Rehabilitating polluted Kinabatangan
FOUR decades ago, one could easily catch 100kg of giant prawns in the Kinabatangan River using a simple fish trap.
The water was so crystal clear that you could see to the bottom of the river.
However, that was before the land around it was massively cleared and dosed with pesticides for agricultural purposes.
Located near the district of Sandakan, the Kinabatangan River is the second longest in the country, the longest being Rajang River.
It runs 560km from the mountainous region on the southwestern part of Sabah to the Sulu Sea in the east.
It is a corridor of life to over 250 species of birds, 50 species of mammals, 20 species of reptiles and 1,056 plant species.
It is also home to 10 species of primates, among them the Orang Utan, Maroon Langur and Borneo Gibbon.
However, the biodiversityrich area is facing the threat of diminishing habitats and poor water quality index, following the industrial pollution from the oil palm estates along the Kinabatangan River.
“This river was the source of our drinking water before we had access to treated water. It used to be so clear that you could see the fish swimming in it, but today, it is the colour of teh tarik,” said Amir Hamzah Titing.
The 45–year-old of the Idahan tribe once worked as a fisherman but the pollution led to dwindling catch, subsequently forcing him to move to the city to find other means of earning a living.
“I remember in the 70s and 80s, my father would put a fish trap by the riverbank in Kampung Abai and we would find it filled with about 100kg of giant prawns.
“However, with time, the catch became fewer. Today, we would be lucky to catch even 10kg. My relative is a fisherman there and that is what he told me,” said Amir Hamzah, who is now a civil servant.
Because of that, fishing is today only a side income for the villagers here, majority of whom earn a living by becoming tour guides.
The landscape of Kinabatangan underwent massive changes following the massive deforestation activities in 1960 and the clearing of land for oil palm plantations from 1980 until today.
“The issue of pollution in the Kinabatangan River has been around since 20 years ago. Lands were cleared in an unplanned and unrestricted manner with oil palm trees planted until the riverbanks. This is one of the causes of the pollution.
“This has led to soil erosion every time it rains and subsequently caused heavy sedimentation in the river, adversely affecting the water quality,” said the Agricultural Officer of Nestle (Malaysia) Berhad, Kertijah Abdul Kadir to the media during the Media Familiarisation Trip in Sabah, recently.
Cognisant of the problem at hand, the government has put in place several regulations to guard riverbanks and prevent the continued decline of the river ecosystem.
It is also monitoring and taking firm action on factories and plantations that fail to properly manage their operations.
However, the burden of addressing the problem should not be placed on the government alone. The private sector should play their part too and Nestle has done just that through its Corporate Social Responsibility project, RiLeaf.
“We started RiLeaf in 2011 to conserve the forest by replanting trees along the river as a long term plan to reduce pollution,” she said.
This is to rehabilitate the damaged riparian zone (the interface between land and a river or stream) so that it could form a natural buffer to filter two of the main river pollutants, sedimentation and chemical wastes from agricultural activities.
The project has made great strides in the effort to rehabilitate the Kinabatangan River.
Its effort has also inspired the Sime Darby Foundation to join in.
The foundation has planted 484,580 trees since 2011 along 2,300 hectares of damaged forest areas along the Kinabatangan River. That is an area equivalent to the size of 3,200 football fields.
The foundation has donated RM2 million for the effort from January 2014 to December 2015.
“The positive outcome of this project has encouraged us to extend our collaboration with Nestle for another two years starting from January 2016 with a commitment of RM1.7 million,” said the foundation’s Governing Council Member, Caroline Christine Russell in her speech during RiLeaf Extension Project Signing Ceremony recently. Bernama