KUALA TERENGGANU: The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) is deeply concerned over the recent degazetting of 4,515 hectares of permanent forest reserves in the state.
The society’s Terengganu branch chairman Wong Chee Ho said the move would affect the ecosystem concerning carbon storage, air and water purification, flood control as well as wildlife sustainability.
He said recent media reports highlighted that degazetted forest reserves, roughly the size of more than 4,500 football fields, were to be given to Terengganu government linked company TDM Bhd for their plantation expansion.
Malaysia is recognised as one of 12 mega biodiversity countries supporting an unprecedented wealth of wildlife contained within our natural tropical forests.Forests provide a variety of valuable ecosystem services to Malaysia’s people, such as carbon storage, air and water purification, and flood control.
Researchers from FRIM and Duke University have quantified the impact of deforestation on flood mitigation services in peninsular Malaysia.They found that the conversion of 1 per cent of inland forest to oil palm increased the number of flooded days by 26.8 per cent.
Malaysia is also on the edge of losing its tigers, and the world is one step nearer to losing another tiger subspecies: the Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni). Camera trap surveys from 2010-2013 have estimated that only 250-340 Malayan tigers remain, potentially a halving of the previous estimate of 500 individuals.
THE PETITION HERE IS TO STOP THE EXPANSION OF PALM OIL PLANTATION AND PROTECT REMAINING FOREST LAND. HELP MALAYSIA PROTECT ITS BIODIVERSITY.
