Include trees in building plans, developer urged
The Star 16 Feb 10;
WILD Asia has recently heard that a new development project has started at the area near the Kota Damansara Community Forest (KDCF).
We are shocked to learn that the area proposed for development includes a small parcel of land that hundreds of people, including the residents and major media companies joined hands during our 2009 Plant-A-Tree event to plant seedlings on what was barren land.
The 2009 Plant-A-Tree event garnered extensive publicity and was broadcasted on TV, radio, and published in two dailies. The event was jointly organised by Wild Asia, AMP Radio Networks and Friends of Kota Damansara (FOKD), and attended by the Selangor state representative Sivarasa Rasiah.
The tree-planting was done in good faith with the support of the residents to help raise awareness of natural areas and the importance of the community forest.
Individuals and the corporate sector donated the tree saplings and hoped these would grow into mature trees that would extend the forest boundary or form a buffer zone between the forest proper and developed areas in Kota Damansara.
But more importantly, the event was a rare green moment when several hundred people were brought together to do something for the environment.
In the act of planting trees that will grow into a forest, we built a real connection to the environment. That indeed, was the value of the Plant-a-Tree event.
We do not deny the right of the developer to develop the area, but we hope that they will see the trees as an asset to their development rather than a liability.
We think it is worthwhile for the developers to see the wide interest in the area and work with people who have a stake in it.
Wild Asia urges the developer to incorporate those trees into their development plans. We believe that protecting the natural areas will not only be an asset to their development plans but help them establish connection to the community which will be a boost to the company’s corporate social responsibility.
We urge the developer to see this as an opportunity to “stand up for a tree” and create goodwill in the community by joining hands with residents and the community at large.
Dr Reza Azmi
Founder and executive director of
Wild Asia (Malaysia)
