CAMERON HIGHLANDS, Feb 18 (Bernama) -- The water crisis that hit Cameron Highlands in the late 1990s prompted several concerned residents to form the Regional Environmental Awareness Cameron Highlands (REACH).
Against the many challenges that came its way, REACH continues to gain momentum, garnering support especially from the local residents in making its stance on the many environmental issues plaguing the highlands.
REACH president Ramakrishnan Ramasamy, 43, born and bred in Cameron Highlands, has been at the helm of this community-based body since the organisation took shape in 1998.And he has seen it all, the degradation and the deterioration of the highland he grew up with.
A LEGACY BORROWED
"Our main concern is the fast pace of development that is taking place in Cameron Highlands and its future if there is no proper check and balance," he told Bernama in an interview here recently.
Ramakrishnan strongly maintained that the highland is a legacy that is not inherited but borrowed from the future generations. Hence, its well-being needs to be protected and preserved.
This deep-rooted conviction is equally shared by his fellow committee members and also other supporters of the organisation including those from abroad.With many on-going sustainable programmes, REACH does not only get the much needed support and assistance from the people of Cameron Highlands but it also receives helping hands from volunteers from Kuala Lumpur and as far as Singapore.
Cameron Highlands is a popular holiday getaway for Singaporeans.
REFORESTATION
Deeply concerned with the repeated rape of the virgin jungles around Cameron Highlands, REACH with the support of Forestry Department has initiated a reforestation project in 2001.
According to Ramakrishnan, the project involvd 17 hectares of area in Gunung Brinchang.A local farmer cleared the site for agricultural activities and part of it was a forest reserve of Ulu Bertam.
The forest does not only contain diverse biodiversity of flora and fauna but also forms part of the water catchment area for the Sungai Burung water treatment plant. According to Ramakrishnan, the treatment plant supplies drinking water to the population of Brinchang and its surrounding areas.
"So you can imagine what happened when the site was cleared. Not only the forest was cleared, both its flora and fauna were also gone and the quality of drinking water was also affected."We managed to convince the Department of Forestry to have a smart-partnership with us, them giving us the technical assistance and we would reforest the illegally-cleared site," he said.
PAINSTAKING JOB
To date, REACH with the help of volunteers has managed to cover about 60 percent of the said site. At some locations, coconut husks had been added to create as the topsoil. Ramakrishnan described the replanting job as arduous.
"When the forest was cleared, the rain washed away the top soil consisting humus and organic materials. The land is almost barren and that slows down the growth of the plants. There is also the high altitude factor," he said.
Some of the local species that have been replanted including 'podo bukit' (podocarpus neriifolia), 'medang' (lauraceae spp), 'meranti bukit' (meranti bukit) and 'merapuh daun runcing' (swietenia penagiana).
In 2004, REACH started planting 'symingtonia (exbucklandia) populnea' at the site.All the seedlings, according to Ramakrishnan were obtained from the nearby-forested area and other locations.
"We hope with this reforestation project, it would instill not only a sense of awareness and responsibility but also ownership, at least within the community of Cameron Highlands."They must appreciate that they, too, have a role in safeguarding the forests and the water catchment areas," said Ramakrishnan.
LOVE OUR RIVERS
Rivers of Cameron Highlands are receiving the full brunt of the uncontrolled clearings of lands for agricultural activities particularly on steep slopes and water catchment areas as well as over-development or urban areas. And according to Ramakrishnan, because of the deteriorating conditions of the rivers, REACH has taken onto itself to educate the people of Cameron Highlands on the importance of good river water quality.
The project took off in 2005."First we started out by creating awareness and condition of the rivers. We began ith the secondary school children and this year, we will get the primary schools to be involved as well," he said.
Ramakrishnan is not deterred by the fact that the 'Love Our River' campaign mooted by the government has been dubbed a failure."That is why we are focusing on the children, at least they can go back and convince their parents about the river programme."We are making the programme more attractive. The kids will be Community Stream Investigators (CSI). They would go out in groups to investigate the health of our rivers."
By searching for specific small animals in the river and simple testing, they will learn whether the stream is healthy or polluted. This kind of teaching is more appealing to kids and is cheaper," explained Ramakrishnan.
He said the simple water testing kits given to the school children under the programme are provided by Water Environment Federation under its World Water Monitoring Programme.
RECYCLING PROJECTS
Another on-going sustainable programme by REACH is the recycling project initiated in 2003."We started with an awareness programme that involved school children and the local community which includes housing areas and villages. We also went to the Orang Asli settlements," said Ramakrisnan, adding that educational activities at schools involve bringing 5.0 kg of recyclable materials each week.
REACH also established collection centres for all the recycled items including newspapers, aluminum cans and plastics at specific location at Bertam Valley, Ringlet, Brinchang, Tringkap, Kuala Terla and Kampung Raja.
For this recycling project, REACH received good support from Cameron Highlands District Council which later provided a site for a compacting plant."The compacting plant is located on the lowland, near Simpang Pulai. It was opened last year. At the plant, all waste collected from the collecting centres are taken to be compacted before being sent to factories in Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur."
This project is moving on in a very positive manner. In a way, we are helping the local authorities to properly manage waste items," said Ramakrishnan.
FARMERS THE NEXT TARGET
He said this year REACH plans to proceed with the recycling programme on a much bigger scale."We are targeting the farms this year. We visited some previously but our efforts were hampered due to shortage of staff," he said.
According to Ramakrishnan, the farms use a lot of plastics and some have been indiscriminately dumping plastics and other wastes into the rivers."We are very much concerned with this lackadaisical attitude on the part of the farmers. I have caught many doing this. They even threw pesticide containers into the rivers."
One farmer even had the cheek to tell me that he threw rubbish into the river because many farmers are doing that when I caught him and his workers dumping rubbish into Sungai Parang after closing his temporary stall set for the Chinese New Year festival recently!" Ramakrishnan said.
THE ORCHID BOOK
Meanwhile, REACH would be coming out with a book on Wild Orchids of Cameron Highlands next month. The A4-size book is 205 pages thick, full colour with over 400 photographs of wild orchids, amidst the backdrop of some of the more untouched and unspoilt areas of the highlands."
This project involves a team of volunteers and many individuals who have supported this effort."Proceeds from the sale of this book will be channeled to our conservation projects in Cameron Highlands," said Ramakrishnan.The book's selling price is RM98.
He said REACH began documenting the wild orchids in Cameron Highlands about six years ago."Now we have a collection of 15,000 photographs and so far we have been able to describe 605 different orchids. Prior to this, there were only 305 orchids known in Cameron Highlands."The orchids are intact but their very existence is threatened by logging and also by indirectly local climate change brought about by immense clearing of lands for agricultural activities," he added.
Reflection Questions
1.Do you think that developemnt should slow down nin Cameron Highlnads?
2.Do you think that REACH is playing an important role in promoting sustainable development of Cameron Highlands?
Development in cameron highlands should definaitly slow down as Ramakrishnan has seen it all, the degradation and the deterioration of the highland he grew up with. The fast pace of development that is taking place in Cameron Highlands and its future if there is no proper check and balance it would lead to the a big impact.its well-being needs to be protected and preserved.
ReplyDeleteREACH is playing an important role in promoting sustainable development of Cameron Highlands.
together with the Forestry Department initiated a reforestation project in 2001. instilling not only a sense of awareness and responsibility but also ownership, at least within the community of Cameron Highlands safeguarding the forests and the water catchment areas.
They have also started a 'Love Our River' campaign however the 'Love Our River' campaign mooted by the government has been dubbed a failure.
Changing their focus to children as they can go back and convince their parents about the river programme." (irritate their parents..haha)
Also by the raising of money through the orchid book,Proceeds from the sale of this book will be channeled to our conservation projects in Cameron Highlands,"The book's selling price is RM98.
However no matter how hard these people try to protect their environment, it all comes down to the public to do thier part as well...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn this hectic pace of lifestyle, cameron highland act as a good getaway for most of the people which include singaporean like us. I strongly belive that we go there to enjoy the nature. And the deforestation work over there, is destroying what we're actually enjoying. The most important factor is that these development projects is clearing the vast bio-diversity of cameron highland. With all the species being cleared away, future generation could only see the picture of the species from the net or book but not the real thing as it had extinct or endangered. Global warming is also one of the major viewpoint to the whole world. As it is seems as a threat to the destruction of the world. Deforestation is one of the factors that lead to global warming. Therefore deforestating to development should really slow down for the future, for the environment and for the world. Whereas other development which doesn't threaten the nature environment of cameron should carry on as it make cameron highland a better place.
ReplyDeleteFor me, i think REACH is playing a very important role in promoting sustainable development of cameron highlands. They had been trying very hard with limited man power. They had already done their best with reforestation project,'Love Our river' campaign and fund raising projects. Without their contribution, maybe cameron highland would already been a big piece of farmland. They had also come out with alot of plans like targeting the children to give their parent a psychological pressure, and they had also plan to target the farmer next. Although they had been trying very hard to stop these deforestation project, protecting the environment. It still come down to the hearts of public to stop all this cruel doings to the environment.
i'm jingming from 5f.
ReplyDeletei am andy from 5G
ReplyDeletei think development in camroon highland should be slow down as there is only a few place which has left with such a beautiful place.if camroon highland is develop in to city areas,all the orang asli will not haf a place to let them continues the hands skill and slowly orang asli will not exist in the world after 10 years,so i think development in camroon highland should be slowdown
Do you think that developemnt should slow down in Cameron Highlands?
ReplyDelete1 WORD, Definately.To me many people actually know the inportances of forest.Some admire its sceneries and beauty, but did they ever stop to think what would happen to the would without this "GREEN THINGS".Due to the worlds rapid development, land and forests are cleared with the interest of making money out of it.But actually such trees are sustaining mankind.It not only provides the oxygen then we need,it also helps a a natural purifer.A world with harmful substance in the air would be as deadly as anything.
Development is a great thing to the world.However, on the other hand it is slowly killing the enviroment.Deforestation not only polutes the air,it increase global warming.Eventually, low-lying island would be submerge by water as the ice caps starts to melt.THIS MEANS END OF MANKIND!!! OMG!!
Do you think that REACH is playing an important role in promoting sustainable development of Cameron Highlands?
1 WORD, YES!. I personally admire REACH for their passion and knowledge of the importance of the forest as do they part in protecting them.Cameron highlands is a very unique place where people can find coniferious trees in Asia as not many countries have the climate for them.Though means of fund raising and spreading the word to childrens and then to families, it shows that they are doing their best. However, there is a saying that it takes two hands to clap.So this means that everyone should do their part and not only a one sided thing by REACH.
GOOD NIGHT!!
Mrs Ess....its in my own words now!!!!!!
ReplyDelete1.i think that the development should slow down as these natural vegetations not only provides food,shelter,clothing,fuel and also other essentials in our life. Forest plays an important part of our life as it provides oxygen for th humans. It also acts as a natural air purifiers by absorbing carbon dioxides while producing oxygen at the same time.The forest also plays an important part as a shelter for the animals & plants living there.Without the forest, it will in turn affect the growth of the animals/plants and it will cause many of the animals/plants to die. Also it provides woods which is now commonly used in our furnitures. Without them, we won't get to have the furnitures that we are using right now. It is also a popular recreational place for the people now.Cameron highland has now become a popular place for hiking and sight-seeing.It has attracted alot of the tourist to come and visit.
ReplyDeleteAlthough development helps to increase the standard of living,but it will also in turn increase the human desire of even higher quality of life. This will therefore increase the speed of development which will cause the forest to be deforest even faster. It will then cause global warming,air pollutions floods and water quality will be affected.
2.REACH is playing an important role in promoting sustainable development of Cameron Highlands as it helps to spread out the importance of the forests to the people living in cameron highlands.The people living there should all play a part to protect the environment as well. If the people living there are destroying their own environment,then who will be able to help them when to sustain their own living environment? Hence i think that the REACH are important as they not only help to spread th importance of the forest & also educates the children more on the natural vegetations.Lets the children to gain more knowlege .REACH also tries to do their best to build up a beautiful nature reserve by starting a reforestation project.Also they ensures that the river's water are clean for drinking. Therefore, REACH is definitely playing an important role.