Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 3: For Wood, Water and Wildlife

Picture: Macaranga

In a blog post by Macaranga, YH Law and SL Wong explain the ways to revamp forest plantations in Peninsular Malaysia.

This has been a year of bloody losses for Mat Jupari Aziz. By April, he has lost 8 cows to a predator(s). He has been rearing cattle for nearly a decade in Kampung Rambai Tujuh, a village 10 km northwest of Ipoh, Perak. These are his first troubles with wildlife.

Then the predator struck again. On the afternoon of 22 June, hours before Mat spoke with Macaranga, the 55-year-old found a cow and its calf lying crippled in their pen. The predator had severed their spines but left them to die. Mat slaughtered the cow and calf and put some meat as bait in a metal cage trap. That was the second attempt by Mat and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) to catch the culprit. It was a panther, said the rangers.

It is not the panther’s fault, says Mat. He blames the logging in the Kledang Saiong forest reserve, just 500 m away from his farm.

“The loggers used to take just a little [timber]. Now it’s way too much. We can see the trails of the trucks and bulldozers from the highway,” says Mat, referring to the North-South Expressway that cuts the reserve into two.

“The animals [in the forest] are struggling to find food. They are forced to come into the village for food.”

Mat has a lot more to worry about. The Perak government has earmarked about 7,420 ha in the northern section of the Kledang Saiong for forest plantations. These projects would clear natural forest to replant with fast-growing monoculture trees for timber. Last December, the federal Department of Environment approved the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report of a 4,280ha forest plantation there. It will be one of the largest forest plantations in the state.