Samantha Joseph New Straits Times 15 Mar 14;
Mangroves are an important part of our ecosystem — and so are corporations. Samantha Joseph sees how one works to save the other
A TINY brown crab scuttles out of the oozing, viscous mud a step down from the tarred path that leads from a small jetty in Kampung Sungai Sembilang to part of semiconductor giant Intel’s mangrove rehabilitation project in Penang.
As our small group of journalists tour Intel Malaysia’s environmentally conscious corporate social responsibility efforts, slog through the grey mud alongside Intel personnel-volunteers to plant mangrove saplings in our borrowed rubber boots, more tiny crabs run amok, scuttling from underfoot into perfectly round holes in the ground.
Oh God, I think. I am murdering small creatures whilst also rebuilding their habitat. A boot check later reveals no collateral damage crustaceans, but plenty of mud.
“We’re actually quite lucky it’s the dry season. It would have been a lot muddier,” says the perpetually cheerful Intel community relations programme manager Azrena Mahmud, adjusting her multicoloured tudung. “This entire area used to be completely flat. You could see right to the sea.”
Now the view is blocked by the narrow fingers of mangrove tree trunks, numbering in the thousands, but the young trees reach heights of only 30 or 60cm above my head. The planting programme in the Kampung Sungai Sembilang, Penang area began in 2008, becoming the fourth mangrove planting project for Intel that has seen the planting of over 19,000 trees in nine areas.
WHY MANGROVES?
In 2003, ecological biologist Professor Gong Wooi Khoon noted that Penang’s mangrove forests would disappear by 2020 if nothing is done to stop the current devastation. Penang, she said, had already lost 60 per cent of its mangroves, and Malaysia is losing her mangrove area at a rate of 1 per cent a year to agriculture, construction projects and industrial estates.
It is not so surprising then that Intel has invested money and manpower in a project to sustain the mangroves of Penang. The mangroves are not an uncommon choice for corporate social responsibility efforts among multinationals — Ricoh and Sime Darby also have their own mangrove replanting initiatives.
In the Go Eco with Ricoh campaign, replanting in Pulau Kukup National Park, Johor, Kuala Gula, Perak and the Kuala Selangor Nature Park (KSNP) has been carried out. Ricoh’s efforts were done in cooperation with BirdLife International Asia Division, and according to Ricoh, KSNP is a designated Important Bird Area and is home to 150 species of birds, some monkeys, and most importantly, smooth-coated otters.
The rich, salty environment created by mangroves form an irreplaceable ecosystem that supports unique creatures ranging from long legged waterbirds, hiding snakes and climbing monkeys to slippery fish and mangrove crabs.
The mangroves also play the role of protector, not just to the wildlife and plants, but also to the people and the land — their flourishing along the coastlines acts as a guard against tsunamis and great waves, cutting through them with their uncountable skinny limbs and saving lives in the process. Ever since the devastation left behind by the 2004 tsunami, there has been a greater focus on the replanting of mangrove forests, especially by private parties.
ORGANISATIONAL IMPORTANCE
Intel’s conservation efforts under it’s 1 Employee 1 Tree campaign have proven to be fruitful, especially for the fishermen of Kampung Sungai Sembilang. The Penang Inshore Fishermen Welfare Association (PIFWA), a registered organisation run wholly by volunteers to protect the interests of the fishermen, is heavily involved in the maintenance of the Kampung Sungai Sembilang mangrove.
PIFWA president Ilias Shafie, a big man in a blue polo shirt, says that the mangrove has more or less exploded in terms of growth, beginning with 9,000 trees planted by volunteers, and now housing an estimated 25,000 trees after three months. Ilias credits the mangrove roots for capturing wayward seeds and welcoming them to the bosom of the mangrove. The most common saplings planted are the rather unattractively named bakau minyak and bakau kurap.
“The seeds from around this area is brought here by the current, and catches on the roots of the existing trees,” he explains. Before this, the seeds would have just floated through unimpeded, going their merry way into oblivion. But the newly-grown mangrove area provides a nutritious stopping ground. The new seeds add to the existing growth as well as diversity, resulting in a mangrove forest that is home to more species than was first introduced.
The existence of the mangrove in Kampung Sungai Sembilang has also benefitted the fishermen directly, as Ilias states that their catches have actually gotten better compared to before the mangrove was planted.
The efforts by PIFWA and Intel have not gone unnoticed. The Pacific Asia Resource Centre Interpeople’s Cooperation (PARCIC), a Japanese organisation that aids communities who may be losing their livelihood and way of life, have been lending a hand to the fishermen since 2008. Their aid comes in the form of fundraising and awareness within the corporate world, helping communities in need on a small scale.
Inoue Reiko, the PARCIC representative director who visited us at the mangrove, points out that coastal destruction has plagued many fishing communities, thanks mainly to industrialisation. PIFWA’s efforts together with Intel caught PARCIC’s eye in 2008, when the organisation carried out research for their next interpeople’s project.
“The number of coastal fishermen are decreasing in all Asian countries,” says Reiko. “The good thing about PIFWA is that they are proactive about conserving their livelihood. Many fishermen stop at protesting. That’s why we support their initiative.”
A LITTLE RAY OF HOPE
The Matang Mangrove Swamp Reserve in Perak is reportedly the best managed mangrove swamp in the world, meaning there is hope for us in terms of conservation. It isn’t enough to say mangroves are important though — we should go out right now and grow our own bakau kurap if possible.
Read more: GREEN: Don’t look down on mud - Live - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/live/green-don-t-look-down-on-mud-1.513103#ixzz2vzv2ojsW
