Sustaining Mangrove Forests Calls For Political Will

By Jailani Hasan KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 (Bernama) -- Mangrove forests throughout Malaysia are being depleted despite a 1996 Federal Government moratorium regrading development on mangrove areas. Tan Kim Hooi, a former senior researcher at the Maritime Institute of Malaysia noted in his report that there was no shortage of guidelines with regard to the development of mangrove areas, but these were not widely adopted and implemented. Therefore what is urgently needed, he said, is a strong political will from the government, especially local authorities and state governments in preserving the mangroves for the benefit of the future generations. MANGROVE ONLY REPRESENTS 1.75 PER CENT OF LAND AREA Tan pointed in his report that the mangrove forest area in the country was rather small constituting a mere 1.75 per cent of the nation's land area compared with other terrestrial ecosystems. "Given their small size, protecting mangrove forests will not affect the availability of land for development. Nevertheless, Malaysian mangroves are of global biodiversity significance - they are home to 41 species of mangrove plants, or two-thirds of the species of mangrove plants found in the world," according to his report. Some rare species that have very restricted distribution are at risk of localised extinction. MORE MANGROVE FORESTS ENCROACHED Despite the safeguards, large tracts of mangroves have been cleared for agriculture, aquaculture, infrastructure, landfills, oil palm plantations, highways, industries and housing development. Even protected mangrove forest reserves, were not spared. His study pointed further that mangrove cover in Malaysia has declined by 30 per cent over the past five decades; from 800,000 hectares in the 1950s to 575,000 hectares today. Mangrove cover losses are highest in states of Perlis, Selangor, Johor, Sarawak, Negeri Sembilan and Penang. In his earlier study indicated that 37 tracts of mangroves, which range in size from 10 hectares in Kuala Sanglang, Perlis, to 4,000 hectares in Rajang Delta, Sarawak, were vulnerable to destruction due to development or illegal encroachment. Over 50,600 hectares of mangrove reserves were degazetted between 1980 and 2003, mostly in Johor, Selangor and Sabah. Sarawak, on the other hand, accorded protection status to over 24,770 hectares of mangroves. LACK OF FORESIGHT In many cases, state governments and state agencies are responsible for the destruction of mangrove swamps. Tan noted that many government agencies such as the State Economic Development Corporations, the Penang Regional Development Authority, Fisheries Development Board and farmers’ associations were involved in prawn aquaculture in mangrove sites. Tan has forwarded his recommendation that the 37 mangrove sites in the country be turned into forest reserves. However, having said this, Tan is fully aware that the “forest reserve” definition here is ambiguous because the place could still be logged or degazetted. In fact, the bulk (85 per cent) of Malaysian mangroves are gazetted reserves - but largely for log production. However, Tan said except for the Matang mangrove in Perak, most of the mangrove reserves were not logged in a sustainable manner. “Except for Matang, most of the reserves remain as a ‘reserve’ on paper and do not have forest function classification, management plan or conservation activities.” And although the law requires a degazetted forest reserve to be replaced by an area of equal size, it fails to spell out that it has to be the same type of forest. Presently, Tan said replacements of degazetted mangrove reserves, if done at all, are often with other types of degraded forests and not mangroves. He also pointed out there is also no public inquiry in instances of conversion of these 'reserves', although the National Land Code provides for this. MANGROVE NEED TOTAL PROTECTION Tan suggested a review of current forestry policies and legislations to plug these gaps. Existing 'mangrove reserves' need to be gazetted as totally protected forest under the Forestry Act 1984 to ensure that they are protected in perpetuity. Currently, less than one per cent of these reserves are totally protected (as Virgin Jungle Reserves, Conservation Forest or Catchment Forests). "Mangroves are unique habitats and they need their own classification. They cannot be lumped together with terrestrial forests. Since the Act is largely based on terrestrial forests, Tan pointed out the various roles and functions of mangroves, such as for fisheries, coastline protection, biodiversity and cultural preservation, were not spelt out in the legislation. These sites should be classified according to various key uses such as sustainable forestry, protection forest (coastal protection), fisheries, ecotourism, education and research. As for example mangrove areas in Klias, Beaufort and Labuk Bay in Sabah are habitats for the unique proboscis monkeys, while those in Sungai Juru and Sungai Jejawi in Penang are important for cockle culture. Many of the locals in Klias depend on mangrove swamps for their livelihood. In the bigger picture, this classification will not only maximise the benefits derived from mangrove ecosystems, but also help to prioritise conservation and management objectives. -- BERNAMA