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CONSERVATION
@ Forest | July-August , 2021
It ’ s up to us
The preservation of the Malayan Tiger should be a nationalistic effort
BY FATIHAH MANAF
IN CONJUNCTION with their Global Climate Conference , Rotary International Malaysia held a series of weekly webinars leading to the day of the event . The sessions were jointly organised by the Rotarians , members of District Action Group on Environmental Sustainability ( DAGES ) Malaysia , Rotaractors and Interactors .
According to Datuk Bindi Rajasegaran , a Rotarian , the series was set to feature many imminent speakers who would talk on a myriad of topics . She stated the main objective of the series and conference was to create more awareness and have more youth involvement in environmental sustainability as they were the future game-changers .
In its first webinar session , the series featured Shah Redza Hussein , the General Manager of the Perak State Parks Corporation , to talk about Belum Forest and Tiger Conservation .
The session , which took about one and a half hours , gathered almost 200 participants from all around the world , including Cape Town , South Africa .
Royal Belum State Park
“ The only way to access this park is by boats . All visitors need to get permits and go through our forest rangers ,”
shared Shah Redza , an economist turned conservationist .
The Royal Belum State Park is in Perak and is under the management of Perak State Park Corporation .
Shah said : “ This forest is among the oldest and pristine tropical rainforests in the world . It is estimated to be over 130 million years , making it older than the Amazon and Congo Basin . It is a critical global area for biodiversity .”
Home to flora and fauna
Being the second-largest protected area in Peninsular Malaysia , this rainforest is home to many species of flora and fauna . Shah shared that at least 3,000 species of plants , 320 species of birds and 120 mammal species had been documented so far in the area . He also added that 12 out of 13 large mammals of Peninsular Malaysia were found in Royal Belum .
“ From the species perspective , Belum Forest has four times more species of odd mammals than the whole Europe .
“ Royal Belum is also the only place in Malaysia where three species of rafflesia which are Raffllesia azlani , Rafflesia kerrii and Rafflesia cantleyi grow at one site .”
He shared the park neighbours Bang Lang National Park and Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary , Thailand . The conservationist stated that together with these two protected areas , Royal Belum formed a contiguous forest which makes them the most extensive contiguous protected area in Southeast Asia .
He explained that contiguous forest is the same type of forest that is intact and