An important bird area gets much-needed attention.
SPOTTING a spoon-billed sandpiper was not on the agenda, but it happened. The first sighting in nine years in Penang, one might argue that only someone as bird-crazy as David Bakewell, an environmental consultant and avid birdwatcher, could have spotted it.
The criticially endangered spoon-billed sandpiper.
One tiny little bird, shuffling rapidly amongst a sea of red-necked stints, and captured with a magnifying telescope mounted on a camera, demonstrates a level of bird watching expertise most will only ever dream about.
But more importantly, it also shows that a new partnership between building materials company Cemex and Malaysia’s oldest environmental organisation, the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), is paying off.
The coastline between Teluk Air Tawar near Butterworth, Penang, and Kuala Muda in Kedah, is Malaysia’s second most important site for migratory waterbirds. Identified as an “important bird area” (IBA) by the global partnership of conservation organisations, BirdLife International, the site is spread out across 7,200ha of tidal mud flats, estuaries and mangroves.
Bakewell says yearly bird counts are done as part of Wetland International’s Asian Waterbird Census, which is conducted by volunteers.
“The problem is, the Teluk Air Tawar coastline is quite difficult to access from land. Boats make more sense, but are expensive, so funding is an issue,” he says.
Cemex’s partnership with MNS has changed that. Funds from one of the world’s largest building materials suppliers and cement producers is enabling a team of experts – Bakewell included – to conduct the first comprehensive survey of the area in years. The fact that Bakewell saw one of the world’s rarest and most endangered birds just a couple of months into the project has been hugely uplifting. “When you have maybe just 100 to 300 spoonbills left in the world, every sighting counts,” he says.
Every record is useful, and can be logged into the online data bank Bird-I-Witness to help keep researchers up-to-date with the changing population dynamics of this rapidly declining species – its global population is estimated to have declined by 88% in just eight years (2002-2010).
The little bird, spotted among thousands of similar-looking birds of another species, is classified as critically endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
Malaysia is probably the southern-most limit of their wintering range. Bakewell says there have been three to four sightings per year, mostly at the north and central Selangor coast. The rare sighting is not so much an indication of the birds not frequenting the area but rather of how intensely difficult they are to spot.
Nevertheless, the finding underlies just how important the Teluk Air Tawar-Kuala Muda coast is as habitat degradation continues at the other stop-over points along the migrational flyways of many birds. Other species, such as the lesser adjutant (listed as vulnerable on the Red List) and the spotted greenshank (endangered) have also been found in significant numbers at that site.
Cemex Malaysia country director Fikry Sami El-Kaissouni feels personally invested in the project. He joined the team on a recent survey expedition and was elated to see over 60 spotted greenshanks.
“At current estimates, that could represent over 10% of the world population,” he says.
Such data shows that these surveys are invaluable as they provide up-to-date evidence of how the Teluk Air Tawar IBA remains one of Peninsular Malaysia’s most important bird habitats, and strengthen the case for its protection.
Yeap Chin Aik is head of conservation at MNS. He has spent some 10 years carrying out bird conservation initiatives, and describes how mangroves along the west coast of the peninsula, known important flyways for migratory birds, have disappeared over time.
“In the 1970s and 80s, there were several key areas in south-west Johor, Perak and Perlis that had good migratory numbers. But now, migratory waterbirds have very few choice-areas left to go to.”
Although Penang has lost much of its mangroves, the Teluk Air Tawar-Kuala Muda coast remains the most important stretch of habitat for migratory waterbirds in the northern west coast.
MNS has lobbied for protection of the site for years. The area is state land and therefore, remains vulnerable to development pressures, which have been increasing over the years, says Yeap. Already, small aquaculture farms have appeared along the coast, eating into the mangroves.
“This is by no means happening on a large scale but if we don’t give it attention, we may end up with a fragmented rather than unbroken stretch of mangrove habitat,” he adds.
This is where survey data can be used to strengthen the case for converting Teluk Air Tawar IBA into a protected landscape. Currently, few people recognise it as an important bird area.
About six years ago, Cemex shook hands on a 10-year partnership with BirdLife International. The objective was to assess the company’s biodiversity risks and opportunities, and in 2010, it published the results of a biodiversity study.
The study mapped all 543 Cemex sites worldwide and their proximity to key biodiversity areas. Malaysia is one of six pilot project sites for the implementation of a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). The partnership between MNS (the local BirdLife International partner) and Cemex was formed under this framework.
“The surveys are to help Cemex look at how to conserve or maintain biodiversity within their sites of operation, and within the IBA,” says Yeap.
The results of the surveys will be the basis for action plans for the Cemex quarry in Bukit Tambun, Seberang Prai and the Teluk Air Tawar IBA. Quarries involve controlled rock blasting and irreversible change to the physical structure of the landscape, which means that the action plan is likely to involve things like rehabilitating the landscape or creating new habitats.
“I don’t have the survey results yet but people have heard (the calls of) buffy fish owls and spotted the blue rock thrush, probably the first recorded for Seberang Prai. So, creating a suitable artificial nesting site could be one point of action,” says Yeap.
For the IBA, the survey information will be used to identify key threats to biodiversity and the required measures for the action plan.
Using the information gathered to lobby the state to confer some sort of protection status for the site is also likely to be on the agenda.
“The area’s importance in terms of biodiversity is pointed out in the Penang Structure Plan. However, we would like stronger protective legislation or a solid conservation status … such as gazettement into a bird sanctuary, for example,” says Yeap.
A large portion of the raw materials needed in construction come from rock blasting. And with the World Economic Forum estimating that we will require the same amount of housing infrastructure over the next 40 years as has been built over the past 4,000 years, quarries are here to stay. Fortunately, top-level support for environmental management began way back in 1993 for Cemex.
“There is a saying, ‘If your boss is interested, you are fascinated’,” says Fikry. “Our chief executive officer has been hammering the topic for the past 20 years. You have a whole generation of executives in Cemex who are fascinated, because of his interest.”
The company is trying to replicate some of that here, through talks about biodiversity and conservation for its staff.
Yeap says the response has been encouraging. Cemex staff have even asked what birds have been found at the quarry site. The commitment demonstrated by Cemex has been impressive. It is now the leading user of alternative fuels in the cement industry (for machinery and processes). Also, it has introduced a policy disallowing its staff from billing the company for events and functions where endangered species have been consumed or used as gifts. It also funded staff trips aimed at raising environmental awareness, such as to the Raptor Watch in Port Dickson in March and the World Tapir Day event at Taman Negara last month.