Activities Report Mar 2000 Newsletter

Move for state governments to submit master plan of hill developments most  timely  
      The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) welcomes the move by the Federal Government to require master plans of hill developments from all State Governments. This step will definitely ensure a safer and more sustainable development of hill areas around the country. The Federal Government however must ensure that the plans consistently follow a set of  basic criteria for hill development. The master plan would prove useless if different states follow different criteria. Areas such as Cameron Highlands, Fraser’s Hill, Genting Highlands, Bukit Larut are among the many highlands that are under constant threat from indiscriminate land clearing not only for resorts and residential development but from agriculture activities as well.
      Most of the larger developments which develop high rise buildings, factories or other buildings submit an EIA to the states but the smaller scale developers are not required to and thus cut indiscriminately. Agricultural activities, both small and large scale should refer to the master plan for their activities. The State Government should than make sure that these areas are not left barren. The highlands always receive a higher percentage of rain and if there is no ground vegetation, the soil on these steeper slopes will erode even quicker. All forest above 1000m and steeper than 45° should be protected at all costs as they are they play the same ecological functions as repositories of biological diversity and timber, carbon sinks, climate moderators and water catchments. Most of these areas are now under threat from logging, encroachment from plantations, resorts and residential developments.
      Areas like Cameron Highlands, Fraser’s Hill and Genting Highlands are soon losing its appeal as cool highland retreats as the development in those areas have increased the temperatures by at least 2° C in the past few years. Places like Cameron Highlands, which were so lush and green, are now an eyesore simply because there is so much development in these areas. Highlands also house some of the world’s rarest plants and animals, especially insects. Indiscriminate and unsupervised development will only scar beautiful places like these for a long time. It is thus important that the master plan stress the need for further developments of the highland environment. Development should be limited and where possible refrained from, as most of these areas became tourist attractions because of its cool natural environment.
      The move by the Federal Government for the submission of a master plan for hill development would enable both the state and the federal authorities to keep a tab on indiscriminate use of hill slides. Not only would the environment benefit from this but lives of the general public will be less threatened. In addition to this the State Governments have to monitor all highland activities that take place in their respective jurisdictions, as this will deter many errant developers and land clearing activities.

Dato' Dr. Salleh Mohd Nor         Kuala Lumpur, January 21, 2000 


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Created on 15th Mar 2000