Tag Archives: Perak

Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 3: For Wood, Water, and Wildlife

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Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 3: For Wood, Water, and Wildlife

Despite foresters and planters promising tight regulations in Perak, locals are protesting one of the biggest forest plantations in the state over fears of water security and wildlife attacks.

Writer: YH Law; Editor: SL Wong

Published: 11 July 2024

Part 1 | Part 2

(Omar Pandak (right) telling fellow villagers of Kampung Bukit Chermin about the forest plantations coming to Kledang Saiong forest reserve in Perak. | Pic by YH Law)

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Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 2: Faster Replanting Needed

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Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 2: Faster Replanting Needed

By 2021, at least half of forest reserve sites cleared for forest plantations in Peninsular Malaysia were not replanted. Since then, Kelantan has sped up its replanting, but Pahang remains a laggard.

Writer: YH Law; Editor: SL Wong

Published: 10 July 2024

Part 1Part 3

(Batai saplings dot a site in the Krau forest reserve that was cleared for a forest plantation. | Pic by YH Law)

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Conserving Arowanas Needs More Than Releasing Fish

The Asian arowana is a fish, a paradox, and an ongoing test of how commercial trade of an endangered animal could help conserve it.  

The fish, once a common food fish for locals from Cambodia to Indonesia, shot to stardom among pet fish enthusiasts and was hunted to rarity in rivers and lakes. But fish breeders learned to rear Asian arowanas in muddy ponds. Every year, hundreds of thousands of farmed Asian arowanas are exported worldwide, many of them from Malaysia.

(Feature image: A golden Asian arowana. | Photo by Eric Chiang/Macaranga)

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Empangan di Negeri Perak Ancam Keramat Batu dan Perkuburan Moyang

Beberapa siri empangan kecil berikutan peralihan hijau negeri Perak cetuskan bantahan komuniti Orang Asli. Diterjemah oleh Shazni Bhai.

PERJALANAN pacuan empat roda melambung-lambung sepanjang laluan berliku mendaki Gunung Korbu di negeri Perak. Empat puluh minit ke pedalaman terdapat binaan konkrit didirikan berketinggian 5 meter atau hampir 2 tingkat.

Binaan itu adalah sebuah empangan hidro elektrik mini, yang akan dikerah bagi menjana 7 megawatt (MW) tenaga boleh diperbaharui untuk grid kuasa elektrik.

Ini adalah salah satu empangan hidro elektrik mini yang akan dibina di seluruh negeri ini. Walau pun bertujuan untuk memenuhi komitmen tenaga boleh diperbaharui kerajaan, konflik dengan komuniti Orang Asli dilihat makin meningkat.

(Imej utama: Tenaga boleh diperbaharui dijana oleh empangan hidro mini di Sungai Korbu, namun untuk siapa dan apa korbannya? | Foto: Ashley Yeong)

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Perak Dams Threaten Stone Spirits and Ancestral Graves

A series of small dams that is part of Perak’s green transition is making Orang Asli communities go up in arms.

IT IS A bumpy truck ride along the winding path up Gunung Korbu in Perak. Forty minutes in, a concrete structure stands 5 m, or nearly 2 floors, tall. This structure is a mini hydroelectric dam, tasked to generate 7 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy for the electricity grid.    

This is one of the mini hydroelectric dams to be built throughout the state. While helping to meet the state’s renewable energy commitments, they appear to be in increasing conflict with Orang Asli communities.

(Feature photo: Renewable energy is generated by the Sungai Korbu mini hydro dam, but for whom and at what cost? | Image: Ashley Yeong)

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Unlocking Rare Earth Riches in Malaysia

The world wants a lot more rare earths to power its green technology and meet climate goals. This offers lucrative opportunities for Malaysia to tap into its subterranean rare earth deposits of 16.1 billion tonnes. But first, the country wants to develop guidelines for a rare earth mining method said to be safer for the environment. Can Malaysia produce rare earths for the world’s green technology, and keep itself clean too?

(Image: A rare earth mining  facility in Perak; satellite image taken in January 2022. | Image: Google Earth)

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Minute Land Snail (Whittenia vermiculum)

Species: Whittenia vermiculum (Gastropoda: Diplommanitidae) *

Known Range: Gunung Rapat limestone hill, Malaysia

Size: (Adult) 1.0 – 1.5 millimeters

Interviewed: Foon Junn Kitt, malacologist

(Photo: Whittenia vermiculum by Foon Junn Kitt)

HOW IS this a snail, and not just a tiny, whitish, swirly plastic tube? Even its species name, vermiculum, means ‘wormy’ in Latin, which aptly describes the snail’s shell.

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