Terengganu’s Lesson for Other States

SETIU: Terengganu has set the benchmark for mangrove conservation, and other state governments should follow its example.

Ideally, the state’s community-based conservation project should be implemented nationwide, said Richard Lette, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.

The UNDP is willing to work with state governments to initiate similar projects like the one in Terengganu.

The mangrove conservation project here began last year and involves residents of three villages – Kampung Gong Batu, Kampung Fikri and Kampung Saujana.

A three-hectare area will be replanted with the mangrove species Rhizophora apiculata or bakau minyak.

The project is funded by Petra Perdana Bhd, an oil and gas service provider, and supervised by the UNDP with technical support from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu.

“The consequences of cutting down mangroves became evident during the tsunami of Dec 26, 2004,” said Lette after visiting the site to start the second phase of the project in which 1,000 seedlings were planted.

“I would like to see a conservation project like this in each kampung or district.

“But most importantly, we need to get the community involved. This way we can educate the younger generation. Some of them feel that preserving the environment is a silly idea.”

In the third phase scheduled to begin next year, a co-operative will be set up to manage the site.

Lette also urged the private sector to learn to understand the environment and play a bigger role in promoting conservation for sustainable development.

He also suggested that the federal government initiate an annual league table to rank states according to their contributions to the preservation of the environment.

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