1. Peninsular Malaysia has more than 100 recreational forests, including Forest Parks. Though they were established from the logged-over forests, their biodiversity is diverse and rich. These forests contai both the ecosystem diversity and species diversity.
2. The state of Johor has 6, Kedah (25), Kelantan (3), Melaka (4), Negeri Sembilan (14), Pahang (24), Perak (13), Perlis (4), Pulau Pinang (3), Selangor (7), Terengganu (13) and Federal Territory (1). Just imagine Kelantan with a big population has only three in comparison with Melaka and Perlis which ah less the 400,000 populations. As I told a friend, the Kelantanese also suffer from urban stress and they love to visit recreational forests to create themselves, als they have a choice of three only.
3. Recreational forests as a functional forest class under the Protection Forest have a role to play in biodiversity conservation. They have a great potential to be developed as one of the high-end recreational areas for they offer many amenities to the stressed public.
4. In addition, the biodiversity within them are diverse and rich and many of them have not been evaluated for the biodiversity content. I remember I was told that Costus oligophyllus and Vatica yeechongii, the former is a new record and the latter is a new species are collected in the vicinity of recreational forest in Selangor.
5. I hereby urge the Forestry Department in the respective states either to establish more such forests or dod some ecologicxal evaluation in order to harness their potential value, in line with look beyond the logs slogan as stated by the former DG, Dato' Zul
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2 comments:
Pakteh
i do believed that creating more recreational forest have pro and contra...i experienced visited most recreational park that easily reach by local visitor always spoiled with rubbish n dirty... I thought our local mentality on protecting environment cleanliness still poor...
Dear Khairil
If the recreational forests are littered with waste, rubbish and other materials, it is NOT the result of establishing more of them. Those who litter are every where even in the university campus, Bandar Baru Bangi and Putrajaya where educated people are found. The recreational forests are meant for recreation and related activities. As more people are stressed by urbanisation they would flock to rural areas and recreational sites.
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