However, the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) is of the opinion that enforcement of laws alone is insufficient in protecting wildlife. Along with enforcement, protection of wildlife could best be served by combining elements of wildlife protection laws with conservation of their habitats; and the needs of conservation is best served by the formation of a series of planned protected areas consisting of viable, representative geographical locations and ecological systems. A good example would be a park in the north to complement the existing Taman Negara and Endau-Rompin National and State Parks. On this basis, protected ecosystems should not be limited to, say, a lowland dipterocarp forest only, but to include other habitats of biological or physical interest and sensitivity like limestone hills, quartz ridges, caves, and wetlands.

Though conservation status should ideally be recognised and legislated under a (federal) National Park status, (and states' reluctance to relinquish a sizeable portion of their land to federal control is understandable) areas of conservation importance (especially those too small to merit recognition as a National Park) could still be accorded some form of protection by the existing state legislations. Among others, these areas could possibly include the Kinta Valley limestone hills and caves, Batu Caves, Klang Gates quartz ridge, and the Merbok estuary.

As an integrated approach, the development of a Protected Area Policy System should be part of the National Bio-diversity Policy and also the National Environmental Policy, which should be based also on ecological principles in combination with socio-cultural, and economic principles. However, to realise the National Bio-diversity Policy and the National Environmental Policy, we first need to undertake a detailed inventory (or update our record) of our biological resources, especially those under the rare or endangered status, which could have been extinct by now.

Malaysia, as a signatory state in the Convention of Biological Diversity (RIO Declaration, 1992), Biosphere Reserves Network, and Convention of World Heritage List, among others, should show more commitment by increased funding of federally or locally managed national parks and conservation agencies, the creation of more protected areas, and the nomination of some areas of natural interest into the World Heritage List.

Dato' Dr. Salleh Mohd. Nor
President.
(NST 18 March 1998)