NGO disputes claim Tasik Chini has been rehabilitated

 

The environmental NGO Persatuan Aktivis Sahabat Alam (Kuasa) has disputed the claim that environmental degradation surrounding Tasik Chini has already been rehabilitated.

On its Facebook page, Kuasa posted satellite images, taken on May 30 and June 4 this year, showing that the land just south of the lake is still barren.

“Some parties claimed that the area has been rehabilitated and reforested, and the photos that were previously circulated (above) are old photos.

“However, the latest pictures show this is not the case. There are clearly mining areas to the south of the lake,” Kuasa said.

The NGO added that although 4,900 hectares at Tasik Chini have been gazetted as a permanent forest reserve in 2019, the reserve area does not cover the entire lake, particularly to its north, south and west.

“The Pahang government should take seriously the rehabilitation of this Unesco biosphere reserve and stop existing projects that are unsustainable, as well as gazette the entire lake and surrounding areas as protected areas – particularly as permanent forest reserves and state park forests,” it said.

Malaysiakini’s own checks via a different satellite imagery source found the area to the south of the lake to be scarcely vegetated. This stretches all the way from the lake’s southern bank to the Tasik Chini Felda settlement, about five kilometres away.

The image from the US-based Planet Labs Inc was taken throughout the month of May this year and combined in such a way to minimise the presence of cloud cover.

When compared to images taken two years ago, in June 2019, it appears that there has been little improvement in the area.

However, there are some signs of regrown vegetation in other deforested areas near the lake, especially in the previously logged areas to the north of the lake.

The difference is most apparent when viewing near-infrared false colour images taken by the satellites, which highlights dense vegetation in dark red. Malaysiakini is unable to determine whether this is the result of natural regrowth or rehabilitation efforts.

On Wednesday, the local MP, Najib Abdul Razak, said a recently circulated photo of mining activities at Tasik Chini was actually taken two years ago.

“Based on preliminary information I received from related parties, some steps measures been planned and have been implemented to resolve and restore the situation since two years ago.

“I will update the latest situation after I have been given a full briefing in a day or two,” Najib said on Facebook.

He also shared a New Straits Times report dated Feb 23, 2019, on illegal land clearing and mining activities around the lake. The report says the activities had begun years ago, but had got worse.

Meanwhile, responding to the Pahang Department of Environment’s statement that the water at the lake is still clean, Kuasa said the lake’s water quality should not be viewed in isolation but as part of an ecosystem.

“How could the lake’s ecosystem be preserved if the surrounding reserve areas are destroyed just like that?

“Based on our survey at Tasik Chini in 2017, the Jakun tribespeople themselves informed that the lake has long been contaminated with fertilisers from oil palm plantations and mining wastes, and this caused the native plants to be displaced by new, invasive plants.

“Their children swimming in the lake would suffer itches, and the number of fish were also falling and becoming contaminated.

“The lake is also at risk of gradually becoming shallower due to sedimentation of mining waste at the lakebed, which could speed up the drying up of the lake,” it said.

Kuasa also claimed that there is nothing new to environmental disturbances around Tasik Chini.

In the 1990s, it said a dam had been built to maintain the depth of the lake during dry seasons. This caused plants at the lake’s banks to die off as the water level rose.

Last week, Malaysiakini reported that the Pahang government had given approval to a royalty-linked company to carry out mining operations three kilometres away from the lake, prompting outrage from environmentalists.

The report led to worrisome speculations over water quality in Tasik Chini due to the deforestation and mining activities around the lake.

Tasik Chini and its surrounding forests were recognised as a Unesco biosphere reserve in 2009. - Mkini