GREEN MUSCLE: National Physical Plan to protect mangroves

26 January 2005

GREEN MUSCLE: National Physical Plan to protect mangroves

By Zubaidah Abu Bakar

State Governments will find it increasingly difficult to turn mangroves, peat swamps and wetlands into concrete jungles. They will have to follow the National Physical Plan, which proposes that several of these environmentally sensitive areas be protected. States
wanting to de-gazette these areas will need the approval of the National Physical Council, chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The National Physical Plan will be tabled for Cabinet approval soon.

"Once the plan is approved," Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said today, "all State Governments will have to gazette the designated areas as protected zones."

The plan was formulated in response to the findings of a study revealing that mangroves and wetlands had shrunk by 23 per cent, from 1,175,523ha to 899,542ha, between 1966 and 1990.

Among areas proposed for protection are:

Parts of the Pahang peat swamp forest;
The Kuala Selangor north peat swamp forest, Selangor;
The Kuala Langat north peat swamp forest, Selangor;
The Klang Islands (Pulau Che Mat Zain and Pulau Tengah), Selangor;
Parts of the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve;
The Ulu Muda Forest Reserve, Kedah; and,
Tasik Chini and its surrounding wetlands, Pahang.

Ong said the Selangor Structure Plan had designated the mangroves of Pulau Rusa and Pulau Ketam as protected areas, while the Perak Structure Plan preserves the Hutan Paya Laut in Matang.

The Kemaman District Council local plan preserves the mangrove swamps along Sungai Kemaman, Sungai Kerteh and Sungai Cherul.

The National Physical Plan provides a macro framework for systematic and balanced development and environmental protection.

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF Malaysia) National Programme director Dr Dionysius Sharma said the Government should gazette for preservation all environmentally sensitive areas and coral reefs.

"The authorities should also make it mandatory for environmental impact assessments to be carried out before any development can take place in these areas," he added.

WWF Malaysia was among several groups providing input to the National Physical Plan.

"The States need to make a commitment in view of the recent tsunami," Sharma said. "A lot has been said about preserving our mangroves after the catastrophe and we already have a policy prohibiting the clearing of mangroves for aquaculture. There must be a higher level of intervention to see such policies implemented."