Friday March 27, 2009
New lease of life for forest reserve
By LIM CHIA YING

THE Raja Musa forest reserve near Batang Berjuntai is set to regain its former enchanting environment as massive rehabilitation work are going full steam to restore and regenerate it.

The 23,000ha peat swamp forest reserve is fast turning back into a pleasant natural territory, a far cry from its degraded state just months ago.

For over 10 years, more than 600ha of its total area was illegally cleared and burnt for large-scale farming.

Hands on: The volunteers planting the seedlings. Children were also present at the event.

After StarMetro reported its deplorable state, the Selangor state forestry department, on the instruction of the state government, ordered the eviction of the illegal occupants and started the clearing of all vegetation and agricultural activities in the area.

Following that, in December last year, the forestry department together with EcoWarriors Malaysia started restoration work with the planting of seedlings of indigenous peat swamp species.

Last Saturday, in conjunction with World Forestry Day 2009, a similar planting project was carried out on a larger scale at various degraded parts of the forest reserve.

The response to the event was overwhelming as more than 1,000 volunteers got together to plant some 10,000 seedlings in 30ha of barren peat swamp.

The event was organised jointly by the state forestry department and the Global Environment Centre (GEC) in collaboration with EcoWarriors and Yayasan Anak Warisan Alam (Yawa).

For planting: Forestry department employees with a basket of seedlings.

The main sponsor was CIMB Islamic EcoSave Account and was supported by the Asean Centre of Biodiversity and the US State Department.

The volunteers, from 16 organisations and institutions and also individuals and families, had an enjoyable time and an enriching experience of doing something meaningful and did not mind getting muddy and dirty.

According to state forestry department director Dr Yunos Zakaria, the planting area is part of the community-based peat forest rehabilitation programme in Raja Musa jointly implemented by the department and the GEC.

“We initiated this programme to restore areas in the forest degraded by illegal encroachment over the years. Hopefully, through such events the public will be encouraged to care for the forests and trees. Working with the public is a key part of our mission,” Yunos said.

GEC director Faizal Parish said restoring a peat swamp forest like the Raja Musa forest reserve was one of the most effective ways of combating climate change and preventing forest fires and haze.

“Recently, fires have destroyed 1,000ha of forest, with Selangor being shroud in smoke for weeks and was a threat to the water resource for the Tanjung Karang rice scheme,” Parish said.

GEC’s forest programme coordinator Suzana Mohkeri said their initial target was 350 people but with the assistance of EcoWarriors, more people came.

“The seedlings take about five years to become trees. I can now proudly say that I have planted 10 trees,” said volunteer Kaushalya Rajathurai from the Sathya Sai Baba Central Council of Malaysia.

According to Gregers Reimann of the EcoWarriors, this was the third time that the organisation had carried out planting of seedlings at the forest reserve.

CIMB retail banking head Peter England said contributing funds for environmental protection was one of the community service programmes of the CIMB Islamic EcoSave Account.

“The CIMB Islamic EcoSave Account, launched in September last year, is the first environment-related savings account in Malaysia that enables customers to contribute towards the environment and get rewarded for their efforts,” England said.


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