ENVIRONMENTALISTS and conscientious citizens view with grave concern the logging at Batu Yon and the area near the Merapoh Forest Reserve, Kuala Lipis, Pahang.
The Merapoh forest, estimated to be 130 million years old, is home to endangered species such as elephants, tigers, tapir, sun bears and deer, as well as rare flora such as the Rafflesia. Its spectacular limestone caves form a vital part of Malaysia’s natural heritage.
All of these natural wonders are now under threat as a result of logging and roadwork in the area.
Agricultural land bordering gazetted forest reserves are wildlife habitats and critical water catchment areas. Opening up logging roads into areas surrounding forest reserves has knock-on effects, and can, and do, affect the forest reserve area adversely.
Statistical evidence has shown that logging roads, everywhere from Russia to Central Africa and Southeast Asia, have increased access for poachers and hunters into sensitive wildlife habitats and also increased the incidence of human-wildlife conflict and roadkill.
In fact, timber companies operating in areas such as the Primorsky Krai in Russia where a serious decline in wildlife populations has been recorded since the opening up of logging roads are under great pressure to close up logging roads and carry out mitigative measures.
Here in Southeast Asia, where up to 48 per cent of all native mammal species are predicted to be extinct by 2100, roads continue to be opened up for logging and mining, or for “transporting forest products”, despite the data that forested land is worth much more intact than when depleted, logged or converted into plantations.
The economic benefits of logging are short-lived and can sustain only one to two generations at most.
Not only are the Merapoh Caves a sensitive wildlife habitat, but they are also an important eco-tourism site. Logging and deforestation around the Merapoh Caves will have a severe negative impact on the rural communities whose livelihood depend on eco-tourism, subsistence farming and fishing in areas that are now polluted, depleted and exposed.
Apart from the threat it poses to wildlife populations, logging and deforestation also affect air quality, climate and water-cycle patterns. Healthy forests absorb solar energy and release water vapour, while forest clearing releases stored carbon dioxide, which traps heat and contributes to atmospheric warming.
The destruction of watershed areas will result in more flash floods, landslides and drought, thus costing the state and federal governments more in disaster management and mitigation than they are able to benefit from issuing permits for logging, mining and agricultural activities.
The growing number of environmental and citizens’ action groups in Malaysia calling for an end to deforestation at forest reserves attests to the growing awareness of our interconnectedness with the natural environment and the importance of forests for the ecosystem services they provide.
It is not merely fear of the loss of income from trekking and eco-tourism activities that motivates concerned citizens to speak up. The forest reserves, and the Merapoh Caves have been here long before our existence.
We cannot afford to lose any more of them in our age of collapsing ecosystems and anthropogenic disasters.
Wong Ee Lynn
Malaysian Nature Society