealed, however.
Even from the area classified as timber production forest under sustained yield, there are also some areas that are being or would be exploited for forest plan- tation and quarrying purposes.
From the entire HS Korbu, only 27,750 hectares are gazetted for classification as Water Catchment Forest according to Section 10(1)(e) of the National Forestry Act. The rest of the area is classified as timber production forest under sustained yield according to Section 10(1)(a) of the same Act.
Since HS Piah, HS Korbu and RHL Chior are located in the Titiwangsa Range CFS forest complex, they are the main wildlife corridors in Peninsular Malaysia.
It should also be noted that RHL Chior was a protected area under the management of the Department of Wildlife and National Park (Perhilitan) Peninsular Malaysia and was the first wildlife reserve to be established in Malaysia (1903).
However, since the entire reserve has been repealed, the wildlife there would have “migrated” to nearby habitats, especially to HS Piah.
Over the past few years, HS Piah has been exploited through uncontrolled logging and destructive activities after some of the forest reserves were excised (fragmented) and converted into monoculture plantations.
When a permanent forest reserve is excised and the area is earmarked for monoculture plantation, the original forest cover will be harvested by clear felling of trees.
Harvesting by clear felling is not subject to the selective management system (SMS), annual allowable cut or catuan tebangan tahunan (CTT) and Malaysia Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management (MC&I) certification.
All parties should understand that when a forest area, particularly a protected area that has “security of tenure”, is subjected to uncontrolled logging and destructive activities, forest production and services will be affected.
SAM therefore urges all state authorities to manage the forest complexes in the Central Forest Spine in a sustainable manner and maintain the existing permanent reserved forest by identifying suitable areas for further protection, and classify the forest, whichever is appropriate, under Section 10 (1) (b-l) of the National Forestry Act, 1984. S.M. MOHAMED IDRIS President Sahabat Alam Malaysia