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Government initiates peat swamp conservation projectMalacca, July 10: The Government has initiated a RM20 million project to promote the conservation and sustainable use of peat swamp forests which make the largest, most biologically diverse and most threatened of wetland areas in the country. Data from the five-year project will be used to develop and implement the most sustainable management and conservation practices for peat swamp forests and classify them into productive and conservation zones in the three sites in Pahang, Sabah and Sarawak. Results of these studies and measures proposed could be used in the sustainable management and conservation of Malaysia's 3.3 million hectares of peat swamp forests. The project, funded by the United Nations Development Programme/Global Environment Facility (UNDP/GEF) in collaboration with the Danish International Development Agency (Danida), began in June last year. The Primary Industries Ministry and Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) are its executing and implementing agencies, respectively. The ministry's deputy secretary-general Datuk Suboh Mohd Yassin said the project would contribute to the implementation of the Biodiversity Action Plan and the National Wetland Plan by providing demonstrations on how the conservation and sustainable use of peat swamp forests can be pursued at Loagan Bunut National Park in Sarawak, the Klias Peninsula in Sabah and the Southeast Pahang Peat Swamp Forest. Suboh said few people knew about the uniqueness and significance of these forests and the general perception was that they were wastelands. He said peat swamp forests acted as carbon sinks and played an important role in regulating floods as well as providing water during droughts. They were also home to diverse and unique animals and plants and served as an important source of timber, food and medicinal products. However, land conversion, unsustainable logging and drainage was drying out top peat layers, making them fire hazards and causing a loss of biodiversity, renewable timber and water resources. Therefore, one critical aim of the project was to change public perception of peat swamp forests and promote awareness of their importance. Suboh said when addressing about a 100 participants from various media and stakeholders at a workshop on public awareness programmes for peat swamp forest conservation recently. He said Government had drafted a National Policy on Wetlands to ensure a balanced approach in management of the areas and continued ecosystem. "The Government recognises the importance and need for conservation and has formulated several laws and policies to guide and ensure sustainable use of the country's natural resources". The two-day workshop discussed strategies and programmes to raise awareness of peat swamp forests among the public and top decision makers. Participants ranged from editors, journalists and broadcasters to representatives of State and Federal Government agencies and non-governmental organisations. Also present were FRIM director-general Datuk Abdul Razak Mohd Ali, UNDP assistant resident representative Thiyagarajan Velumail, Danida representative Lily Hor and Peat Swamp Forests Projects national director Dr Abdul Rahim Nik. The "Conservation and Sustainable Use of Tropical Peat Swamp Forests and Associated Wetland Ecosystems" project was first initiated by the Malaysian Government and an agreement with the funding agencies were signed in 2001. Multi-disciplinary studies at the sites have been conducted since last May. |
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10 July 2003
MTC’s
