POLLUTION WILL KILL TOURISM IN SABAH

PKR Sabah Secretary – Dr Roland Chia who is also PKR Central Council member urged both Federal Ministry of Plantations Industries and Commodities and the Federal Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of whom the Minister and Deputy Minister are Sabahans and also the State Ministry of Environment and Tourism to stop playing the “BLAME GAME” and immediately come together to resolve the perennial problem of worsening pollution of all the affected rivers in Sabah especially the Kinabatangan River the longest river in the state of Sabah.

This perennial pollution is also hurting the tourism industry in Sabah which has raked in a whopping amount RM5 Billion in the year 2011. This problem will definitely see revenue generated by tourism to disappear rapidly. Revenue from tourism comes in 2nd after royalties from Oil, Gas & Timber to the state coffers.

Tourist locally and from abroad paid top dollar to come to watch the Kinabatangan Wildlife were upset to see the black gooey substance flowing near the boats. Such black gooey substance will definitely hurt and kill the wildlife. Many tourism related economic activities especially the villagers will definitely be deprived of their livelihood derived from tourism.

The main culprit of the source of pollution is the indiscreetly dumping of POME – Palm Oil Mill Effluents. It is believed that only 25% of the hundred over palm oil mills in Sabah managed to pass the MPOA guidelines in processing POME.

The worsening pollution due to Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) that has caused high levels of Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD3) as high as 55% has threatened the lives of myriad of iconic wildlife such as proboscis monkeys, orang utans, pygamy elephants and birds along the Kinabatangan river.

It is also believed that other source contributing to the high levels of BOD3 are generated by population areas, human activity including lodges and resorts and other forms of agriculture. In the other parts of Sabah, angry poor villagers in Sook and Keningau has reported of the POME all of a sudden had wiped out their fresh water fish tagal system, clean water for drinking, cooking, bathing, gardening, irrigation and livestock.

In short – what POME can do to the river is take dissolved oxygen out of the water of a river, all aerobic fish, prawns and other aquatic life, will die. After it has emptied out all the dissolved oxygen, anaerobic bacteria take over and turn the river into a foul smelling torrent of toxic water filled with deadly chemicals: ammonia and hydrogen sulphide. If a stream, creek or river is relatively small, palm oil mill effluents (Pome) will kill it swiftly, turning it into a dead zone overnight.

It is the onus of The Ministry of Plantations Industries and Commodities to exercise authority to shut down and suspend licenses of errant millers however on the other hand the recommendations must come from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to enforce and control the environment. - Sabahkini