KUALA LUMPUR: As the country remains under total lockdown, Malaysians have been urged to remain vigilant against encroachment, illegal harvesting of natural resources and peatland and forest fires in the coming dry season.
The Global Environment Centre (GEC) director Faizal Parish said the Covid-19 pandemic had exposed how vulnerable the nation was to the degradation of ecosystems.
"Degradation of peatlands is leading to increased fires and haze - poisoning our air; loss of catchment forests releases soil to choke rivers and pollute our water supplies.
"Coastal developments wipe out mangroves and coral reefs, destroying our fisheries.
"Destruction and over-exploitation of natural resources and forests have led to evolution of new human diseases such as Aids, Ebola, SARS and now Covid-19.
"Only by restoring the balance of the natural ecosystems can we reduce the risk of such future threats," he said, during the "GEC's Ecosystem Restoration Journey" web forum, earlier today.
With the upcoming World Environment Day tomorrow (June 5) Parish called on Malaysians to take action over the next 10 years to mitigate and eventually reverse the tide of environmental degradation.
Moderated by Parish, the web forum also hosted four panel members from GEC's management team who shared their experiences and insights on environmental conservation and restoration.
Among them were Dr Kalithasan Kailasan, GEC's River Care Programme manager, who stressed on the proper use of drains to protect and preserve rivers.
"People often overlook that what they do in their kitchen and backyard is the primary cause of river pollutions.
"Drains are meant for rainwater only. If we can ensure that, the river can take care of itself.
"You can still protect the rivers while staying indoors during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period. Clean your drains regularly, control your consumption and manage your resources wisely."
GEC's Peatland Programme coordinator Serena Lew said, the rehabilitation of peat forests, through the 4R (Rewetting, Reduction of fire risk, Revegetation and Revitalisation) approach, had reduced forest fires in Selangor by 90 per cent.
"Similarly, no fire outbreak occured in Pahang since March 2019 after an estimated 1500ha of degraded peat land in the state were rewetted.
"Peatland fires are rarely triggered by natural causes and usually originates from human activities, such as unsustainable farming or careless disposal of cigarette buds.
"For farmers, we promote zero-burning approach, encourage them to raise the water levels in cultivated land and to utilise crop residues from the previous harvest as fertilisers," she said.
Lew said, the revitalisation of peatlands, through community nurseries of wildlings, had contributed to the livelihoods of the local communities through seedling buy-back.
Her counterpart Nagarajan Rengasamy, the manager of GEC's Forest and Coastal Programme, said the 2004 tsunami disaster was a stark reminder that coastlines were the country's "first line of defence".
Citing a National Coastal Erosion Study (NCES) in 2015, he said 1,348km of Malaysia's coastline was found to be eroding, with Perak's coastline as the worst-hit in Peninsular Malaysia.
Several projects, he said, had been undertaken to reverse the condition, such as the Kuala Gula mangrove restoration exercise.
"Between 2006 and 2020, more than 12,000 volunteers were involved in planting 217,307 mangrove saplings to cover 70 hectares.
"Besides that, we also emphasise on the participation of local communities through our sustainable alternative livelihood programme.
"We encourage women groups, especially, to develop and commercialise crafts from plastic bottle, brooch and hair clips from seashells, tea drink from Acanthus leaves and souvenir from recycled materials.
"These community groups are registered with the Registrar of Society (RoS)," he said.
Meanwhile, GEC's Outreach and Partnerships Programme coordinator, Adelaine
Tan said, companies had also pitched in support through corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Among the notable ones, she said, were Bridgestone's "One Tyre One Good Deed" campaign, tree planting for "Petronas Walk4Trees" programme and Innisfree's "Green Forest Campaign".
Since 1974, the World Environment Day is celebrated annually on June 5 and the 2021 edition, themed "Ecosystem Restoration", will be hosted by Pakistan.