KUALA LUMPUR – Environmental groups have again voiced their concerns over quarrying in the Segari Melintang forest reserve, after a Facebook post on its condition was widely shared recently.
Sinar Harian today reported Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) field researcher Meor Razak Meor Abdul Rahman as saying the worries were first highlighted back in 2017, when the Perak government approved quarrying and mining for laterite in Compartments 13, 14, 15 and 16 of the forest reserve.
“Mining and quarrying activities in the forest reserve can affect its diversity and sustainable forest management, which is core to national forest management.”
Sahabat Alam Sekitar Malaysia president Datuk Seri Abdul Malek Yusof told the Malay-language daily that there are new applications to quarry parts of Compartments 19, 20 and 21, measuring 122ha, and mine laterite in 49ha of Compartment 54.
When parts of a forest reserve are approved for quarrying, he said, all trees will be felled and destroyed.
Last August, SAM president R. Meenakshi told The Star that quarrying and laterite mining in the forest reserve could impact its ecosystem and the coastal area.
“We believe that the approval granted to conduct the (quarrying) activity in the forest does not comply with the decision made at the 70th National Land Council meeting in 2014.
“According to the meeting, all states are urged to take the initiative to control or avoid any approval of mining and quarrying activities in permanent reserved forest (PRF) areas,” she said, adding that the Segari Melintang forest is designated as a PRF.
She said in 2016, SAM urged that the Manjung District Draft Local Plan 2030 include the proposed gazettement of the Segari Melintang State Park.
This has been agreed on in principle by the state, she added. – The Vibes, January 17, 2021
