Fruit seasons disrupted by climate change
PETALING JAYA: Climate change has disrupted the fruit seasons in Malaysia, says Malaysian Nature Society (MNS).
Its executive director, I. S. Shanmugaraj, told theSun they have observed changes in fruiting seasons in both orchard fruit trees like durians and wild trees in the forest.
“Fruit seasons, including trees in the wild, have changed due to disruption in rain and heat patterns. The pattern of flowering in plants and trees has also changed.
“When it rains, it is very heavy, places that used to be dry are now facing rain, and when the sun comes out, it gets hot very fast. We did not face this before, not even five years ago,” he said.
Shanmugaraj said his team has also noticed changes in the patterns of migratory birds due to climate change.
“In Ulu Muda Forest Complex, the plain pouched hornbill, which comes from Thailand to Ulu Muda before going on to Belum Temengor, has not been arriving on time. Sometimes it comes earlier or we don’t see them at all. The pattern has noticeably changed,” he said.
MNS is driving an environmental awareness project for the protection of the 160,000ha of Ulu Muda Forest Complex within Kedah.
The forest complex serves as a water catchment area which provides as much as 96% of Kedah’s water supply, 80% of Penang’s, 20% for Perlis as well as a small percentage for Langkawi.
The 2016 drought in the northern states have been directly linked to the logging activities in the forest complex and the continued logging of the area will have an ecological fallout with grave economic and emotional impact for the country.
MNS together with MI Cultural Events (Mice) screened Kadwi Hava, a feature film on climate change directed by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda.
The film potrays the impact of climate change in the lives of farmers burdened with debt when they can’t grow crops due to harsh weather.