Expert: Replacing forests with LTCs destroys biodiversity
GUA MUSANG: Conversion of natural forests to latex timber clone (LTC) plantations completely destroys an area's natural biodiversity and ecology and could wipe out endemic species altogether, said environment and forestry expert Lim Teck Wyn.
"We are talking about thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of species.
"Some are known to be rare, some found only in Kelantan and some only in one specific location.
"If we destroy a locality like that, there is a possibility that the plant would be made extinct immediately," he warned.
In addition, he said plantations contained very little minor forest produce, such as rattan or bamboo natural resources that the orang asli depend on.
He noted that the law currently allowed forests to be cleared as long as it was replanted with "timber producing trees".
It would then still be considered a forest reserve, despite the fact that LTCs would drastically change the character of the forest, he said.
"In Peninsular Malaysia, there are plans to create more than 400,000ha of LTCs, while I hear almost 200,000ha has been planned in Kelantan," he said.
Lim claimed that some of the clearing work done in Kelantan was a violation of the guidelines, with scant regard for the hill slope degree or an environmental impact assessment.
He said very few animals could live in plantations as well, which further affect orang asli villages throughout the area.
"The orang asli don't just live on a dot on the map.
"They live in a more complicated system which encompasses the forest surroundings," he said.
-The STAR-
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