These volunteers from HSBC Malaysia helped plant 500 Kelat Paya and Tenggek Burung trees at the Raja Musa Forest Reserve in Kuala Selangor in conjunction with World Wetlands Day (Picture courtesy of Global Environment Centre)

For environmentalists, district council members and volunteers, all roads led to the Raja Musa Forest Reserve in Kuala Selangor on Feb 23 — where the local chapter of World Wetlands Day was celebrated.

The Selangor state government, the Forestry Department and the Kuala Selangor District Council (MDKS) in collaboration with the Petaling Jaya-based Global Environment Centre (GEC) hosted the event. Held for the third time at the Raja Musa Forest Reserve, the highlight of the day was an awareness campaign on peatland fire prevention and control.

The campaign which embraced the theme — No Peat Fire, No Haze — is associated with the Raja Musa Forest Rehabilitation Activity under the International Foundation for Agricultural Development, the Global Environment Facility, the Asean Peatland Forests Project Malaysia and the European Union-SEApeat Project. The peat swamp forest rehabilitation project was initiated by Selangor State Forest Department and GEC, funded by HSBC Malaysia Bhd.

According to GEC founder and director Faizal Parish, the campaign was directed at promoting community-based peatland forest fire management to create awareness among the public on the consequences of peatland forest fire management and possible preventive measures. He said among the preventive measures to be taken is fire-patrolling by members of the Sahabat Hutan Gambut Selangor Utara (SHGSU), a local communal fraternity.

“Between July-October 2012, a significant portion of Raja Musa Forest Reserve was burnt during a prolonged drought, causing haze to envelop the surrounding areas. Firefighting operations by multiple agencies continued round the clock managed to stop all the fires from spreading widely,” said Faizal.

He said the agencies involved were the Selangor Forestry Department (SFD), Fire and Rescue Department, Kuala Selangor Land and District Office, MDKS, GEC, Malaysian Civil Defence Department, Selangor Agricultural Development Corporation (PKPS), Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd, Department of Environment and SHGSU members.

The director-general of the Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia Datuk Prof Dr Abdul Rahman Abdul Rahim presented the agencies and organisations involved in the fire-fighting operations with certificates of excellence during the celebration. The day also saw the hosting of an exhibition, with booths by the SFD, GEC, SHGSU, MDKS, Bomba and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Malaysia.

Three hundred volunteers from various sectors including the local communities from SHGSU and Peatland Forest Ranger groups, government agencies, representatives from local land owners and plantations, corporate sponsors and the general public helped to plant 500 Kelat Paya (Eugenia spp) and 500 Tenggek Burung (Euodia redleyi) trees on 2ha of peatlands damaged by fire in 2012.

Volunteers also constructed a canal block inside the forest reserve and one just outside the boundary to help restore the water table and prevent future fires incident.

Faizal told The Malaysian Reserve that sustainable management of peatlands requires an integrated approach with the development of common strategies for managing different uses within each peatland area. He said the requirements for biodiversity conservation, land rehabilitation and adaptation also need to be incorporated into management strategies.

“The close coordination between different stakeholders and economic sectors is also critical,” he added.


Finger-tip facts on peatlands
• Approximately 60% of the world’s wetlands are peat.

• Other names for wetlands include: muskeg, moor, fen, carr, dambo, mangal, vlei, bayou, slough, pocosin, prairie pothole and vernal pools. Each type of wetland has characteristics specific to their part of the world.

• More than one-third of the federally listed species on the US Endangered Species Act rely directly, or indirectly, on wetlands for their survival.

• Wetlands act like sponges by holding flood waters and keeping rivers at normal levels. Wetlands filter and purify water as it flows through the wetland system.

Plants found in wetlands help control water erosion.

• Wetlands are “biological supermarkets” that produce huge quantities of food.

• The wetlands are a very crucial place for birds that are migrating. Wetlands all around the world provide a rest area for birds on their journey, similar to the rest areas and gas stations that are helpful to us during long road trips. The food and rest that is necessary is provided to these birds, through the wetlands. If they are all drained and gone, so will the birds that depend on them.