SOCIAL media was abuzz over the past few days of photographs of a displaced Sumatran serow (Capricornis sumatraensis) in a neighbourhood in Ukay Perdana, Selangor, not far from Taman Rimba Ampang, which has been closed to the public for the construction of the East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE).
Although the sighting of the rare mammal constituted proof of the existence of serows in the forests of Selangor, citizens, environmental activists and wildlife experts expressed their fears that this incident is only the beginning in the irreversible process of destruction
of wildlife habitats and the continued displacement, endangerment and extinction of wildlife once construction of EKVE begins.
The Sumatran serow is described in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as being vulnerable, endangered and in significant decline due to overhunting and habitat loss.
Wildlife sighting in urban areas is not cute. It is a sign that habitats are destroyed and fragmented, and wildlife are unable to find food and water, establish territory or reproduce.
Wild animals wandering into urban areas are at risk of being poached, poisoned, harassed by people or domestic animals, and injured and killed by vehicles.
Environmental organisations such as the Worldwide Fund for Nature, Forest Stewardship Council, and Global Forest Watch,
have long reported that road and highway construction play a large role in causing habitat and biodiversity loss and species extinction.
In their 2002 paper “What Drives Tropical Deforestation?”, scientists Helmut Geist and Eric Lambin reported that overland transport infrastructure, that is, road and highway construction, accounted for
72 per cent of tropical deforestation.
Highway and road construction create opportunities for loggers, poachers, developers, vandals, and profiteers to enter into, plunder and destroy inaccessible forested areas.
Road construction also kills animals and plants, and breaks up habitats into fragments too small to sustain wildlife populations.
Although the Selangor government claims that there is a list of conditions drawn up by the Drainage and Irrigation Department, Public Works Department, and Ampang Jaya Municipal
Council’s Planning Department as guidelines in the construction
and management of the said expressway, none of these mitigation measures has been made avail-
able for public viewing and feedback.
The bewildered and displaced serow is a strong indication that the mitigation measures, if any, are insufficient to protect wildlife populations.
The extinction of endangered species, such as the Sumatran serow, is just one of the probable adverse environmental impacts of proceeding with the construction of EKVE.
The construction of the EKVE, which will cut through the Selangor State Park and other forest reserves, will compromise air quality, water resources and other ecosystem services.
The Selangor government needs to honour its initial promise during the last general election to halt or
terminate proposed highway projects.
No mitigation measure, wildlife corridor, or wildlife barrier can protect human and environmental health or wildlife populations in an environmentally-sensitive area, such as the Selangor State Park and Am-
pang and Ulu Gombak forest reserves.
The EKVE project needs to be scrapped before further devastation occurs.
Despite popular belief, tropical rainforests are not a renewable resource.
Old-growth, biologically diverse rainforests cannot just be replanted or replaced.
Once logged, it takes decades and centuries for forests to return to their previous status as car-
bon sinks and water-catchment areas.
The state government and the menteri besar must cease paying lip service to the ideas of environmental sustainability and social justice, and start taking actions consistent with their claims and election manifesto.
n WONG EE LYNN, Coordinator, Green Living Special Interest Group, Malaysian Nature Society