Stop Clearing Work At Mangrove Area In Sungai Pulai, NGOs Urge

Bernama 26 Jun 09;

JOHOR BAHARU, June 26 (Bernama) -- Nine environmental NGOs (non-governmental organisations) strongly urge the authorities to stop the clearing work at the 913-hectare environmentally-sensitive mangrove area in Sungai Pulai to make way for a petrochemical project.

They called on the authorities to reconsider the project and ensure that all environmental concerns are considered by carrying out a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study with public and stakeholder participation.

"From the environment perspective, there is rich biodiversity in Sungai Pulai including dugong, seahorses and fish which are dependent on the health of the mangrove forest," said the NGOs in a statement, here, Friday.

Among the nine NGOs which object to the clearing work at the mangrove area are the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development Malaysia (CETDEM), Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia) and Enviromental Protection Society Malaysia (EPSM).

The statement said the NGOs supported the views of the local fishermen, the Peninsular Inshore Fishermen Action Network (Jaring) and the Save Our Seahorses (SOS) which had opposed the project.

It said media reports in August 2007 indicated that Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman had called for a detailed EIA for the petrochemical project in Sungai Pulai.

"However, to date no detailed EIA has been forthcoming although work on the ground seems to have started," it said, adding that the area of mangrove started to be cleared earlier this month by MMC Berhad.

The mangrove forest according to the NGOs, is designated as an environmentally-sensitive area Rank 1 under the National Physical Plan and Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) of Iskandar Malaysia.

The Iskandar Malaysia CDP specifies that the area being cleared should remain a protected forest reserve and not be developed.

"Given these existing provisions, the biological richness, uniqueness and sensitivity of Sungai Pulai are being seriously threatened," said the NGOs which called for the site to be adequately protected.