GEORGE TOWN: Civil liberties group Penang Forum will launch the Penang Hills Watch (PHW), an initiative to track and document hill-clearing activities in Penang.
This comes after Penang Forum was swarmed with reports by concerned citizens about rampant hill-clearing activities via social media and personal contacts.
Penang Forum representative Rexy Prakash Chacko said PHW arose from the need for a platform where citizens were encouraged to collect information on the ground regarding hill-clearing activities. He said the information could be systematically collated and made available for the public to view.
Rexy told the New Sunday Times that the idea emerged that it would be useful to collate and map such information to provide a comprehensive picture of the scale and extent of such activities.
He said the information, which was properly documented by PHW, could complement the monitoring activities carried out by the local council and other state authorities so as to provide evidence for taking appropriate action.
“Penang Forum intends to work hand in hand with the authorities in tackling the issue of unauthorised hill clearing and safeguard the important natural heritage of Penang.
Rexy said the public who could potentially provide such information included hikers, who frequented places that were not easily reached by vehicles, and residents affected by hill clearing.
“It is hoped that this information will benefit the state apparatus in monitoring remote and unchecked areas where hill clearing might happen.”
On how the people could relay information to PHW, Rexy said a detailed explanation would be given during the PHW official launch at the end of this month.
“In brief, the mechanism will involve people sending information (a photo of the clearing activity and the geo-location of where it happens) to PHW’s hotline, which the PHW team will verify before uploading onto the interactive map.”