Belum-Temengor Tropical Rainforest master plan ready next year

The Star 23 Oct 09;

THE Integrated Master Plan for the Sustainable Management of Belum-Temengor Tropical Rainforest (BTTR) will be ready within a year.

Revealing this at the end of a two-day conference towards the development of the master plan yesterday, Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir said the state was working with the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority to put together the master plan.

The master plan, he said, would be ready in eight to 12 months’ time.

“The challenge now is how to ensure sustainable development there without destroying the ecosystem, hence, the need for a comprehensive plan,” he said.

On funding, Dr Zambry said there would be some budget allocation from the Federal Government.

Earlier, participants of the conference had concluded and recommended through round table discussions that BTTR should include the Royal Belum State Park, Temengor Forest Reserve, South Belum Forest Reserve, parts of Gerik Forest Reserve, buffer strip along the East-West Highway and the Temengor Lake.

They also suggested that BTTR be listed as a World Heritage site or Ramsar site.

The Ramsar Convention (The Convention on Wetlands of Inter-national Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat) is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilisation of wetlands.

They further suggested a review of all laws to determine efficacy and to reconcile all existing laws to achieve the conservation objective.

It was also recommended that the Perak State Park Corporation Enactment be amended to include membership of private corporations in order to reflect effective representation from all relevant quarters.

Also raised through the discussions were matters related to sustainable eco-tourism and marketing, the self-sustainability of BTTR, management and research and development.

Spanning 330,000ha, BTTR is the largest continuous forest complex in Peninsular Malaysia and is estimated to be as old as 130 million years old.