LETTERS: I want to stress that any rules made to degazette a forest land must be duly approved and made known to the public.
This also means that every Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report should be made public and accounted for.
Recently, 536.7 hectares of the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve (KLNFR) were degazetted for development by the Selangor Government.
Luckily there were some good and responsible assemblymen and others who fought against the destruction of the forest, forcing the state government to call a halt to the plans.
But, for how long will this last? We must not disturb the forest reserve and enforce the rules to stop any encroachement. Mind you, KLNFR has the only Langar Red Fighting Fish. There is also the issue about the survival of the Orang Asli there.
These forests are mainly made up of peatland swamps and home to many endangered species including meranti bunga, meranti bakau, the sun bear and clouded leopard.
Always remember there are consequences of destroying forest reserves which are the heart of ecological and biodiversity of a country.
We have lost many of our endangered animals due to mismanagement and deforestation such as the Malayan Tiger, Malayan Tapir, Borneo Orangutan, Asia Elephant and Black Shrew.
On the flora front we have endangered species like the Pitcher Plant, Giam Kanching (Hopea Susbalata) and Moss plant. Not to mention that our song birds are being illegally poached and sold to foreign countries.
I sincerely hope that all of us will continue to question and tell our assemblymen and members of parliament to not support any moves that would lead to the destruction of the environment.
Arivoo Selvadurai
Rawang, Selangor
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times