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The Sun
14-05-2025
- General
- The Sun
Call for immediate halt to wildlife threatening projects
PETALING JAYA: The federal government has been urged to immediately halt road projects that threaten Malaysia's increasingly fragile wildlife populations and forest ecosystems. Environmental watchdog RimbaWatch has called for a stop to ongoing and proposed developments that cut through sensitive habitats, warning that they accelerate biodiversity loss. The call follows Sunday's tragic roadkill involving an elephant calf fatally struck by a lorry on the East-West Highway. Heart-wrenching footage showed an adult elephant, believed to be the calf's mother, standing guard over the body until she was sedated and relocated. RimbaWatch has tracked multiple road projects since 2020 that threaten ecologically sensitive areas. 'In 2022, two environmental impact assessments were approved for a 52km road from Pasir Raja, Terengganu to the Pahang border. 'The road will cut through the Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tiger Reserve, a key habitat for endangered species such as the Malayan tiger, clouded leopard, marbled cat, Asian elephant and Malayan tapir. 'A similar concern was raised over a 2023 project to build a 15km road from Kampung Gagu to Ulu Beranang in Negeri Sembilan, which will cut through the Titiwangsa Range and the Gapau and Lenggeng Permanent Forest Reserves,' it said in a statement, warning that such projects threaten wildlife corridors, increase roadkill risks and cause long-term habitat damage. The group also highlighted that human-animal conflicts have already materialised from the expansion of roads into these two areas. In 2022, a tiger was spotted on a newly built road near Kg Mat Daling 3. In April 2025, a black panther mauled a lorry driver who had briefly stopped his vehicle by the roadside in Bukit Tangga, on an existing road which also dissects the Gapau and Lenggeng Forest Reserves. RimbaWatch said building highways through sensitive protected areas will inevitably lead to deforestation, disrupt wildlife movement and put endangered species at risk of roadkill, human-wildlife conflict and poaching. It also urged authorities to prioritise sustainable transport by improving public transit connectivity outside major cities, including reviving historical rail lines and utilising existing infrastructure corridors for new networks. 'We also question the effectiveness of constructing new highways through mountain ranges as a means to address connectivity issues. For example, the Kampung Gagu-Ulu Beranang road is parallel to an already existing road. 'Instead, in the past, smaller towns such as Kuala Sepetang, Port Dickson and Kuala Pilah were connected via rail, and this can provide an effective template to promote greater connectivity through establishing a safe, fast and affordable rail network outside cities.' Meanwhile, Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad advocates creating ecological corridors to connect wildlife habitats, especially for elephants, including in plantations and forest areas. He also proposed building an elephant sanctuary covering at least 10,000ha and installing street lights at key elephant crossing points, highlighting the ongoing struggle between development and nature. A 2016 study showed that elephant habitats have shrunk by 68% due to land use for agriculture, plantations and infrastructure. From 2020 to 2024, the Wildlife and National Parks Department received 4,919 complaints of human-elephant conflict, with estimated property losses of RM39.4 million. In the last five years, eight elephants were killed in road crashes in Peninsular Malaysia, three of them this year.
Daily Express
13-05-2025
- General
- Daily Express
RimbaWatch urges halt to road projects threatening wildlife habitats
Published on: Tuesday, May 13, 2025 Published on: Tue, May 13, 2025 By: FMT Reporters Text Size: RimbaWatch highlighted several road projects that will allegedly cut through the Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tiger Reserve as well as the Titiwangsa Range through the Gapau and Lenggeng permanent forest reserves. (File pic) PETALING JAYA: An environmental watchdog has called for a halt to several projects that allegedly cut through sensitive wildlife habitats following the death of a baby elephant in a collision along the East-West Highway in Gerik, Perak, on Sunday. In a statement, RimbaWatch asked the government to immediately issue a permanent stop-work order for the road projects and other similar projects that would allegedly extend across sensitive ecosystems. It highlighted three environmental impact assessments: two approved by the department of environment in 2022, and another for road projects approved in 2023. It said that in 2022, approval was granted for the construction of Phase 3A of Jalan Kampung Pasir Raja in Hulu Dungun, as well as Zone A of Jalan Kampung Mat Daling in Jerantut, both leading to the Terengganu-Pahang border. It said these involved a 52km road which would cut through the Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tiger Reserve, intended to be a core habitat for numerous wild cat species including the Malayan tiger, as well as other endangered species such as the Asian elephant and Malayan Tapir. 'The area has been protected under 'hutan perlindungan' status for some time, and RimbaWatch believes this to be a virgin forest which has never been logged before,' it said. The 2023 approval meanwhile was for a new road from Kampung Gagu in Ulu Beranang, Negeri Sembilan, involving a 15km road that would cut through the Titiwangsa Range through the Gapau and Lenggeng permanent forest reserves, it said. 'Human-animal conflict has already materialised from the expansion of roads into these areas. In 2022, a tiger was spotted on a newly-built road near Kampung Mat Daling. 'In April, a black panther mauled a lorry driver who had briefly stopped his vehicle by the roadside in Bukit Tangga, on an existing road which also dissects the Gapau and Lenggeng forest reserves,' RimbaWatch said. It said there was no way to build highways through highly sensitive protected areas without causing deforestation, severely hindering wildlife connectivity, and exposing endangered species to danger through roadkill, human-wildlife conflict, and poaching. 'We also question the effectiveness of constructing new highways through mountain ranges as a solution to connectivity issues. For example, the Kampung Gagu-Ulu Beranang road is parallel to an already existing road,' it added. The watchdog urged Putrajaya to instead improve public transport connectivity outside main cities, including by reviving historical rail lines and establishing new networks on, or adjacent to, existing infrastructural right of ways. It said that in the past, smaller towns such as Kuala Sepetang, Port Dickson, and Kuala Pilah had been connected via rail, which could provide an effective template to promote greater connectivity through establishing a safe, fast, and affordable rail network outside cities. * Follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram and/or WhatsApp channel(s) for the latest news you don't want to miss. * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
