Preface

Here in front lies the organization review on REACH. It provides information about
the aims of the organization and in which way the committee runs it. Furthermore,
recommendations are made to help REACH in improving their organization.
This review forms the starting point for the research carried out for REACH,
described in the report “Soil erosion in Cameron Highlands; an erosion rate study”.
The research supports the objective of the organization.

Working together with such a group of committed volunteers with a lot of care for
the environment in Cameron Highlands was a privilege. Thank you!

Brinchang, 23rd July 2006

Renata Fortuin

Saxion Hogeschool Deventer, The Netherlands

Faculty of Spatial Planning and Built Environment
Study on Environmental Technology

Contact:
Phone no: +31624888799
E-mail: renatafortuin@gmail.com

R.E.A.C.H. needs support and assistance from individuals who can

contribute their expertise or help in carrying out its activities.

R.E.A.C.H. needs a helping hand – YOURS!

 Table of contents

Page

1. R.E.A.C.H. …………………………………………………………… 3
1.1 Aim, objectives and believes ……………………………… 3
1.2 R.E.A.C.H. logo …………………………………………………… 3
1.3 R.E.A.C.H. office ………………………………………………… 4

2. Organization structure ………………………………………… 5

2.1 The committee …………………………………………………… 5
2.2 Sub-committees ………………………………………………… 6
2.3 Decision making …………………………………………………… 6
2.4 Membership ………………………………………………………… 6

3. Activities …………………………………………………………… 8

4. S.W.O.T. analysis ………………………………………………… 10

5. Recommendations ……………………………………………… 11

Appendices …………………………………………………………… 12

Appendix 1: Location Brinchang ……………………………………………… 13

Appendix 2: Location REACH office …………………………………… 14
Appendix 3: Organization chart ……………………………………………… 15
 1. R.E.A.C.H.

Several residents of the Cameron Highlands officially registered Regional

Environmental Awareness Cameron Highlands (R.E.A.C.H.) on The 6th of September
in the year 2001. They discovered a huge landslide near Gunung Brinchang. They
went up to see what could have caused this. When they got to the source of it, they
saw it was caused by illegal agricultural activities taking place on the mountain hills.
They highlighted this to the local authorities and the farmer was compounded RM
500 by the district office. Later he was charged in the Magistrate Court and they
gave him a penalty of RM 4,000, which was later increased to RM 10,000 by the High
Court. After this occasion the local residents established REACH because they were
concerned about the quality and rate of development in the Cameron Highlands.
They have seen that the illegal clearings caused water pollution and other
degradation of the natural environment and they wanted to do something about this
problem. On the 6th of September in the year 2001, REACH was born.

1.1 Aim, objectives and believes

Aim
The preservation, restoration and maintenance of the Cameron Highlands as an
environmentally sustainable agriculture and hill resort with quality drinking water,
maintaining the natural resources and the natural heritage within a permanent
nature reserve.

Objectives
(a) To maintain a balance between environmental protection and development
and to safeguard water catchment areas as a vital resource both for supply to
the highlands and the lowlands as well as for hydroelectric power.
(b) To promote and support projects, including raising funds, in pursuit of the
aims and objectives of the Society, with the prior approval of the authority
concern.

Believes
REACH believes that in order to achieve its objectives, participation and support from
the Cameron Highlands' community is needed. REACH runs its activities by co-
operating with the Local Authorities, Schools, Business entities, the public and YOU!!!

1.2 R.E.A.C.H. logo

The logo is circle in shape and inside there is a single

flower representing the orchid Dendrobium
brinchangense, which is yellow in color. Its
background is a mountain range set against the blue
sky. Above the circle is the abbreviation R.E.A.C.H.
with the full name of the society “Regional
Environmental Awareness Cameron Highlands” written
below the circle.

The logo is made up of four main colors. The

representation of symbols and colors are as follows:
Flower - Dendrobium brinchangense was first recorded in Gunung Brinchang. It
is an endangered orchid species that is endemic to the Cameron
Highlands. The flower is fragile as well as delicate and this symbolizes
the fragile ecosystem of our highlands.

Petals - Each petal represents nature, culture, heritage, socio-economy and

development.

Yellow - Represents the ray of sunlight that is essential for the continuation of
life. The lighter tone used serves as a sign of warning that it might
diminish if not taken care of.

Green - Represents the highland forests and its biodiversity. The highland
forest has a wealth of recorded and unrecorded treasures yet to be
discovered.

Blue - Represents the cool clean air and water of the highlands and the
importance of our highland forest that serves as a water catchment.

Orange - The central focus of the society is to maintain a balance between all of
the elements to achieve a sustainable future.

R.E.A.C.H - The acronym encircling the logo signifies that the society will take the
lead in addressing environmental issues while creating awareness
among the community.

1.3 R.E.A.C.H. office

The R.E.A.C.H. office is located on the main road in Brinchang in the Cameron
Highlands.1 You can find the Cameron Highlands in the state Pahang of Peninsular
Malaysia. The committee members meet each other on Wednesdays in the office to
discuss the activities and other topics. There is a library section, which contains all
relevant documents to the REACH organization. The room also contains some display
facilities while it also has a storage function. The office includes computer facilities
with possibilities to use the Internet, to print documents and to scan files.

R.E.A.C.H. Office
No. 1, Jalan Besar,
39100 Brinchang,
Cameron Highlands,
Pahang Darul Makmur, MALAYSIA.

Mobile number: +6012 - 589 8684 (Hotline)

Office number: +605 - 491 5832
E-mail: reach@reach.org.my
Website: http://www.reach.org.my

1
For exact location see appendix 1 and 2
 2. Organization structure

2.1 The committee

The Society is a community-based organization, managed by elected committee

members on a voluntary, non-profit basis. They are elected at the Annual General
Meeting (AGM) once in every two years and they are called the office-bearers of the
society. The committee members must all be fulltime Malaysian citizens above 21
years old. The committee members comprising of local community representatives
meet weekly at the society’s premises to plan, organize and implement various
activities including talks, exhibitions, camping trips, slide shows for the general
public and members.
The committee consists of:

- A President
The President shall during his term of office preside at all general meetings and all
meetings of the Committee and shall be responsible for the proper conduct of all
such meetings. He shall have a second and casting vote and shall sign the minutes of
each meeting at the same time they are approved. He shall, in conjunction with the
Secretary and Treasurer, sign all cheques on behalf of the Society.

- A Vice President
The Vice-President shall deputize for the President during the latter’s absence. In the
case when both the President and the Vice-President are absent the Committee may
appoint a proxy to chair the meeting.

- A secretary
The Secretary shall conduct the business of the Society in accordance with the rules,
and shall carry out the instructions of the general meeting and of the Committee. He
shall be responsible for conducting all correspondence and keeping of all books,
documents and papers except for the accounts and financial records. He shall attend
all meetings and record all proceedings consisting of details such as name and
membership number. In conjunction with the President, he or the Treasurer shall
sign all cheques on behalf of the Society.

- An Assistant Secretary
The Assistant Secretary shall assist the Secretary in carrying out his duties and shall
act for him in his absence.

- A Treasurer
The Treasurer shall be responsible for the finances of the Society. He shall keep
accounts of all its financial transactions and shall be responsible for their correctness.
In conjunction with the President, he or the Secretary shall sign all cheques on
behalf of the Society.

- Nine (9) Ordinary Committee Members

- Three (3) Ordinary Committee Members to be appointed by the President

The Ordinary Committee Members shall carry out such duty as directed by the
President or the Committee.

For an organization chart on REACH, see appendix 3.

2.2 Sub-committees

All 16 members within the REACH committee are divided over following sub-
committees:

Water resources committee

This sub-committee will focus on the river water quality and increasing awareness
among people on this topic. This is done by organizing talks and by taking water
samples to test the water quality. Also Adopt-A-River project and CSI (Community
Stream Investigation) is under their responsibility. In these projects groups of
volunteers can test the water quality of a certain river in Cameron Highlands. CSI is
only one testing event while Adopt-A-River is more about monitoring. These
volunteer groups can be students, community people, tourists, REACH members or
other interested people.

Recycling committee
This sub-committee is brought into existence because of the indiscriminate dumping
of trash in Cameron Highlands. This sub-committee creates awareness among local
residents on recycling. Their slogan: “Thrown together it is trash. Separate it is
cash.” When people separate soft plastic, hard plastic, glass, paper and aluminium
cans they can get money for it when they bring it to collection centers. At this
moment REACH is trying to build a compactor site and together with increasing
awareness among people by having talks; they try to contribute something in order
to solve the waste problem.

Reforestation committee
Reforestation is all about planting tree samples on cleared areas to reduce soil
erosion rates. Talks on this topic are given to all kinds of groups and volunteers are
taken to the reforestation sites to plant trees. This increases awareness on land
clearing problems in Cameron Highlands and on possible mitigation measures. On
average in the period between February and July 2006, there was a reforestation day
every month.

Merchandise committee
As the name gives away: REACH has merchandise to sell to interested people.
Selling t-shirts, postcards, caps, car stickers and key chains provide REACH with
some income while most of the income is gained from donations.

Exhibition committee
Also exhibitions are held in Cameron Highlands organized by this committee. Posters
and pictures displayed in a public place and explanations are given to visitors to
increase awareness on issues in Cameron Highlands.

2.3 Decision making

Every first and third Wednesday of the month all committee members gather at the
REACH office in Brinchang. During these meetings topics are discussed following the
minutes from last meeting. All organized activities are discussed together with ideas
for new activities. Although REACH already has around 400 members, numbers are
still rising. Every meeting new memberships are discussed because they have to be
approved by the committee.
The function of the committee is to organize and supervise the day-to-day activities
of the Society and to make decisions on matters affecting its running within the
general policy laid down by the general meeting. The committee may not act
contrary to the expressed wishes of the general meeting without the prior references
to it and shall always remain subordinate to the general meeting. It shall furnish a
report to each biennial general meeting on its activities during the previous year.
For meetings, at least half of the committee members must be present for valid
proceedings and constitute a quorum. At least half of the members of the Committee
must indicate whether they are in favour or against a proposal before it can be
approved. Decision-making within the REACH organization is taken by voting. A
proposal by one of the committee members during a meeting must be approved and
then seconded by another committee member before a decision is taken.

2.4 Membership

REACH has currently around 400 members, which can be divided over different
memberships, namely:

Full member
Membership shall be open to all Malaysian citizens born, residing, working or own
property in the Cameron Highlands above 18 years of age or;
Group Membership may be opened to lawfully constituted Body not less than ten
members duly registered with the Registrar of Companies Malaysia, operating in
Cameron Highlands.

Associate member
Any other individual as stated under “full member” or any other concerned individual
or group may choose to become an “Associate member of the Society” without any
voting rights and they shall pay half the subscription of full members. Associate
members do not have voting rights.

Outstation member
Outstation Membership shall be open to all Malaysian citizens above 18 years of age
who live outside of Cameron Highlands.

Student member
Student membership shall be opened to all people under the age of eighteen and full
time students. Full time students over eighteen years old shall be required to
produce proof of studentship. University or University College students shall not be
admitted as members without the prior written permission of the Vice Chancellor
concern. Students below the age of eighteen must obtain prior written permission of
their parent(s)/guardian before they are admitted as members. Student members do
not have voting rights.
 3. Activities

In order to achieve the objective of the organization, many activities are organized.
Underneath all activities carried out this moment within the REACH organization are
explained.

Environmental monitoring and surveillance

This activity is carried out by REACH members and is not an activity for outside
volunteer groups. The members go round in Cameron Highlands to spot changes in
the landscape that are further aggravating the environmental situation. Sometimes
the press is called to do an item on the situation in Cameron Highlands, but most of
the time the problems are highlighted to local authorities. Some of the focuses of
monitoring and surveillance:

Illegal land clearing and hill cutting

Use of heavy machinery to clear land

Indiscriminate water tapping

Indiscriminate dumping of waste

Illegal collection of plants and intrusion into forest reserves

Data collection and educational activities

To increase awareness on the situation in Cameron Highlands, data has to be
gathered and talks have to be given. REACH already has identified over 600 species
of orchids, 150 species of ferns and 250 species of birds in Cameron Highlands.
Furthermore educational talks on all kind of topics about the environment are given
to very diverse kind of groups such as farmers, tourists, school children and the
general public. Nature walks with explanations of ecology concepts are also
organized to show the natural environment, the heritage REACH tries to protect.
Insect talks are given with emphasis on the role of insects in the ecological system.
Also specific talks can be given on demand on topics as fern identification and
botanical illustration for example.

Reforestation
Reforestation is initiated in partnership with the Forestry Department and is one of
the REACH core activities. Volunteer groups are brought to the reforestation sites to
let them plant trees. Two different techniques are used to provide the cleared areas
with a new forest cover. In the first process indirect planting is applied where soil
and seedlings are collected in order to nurture the seedlings at the nursery before
they are planted. After planting the seedlings are monitored to see if they survive.
The second technique of reforestation is direct planting. In this process holes are dug
and lined with organic base. Seedlings are gathered from the vicinity and replanted
in the holes. Species like Geruk spp., Eugenia spp., Symingtonia spp., Rhododendron
spp. And Medang are planted.
A new reforestation project is the planting of Tree Ferns along the roadside. This fern
is typical for Cameron Highlands and is planted to increase awareness among people
on reforestation projects because the roadside is a place where they can see the
activity. Another reason for initiating this project is because of local authorities. They
are planting palms along the roadside, which do not survive well because they are
not indigenous to highlands. To show the good example, the beautiful montane
species is planted by the direct planting technique.
Recycling
Cameron Highlands generates about 30 tonnes of solid waste daily. REACH realizes
that this is another area where community participation will generate better
awareness of the solid waste problem. REACH tries to get more people involved with
recycling by telling them they gain something from it. Not only economical gain, but
also environmental gain will be explained to them. To achieve this objective, firstly
awareness is raised by giving practical demonstrations and by having talks. Health
and economic motivation is provided and pointed out, collection centers are
maintained, recyclables are transported and a compactor side is build under
guidance of REACH.
Furthermore, every week eco-runs are held by two dedicated REACH committee
members to collect all plastic bottles and aluminium cans they encounter. This
contributes greatly to increasing awareness among people.
Between October 2004 and December 2005, a total of 76,697 kg recyclables and RM
18,669.45 (€ 4058.58) were generated from the recycling programme.

Exhibitions
Currently REACH is planning a photographic exhibition entitled “Memories of
Cameron Highlands” which will feature over 250 black and white photographs from
the ‘40’s-‘60’s. Other topics of exhibitions can be:

Beauty of the highlands

Indiscriminate land-clearing and its consequences

Water problems in the highlands

Indiscriminate dumping of waste
 4. S.W.O.T. analysis

Here a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) analysis is presented on

REACH to provide more insight in the organization.

Strengths

Volunteer based; great dedication to solve environmental issues

Community based; locals know about what they are talking

Knowledgeable on many topics because of people with different expertise

Many connections to other parties; press, NGO’s, etc.

Respected and recognized as one of the highland protectors

Weakness

Volunteer based; so dependant of willingness of the community

Economic uncertainties as for donations can fluctuate

Volunteers are only specialized on their topic of interest

Opportunities

With current economic resources, new projects can be initiated

Become more scientific orientated

Increase returning volunteers to join activities

Professionalism can increased by intern schooling of committee members

Threats

Carrying out activities is not equally spread among committee members

Member loss due to insufficient stimulation

Member loss due to insufficient information on activities
 5. Recommendations

To help REACH improve their organization, following recommendations are made:

Build a shelter on the reforestation site on Gunung Brinchang

Reforestation projects have been carried out frequently the last few months.
During this time the equipment necessary for sample planting activities was left
unprotected on the site. This reduces the lifespan of the spades drastically.
Another problem on the reforestation site are the dry seasons in which samples
cannot survive without water. A rainwater vessel should be placed next to the
shelter for the spades. This makes it possible to water the samples in dry periods
to give them chances to survive.

Efforts to run activities should be divided more equally on committee

members
At this moment some committee members spend more time than others in
managing activities. The difference in efforts is alarming and poses a real threat
to the future of REACH. Committee members can be trained to become more
knowledgeable, which gives them the opportunity to run activities themselves.
When everything is more equally divided, REACH can run more activities at the
same time. The latter will speed up the process of increasing awareness and
gives Cameron Highlands a better chance to be saved.

Current R.E.A.C.H. members should be stimulated

Losing members will be bad for the organization. To keep members interested to
extend their membership the next year, only environmental motivation from their
side is not enough. Members should be stimulated to join activities or to suggest
new ones. Keeping them posted on progress of REACH and activities can do this.

Volunteers should be encouraged to come back

For example the IKEA and Mind Science group have more than one time
volunteered for REACH reforestation projects. Other volunteer groups should be
encouraged to come back for any kind of activity. Keeping them informed on
possibilities in activities is the key.

Become more scientifically orientated

Until now REACH already received several University students to do research for
them. When REACH becomes more scientifically based, this will attract more
researchers. Attracting students can also lighten efforts of committee members
to run activities because they can help. Students can contribute in increasing
awareness among people by doing research and giving talks about it.
Connections must be made between REACH and Universities in Malaysia and
other countries. Also increasing cooperation between REACH and NGO’s and
environmental organizations for example can help to attract more students.

Invest in new initiatives

Given the current financial situation, REACH can afford to spend more money on
new projects to increase awareness. The committee should discuss possibilities
on this topic.
Appendix 1: Location Brinchang
Appendix 2: Location R.E.A.C.H. office
Appendix 3: Organization chart

President/
Vice-president

Secretary Treasurer

Water Recycling Reforestation Merchandise Exhibition

Resources Committee Committee Committee Committee
Committee
"The threat of nuclear weapons and man's ability to destroy the environment
are really alarming. And yet there are other almost imperceptible changes - I
am thinking of the exhaustion of our natural resources, and especially of soil
erosion - and these are perhaps more dangerous still, because once we begin
to feel their repercussions it will be too late." (P144 of The Dalai Lama's Little
Book of Inner Peace: 2002, Element Books, London)
 6. Preface

Here in front lies the report ‘Soil erosion in Cameron Highlands; an Erosion Rate
Study of a Highland area’ written in assignment of REACH, in cooperation with
Saxion Hogescholen. The problems on the topic of soil erosion in highland areas will
be addressed based upon fieldwork and literature research. This report is written in
order to create more awareness among the local people about the soil erosion
problems. Furthermore the information given in this report supports the objectives of
the REACH organization. The research necessary to produce this report was executed
between the 13th of February and the 21st of July in the year 2006.

The executed fieldwork was made possible by George Theseira by helping me making
my first soil erosion plot and providing me with the equipment and materials. I want
to thank Tom Bruinsma for helping me making the second and third soil erosion rate
plot and giving me mental support. Kumar I want to thank for helping Tom on the
third soil erosion rate plot.
Many thanks go out to Dr. Liau for being there if I had questions about my research
and also for guiding me within the REACH organization.
Words of gratitude are meant for all REACH committee members for making this
internship possible, for their great care about the environment in Cameron Highlands
and for their great hospitality.
Last but not least, special thanks go out to Kali, Francis and Kumar for helping me
whenever I needed help and for taking me around teaching me a lot about Cameron
Highlands’ natural environment.

REACH: Please keep up the good work!

Brinchang, 22nd July 2006

Renata Fortuin

Saxion Hogeschool Deventer, The Netherlands

Faculty of Spatial Planning and Built Environment
Study on Environmental Technology

Contact:
Phone no: +31624888799
E-mail: renatafortuin@gmail.com
 7. Table of contents
Page

Summary 5

1. Introduction ………………………………………………………… 6
1.1 Scenario ……………………………………………………………………… 6
1.2 Objective ……………………………………………………………………… 6
1.3 Main Research Question ……………………………………………… 7
1.4 Research Methodology ……………………………………………… 7
1.5 Organization of the report ………………………………………… 7

2. Cameron Highlands ………………………………………………. 9

2.1 Physical environment ………………………………………………… 9
2.1.1 Topography…………………………………………………… 9
2.1.2 Geology ……………………………………………………… 9
2.1.3 Soils …………………………………………………………… 9
2.1.4 Climate ………………………………………………………… 10
2.1.4.1 Temperature ………………………………… 11
2.1.4.2 Climate Change …………………………… 11
2.1.4.3 Humidity ……………………………………… 12
2.1.4.4 Rainfall ………………………………………… 12
2.1.4.5 Sunshine and Solar Radiation …… 12
2.1.4.6 Surface Wind ……………………………… 12
2.1.4.7 Evaporation ………………………………… 12
2.1.5 Hydrology and Water Resources ……………… 13
2.1.5.1 Water catchment area ………………… 13
2.1.5.2 River water Quality ……………………… 13
2.1.6 Hydropower Development …………………………… 16
2.2 Biological Environment ……………………………………………… 14
2.2.1 Flora ……………………………………………………………… 14
2.2.2 Fauna …………………………………………………………… 16
2.3 Socio-Economic Environment …………………………………… 16
2.3.1 Population …………………………………………………… 16
2.3.2 Tourism ………………………………………………………… 17
2.3.3 Land Use ……………………………………………………… 17
2.3.4 Agriculture …………………………………………………… 18
2.3.5 Road System ……………………………………………… 20

3. Soil Erosion …………………………………………………………… 21

3.1 Soil erosion processes ………………………………………………… 21
3.2 Types of soil erosion …………………………………………………… 21
3.2.1 Tillage erosion ……………………………………………… 22
3.2.2 Water erosion ………………………………………………… 22
3.2.3 Mass movements ………………………………………… 24
3.3 Factors influencing soil erosion …………………………………… 25
3.3.1 Factors directly influencing soil erosion ……… 25
3.3.2 Factors indirectly influencing soil erosion …… 27
3.4 Consequences of soil erosion ……………………………………… 29
3.4.1 Flooding ………………………………………………………… 29
3.4.2 Sedimentation and hydropower generation … 29
 3.4.3 Pollution of water resources ………………………… 30
3.4.4 Landslides ……………………………………………………… 30
3.4.5 Forever-lost forests ……………………………………… 31
3.4.6 Global warming …………………………………………… 31
3.5 The extent of soil erosion …………………………………………… 31
3.5.1 Global extent of soil erosion ………………………… 31
3.5.2 Soil erosion in Cameron Highlands ……………… 32
3.6 Soil erosion in the future ……………………………………………… 35
3.6.1 Soil erosion prediction of Cameron Highlands 35
3.6.2 EWARNSTM …………………………………………………… 35
3.7 Soil erosion prevention and mitigation ……………………… 36
3.7.1 Agriculture ……………………………………………………… 36
3.7.2 Land clearing ………………………………………………… 38
3.7.3 Highland management ………………………………… 39
3.7.4 Research ………………………………………………………… 40
3.7.5 Awareness ……………………………………………………… 40

4. Research strategy ………………………………………………… . 42

4.1 Principles on Soil Erosion Rate Plot’s ………………………… 42
4.2 The three research Plots ……………………………………………… 42

5. Results …………………………………………………………………. 44
5.1 Soil Erosion Rate Plot 1 ……………………………………………… 44
5.2 Soil Erosion Rate Plot 2 ……………………………………………… 45
5.3 Soil Erosion Rata Plot 3 ……………………………………………… 45
5.4 Comparing results ……………………………………………………… 45

6. Discussion ……………………………………………………………… 47
6.1 Finding suitable locations for the Soil Erosion Rate Plots 47
6.2 Measurement results …………………………………………………… 47

7. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………… 49

8. Recommendations …………………………………………………. 51

Definitions ……………………………………………………………….. .. 53

Literature ………… ……………………………………………………… 54

Internet sites ……………………………………………………………. 56

Appendixes ………………………………………………………………. 57

Appendix 1: Location Cameron Highlands …………………………………… 58

Appendix 2: Cameron Highlands Map …………………………………………… 58
Appendix 3: Climatic conditions at Cameron Highlands and Ipoh … 60
Appendix 4: Location Upper Telom Catchment ……………………………… 61
Appendix 5: Landslide Events in Cameron Highlands …………………… 62
Appendix 6: Soil Erosion Rates Map Cameron Highlands ……………… 63
Appendix 7: Sub-catchment Map Cameron Highlands ………………… 64
Appendix 8: Future Soil Erosion in Catchment Areas …………………… 65

8. Summary

Cameron Highlands is located in Peninsular Malaysia on the main range in the state
of Pahang and the total area counts about 71,000 hectares. This highland area is
very popular among tourists because of its unique features. Tourists can mainly
enjoy nature-based and agro-based activities for their entertainment. Soils found in
Cameron Highlands have excellent drain ability and are generally poor in nutrients
due to steepness of the terrain. The climatic conditions are very different from the
situation in lowland areas in Malaysia. Temperatures are lower, rainfall intensities are
higher, sunshine hours a day are lower, humidity is higher and evaporation is lower.
Cameron Highlands is an important water catchment area, which provides fresh
drinking water to households in both highlands as lowlands. The water is also used
by hydroelectric power stations to generate electricity for the almost 30,000 people
living in Cameron Highlands. Some of the flora and fauna in these highlands are
considered as rare and/or endemic and are totally different from lowland vegetation
types. These species occur in the still forested part of the highlands, which is 79% of
the total land area. The biggest land use after forestry is agriculture with 16.4%.
Land clearing resulting in increased soil erosion due to rainfall events is the major
threat to Cameron Highlands’ natural environment. Tillage erosion, water erosion
and mass movements occur and are primarily caused by land clearings. Also
unsustainable development and agriculture, mismanagement and lacking policies
contribute to increasing soil erosion rates. This results into problems as flooding,
sedimentation, hydropower generating problems, pollution of water resources, loss
of biodiversity, global warming and landslides, which can cause serious losses.
On global scale already 15% of all ice-free land surface is deteriorated from which
56% is due to water erosion. In Cameron Highlands, the Upper Telom and Upper
Bertam catchment have critical water erosion risks (>150 ton/hectare/year).
Fieldwork pointed out, the cleared slip near the power lines on Gunung Jasar have
high erosion risks (±140 ton/hectare/year) that can eventually cause one of the
power lines to come down. Research proved this erosion risk could be reduced on
slopes between 10-20° with 88% when the bare soil would be fully covered with
vegetation. Predictions on high erosion risks can be made using the EWARNSTM
system that can warn people before dangerous situations occur.
To tackle the problem of soil erosion in Cameron Highlands, preference has to go out
to source directed approaches instead of end-of-pipe solutions. Soil losses can be
significantly be reduced when farmers adopt sustainable farming methods such as
mulching, intercropping, cover cropping and introducing perennials instead of
annuals. Rain shelters and proper drainage systems can also contribute greatly to
reduce soil erosion rates. Next to this, land clearing must be properly planned,
managed, executed, mitigated and monitored. Also management in Cameron
Highlands must be improved. To start with, guidelines and policies on sustainable
development of highland areas should be formulated and implemented. Authorities
must be educated on highland issues and more manpower must be made available to
the enforcement department. To contribute to increasing knowledge and new
possibilities in preventing soil erosion, more research have to be carried out.
Awareness among people has to be increased as the key to all changes in land
clearing problems in which REACH can play a vital role.
Finally, recommendations were made to REACH on how to help prevent increasing
soil erosion rates. This includes research activities, increasing awareness and
monitoring and highlighting illegal land clearing. If no action is taken to solve these
serious environmental problems, Cameron Highlands’ heritage will not be here to
pass on to the next generation.

1. Introduction

1.1 Scenario

Cameron Highlands is one of the major tourist destinations in Malaysia. At the same
time, it is also one of the significant agricultural areas producing not only for the
domestic market but also for export. The population of Cameron Highlands counts
about 30,000 heads in an area of about 71,000 hectares. All development in this hill
resort is concentrated in the western part. All major townships; Ringlet, Habu, Tanah
Rata, Brinchang, Tringkap, Kuala Terla and Kampong Raja are connected by one
main road which simultaneously is the access road from the lowlands.
As the name says it, Cameron Highlands is located in the highlands of Peninsular
Malaysia where the temperature is lower and terrain is steeper compared to
lowlands. The latter causes a great deal of concern to the local organization
R.E.A.C.H. (Regional Environmental Awareness Cameron Highlands). This community
based organization works on volunteer basis while they try to protect Cameron
Highlands’ natural heritage by increasing awareness on the environmental issues.
The terrain steepness of Cameron Highlands contributes greatly to increasing
environmental problems.
The blame of environmental problems the highland is facing can be shifted solely on
development. When no people are present, no deterioration of the environment will
take place except for natural processes. Environmental problems begin when lands
are cleared for the sake of development. Actually, development is not the reason for
the problems; it is caused by unsustainable development. In Cameron Highlands
lands are cleared on slopes and left unprotected, which gives the soil the opportunity
to move down slope due to rainfall events under influence of gravity. This process is
called soil erosion. In highlands areas with steep slopes this problem will be even
more severe. With increasing soil erosion events can occur such as landslides
endangering people’s lives and the natural environment. It also causes siltation of
river streams, which can trigger flooding events.
Lands are cleared in Cameron Highlands mainly to make new farming areas, to build
houses and to construct roads. Farming areas are contributing to the increasing
environmental problems. The farmers use fertilizers and pesticides on their lands and
when erosion takes place due to unsustainable farming practices, the polluting
chemicals are washed away and end up in the river system. Not only farmers are
polluting the rivers, also indiscriminate dumping of waste is a problem here in the
highlands. When waste is thrown down slope as people do in certain areas, it will
also enter and pollute the river system. Furthermore, sewage is not connected to a
treatment system but they also end up in the river system.
Given these environmental problems, and the main problem namely soil erosion, this
report was prepared in order to provide REACH with more knowledge about soil
erosion processes in Cameron Highlands. Incorporating this information in the talks
they are already giving can increase awareness among local residents, farmers,
students and tourists on this issue.
1.2 Objective

Obtain insight in the soil erosion problems in the Cameron Highlands while
contributing to the increasing awareness of the local population in Cameron
Highlands about the present situation of this problem and present recommendations
how to improve the soil erosion problems in assignment of REACH
1.3 Main research question

What is the extent of the effects of land clearing on the soil erosion
problems in Cameron Highlands and how to improve them while comparing
sites with different vegetation types on soil erosion rate and building in a
component that contributes to the increasing awareness of the local
population?

1.4 Research methodology

To study soil erosion in Cameron Highlands first an orientation round on the area
took place. It was quite a coincidence a reporter from TV3 came to Cameron
Highlands to highlight the environmental problems on the topic water quality. The
president of REACH guided the reporter around to show all assets of the problems
the highlands are facing. Joining them opened up the opportunity to see all Cameron
Highlands’ environmental problems in only two days.
After the orientation phase, a literature study combined with supporting fieldwork
was conducted. As for literature, available information present at the REACH office
was consulted. This includes policy documents, biodiversity studies, EIA reports,
research reports on sustainable development in highland areas, compilations of
seminars on environmental issues and other relevant data. Next to studying
available documents, information was also gathered by having informal talks to local
experts. Going around in Cameron Highlands was another way of information
gathering. This showed whether the visual situation was the same as the written
one. Internet resources were also used but on small extent.
The supporting fieldwork consisted of three Soil Erosion Rate Plots (SERP’s) that
have been brought into existence to measure actual erosion rates. These SERP’s are
based on the principle of rainwater running down the slope resulting in dislocation of
soil particles. Measurements of soil amounts as well as rainwater amounts will be
taken. One SERP will measure erosion rates on bare soil as the other two will
concentrate on partially vegetation cover and full vegetation cover. Taking these
measurements will point out in what extent vegetation cover is important to soil
erosion problems. The measurements were taken for periods of four weeks at each
SERP.
After conducting the literature study combined with the fieldwork activities, this
report was written and presented to REACH in order to give them more insight in soil
erosion problems and giving them the opportunity to increase environmental
awareness.

1.5 Organization of the report

This report is organized in such a way to make it user friendly to all kinds of users
within the organization of REACH. Some readers may only be interested in Cameron
Highland information or in the soil erosion problems the highlands are facing, while
others may only be interested in solutions for these soil erosion problems.
Some words inside this report are underlined, which means the word is included in
the definition list on page 53.
In chapter 2 the characteristics of Cameron Highlands are discussed. The physical,
biological and socio-economic environments are hereby described. It is meant to give
brief background information important to soil erosion problems.
Chapter 3 is about soil erosion in Cameron Highlands. Soil erosion processes and
different soil erosion types are explained followed by factors influencing this process
and the consequences. Further mentioned is the extent of soil erosion on different
scales where special attention will be given to the present situation in Cameron
Highlands. Not to be forgotten the future scenario on soil erosion based on
predictions will be looked at. Providing prevention and mitigation measures to soil
erosion problems in Cameron Highlands will conclude this chapter.
In the following chapter, the research strategy is discussed. Why a certain approach
was chosen will be explained and the theoretical background on the fieldwork will be
given. Chapter 5 reveals the results of the executed fieldwork on all of the three Soil
Erosion Research Plots while chapter 6 will discuss these results. Chapter 7 is all
about conclusions. The conclusions of the fieldwork combined with the literature
research will be given and to conclude this report, chapter 8 will present
recommendations. The recommendations are directed to REACH and they provide
information about how to tackle the problem of soil erosion in highland areas,
especially in Cameron Highlands.
 2. Cameron Highlands

2.1 Physical environment

2.1.1 Topography

The front-page title already points out the focus of this report is aimed at the
Cameron Highlands. This cool hill resort can be found in South-East Asia in
Peninsular Malaysia in the State Pahang. Inside the State Pahang the Cameron
Highlands forms the smallest district, which can be found in the North-West of
Pahang in the upper left corner2. This hill station is located on the main mountain
range of Peninsula Malaysia. This main range stretches out from Thailand in the
north to Negeri Sembilan in Malaysia in the south. From the whole main range 45 %
of the area is between 305 m – 610 m and 28 % between 610 m – 914 m. The main
range forms the West border of the Cameron Highlands, which is simultaneously the
border between the states Pahang and Perak. Cameron Highlands ends in the north
when the border of the state Kelantan is crossed (WWF Malaysia, September 2001).
Within Cameron Highlands, the highest point would be the Gunung Irau at 2109 m.
Other mountain peaks are the G. Brinchang (2062 m), G. Berembun (1812 m), G.
Jasar (1670 m), G. Perdah (1551 m) and G. Mentigi (1535 m).
Not only mountain peaks but also townships can be found in this highland area. From
the north to the south: Blue Valley, Kampong Raja, Kuala Terla, Tringkap, Kea Farm,
Brinchang, Tanah Rata, Habu, Bertam Valley and Ringlet. Al these townships are
connected by one main road, which simultaneously is the highlands access road3.

2.1.2 Geology

The Main Range was formed by the collision between the oceanic Indo- Australian
and continental Eurasian tectonic plates. The convergence forced the heavier oceanic
plate below the lighter continental plate. The descending plate melted into magma
upon reaching a depth of 100 km. The magma was less dense then the surrounding
mantle rocks. Therefore the magma slowly rose to intrude the continental crust.
When the magma reached the surface it cooled down and crystallized. This process
repeated itself over time while slowly creating a line of mountain peaks that forced
themselves through the crust. The Main Range was formed from this mountain
building episode and its granite bedrock is derived from such crystallized magma.
Nowadays the Main Range is not subject to any uplift anymore.
The bedrocks of Cameron Highlands consist of acidic intrusive granite rocks formed
in the Late Triassic period. These granites are over 200 million years in age. The
depths of the bedrocks can vary from approximately 5 m to over 25 m (WWF
Malaysia, September 2001).

2
See appendix 1: Location Cameron Highlands
3
See appendix 2: Cameron Highlands Map
2.1.3 Soils

In Cameron Highlands the area is mainly steep and forested. In many mountain
valleys, shallow beds of peat occur although much of the forest grows in a mat of
organic soil with little root penetration below this surface. Large areas are also
covered with sandy soil mixed with peat while others are studded with granite
boulders. Others are covered with loamy soils and beds of clay. In some places
where granite is decaying, quartz fragments occur in a uniform soil but are generally
absent in the upper layers that usually look like loam. The colour of decaying granite
varies from deep red, yellow to almost white in some places. The weathered
overlying soil also varies from deep red, light yellow and even pink. On logging
tracks or on places where they conduct road cuttings, these colours can easily been
seen. The fertility of soil derived from granite is variable but generally low. This soil
characteristic is of great importance of farmers in Cameron Highlands. Given this low
soil fertility (and slope steepness and high rainfall intensities), farmers are forced to
use fertilizers on their lands.
When granite rocks weather under the climatic regime in Malaysia, they produce
kaolinite rich tropical red clays. These soils have good drainage characteristics and
do not significantly swell nor significantly change their engineering properties. The
high permeability of the surface soils together with steep slopes, which are common
in the highlands, has enabled these soils to be unsaturated on most occasions.
In general, the soils along the Main Range are expected to be highly weathered to
substantial depths in excess of 25 meters; and be deeper at joints and faults. The
weathered surface soils are of about 50% sand and 30% silt/clay. The water
retention capability in the top most organic layers are generally good; whilst the
lower weathered residual soils possess excellent drain ability and moderately good
strength characteristics. The soils are poor in nutrients, which is normal under
tropical rain and cloud forest cover. Because of the constant high temperatures and
humidity and the luxuriant vegetation growth, the soils have more similarities than
differences despite their different origins. These soils are normally acidic (pH 4.5 –
5.5) and leached of silica and basic ions, leaving a reddish-brown sandy clay loam
rich in sequisoxides. With increasing altitude the soils become more yellow and less
clayey, with a trend towards podsolisation at the upper end of the range (WWF
Malaysia, September 2001).

2.1.4 Climate4

Tropical rainforests, like those in Malaysia, are totally dependant on a continuously

warm, wet climate. The tropical zone of the world is defined by the geometry of the
globe in its orbit. The earth is a roughly spherical planet circling the sun in an
elliptical orbit. It receives energy radiated from the sun over a wide spectrum, some
of which we perceive as light. Some (mostly short wavelength radiation) is absorbed
by the earth’s surface, which is warmed and in turn emits long-wave radiation thus
heating the lower atmosphere and initiating convection. During convection, warmed
air of the lower atmosphere rises while cooler air moves in to replace it. The effects
of convection, directed by rotational forces of the spinning globe, drive the weather
systems of the world.
Warm air rises by convection around the meteorological equator, creating a low-
pressure zone. As it rises, the air cools down and hence loses carrying capacity for
water vapour, which condenses and falls as rain. Rotational forces divide the rising

4
See appendix 3: Climatic conditions at Cameron Highlands (highland) and Ipoh (lowland)
airflow, which moves pole-wards at high altitudes before descending again at sub-
tropical latitude north and south, creating surface high-pressure zones. Since air
flows from high to low pressure areas, low-level winds return towards the equator.
Their convergence defines the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ). Seasonal
climatic events in the tropics are dominated by the annual progression of the ITCZ,
which moves north and south, following the sun. The ITCZ zone makes sure there
are monsoon seasons. The northeast monsoon blows between October and March
while the southwest monsoon blows between May and September (Cranbrook and
Edwards, 1994).
The climate of the Highlands is different from the climate in the Lowlands because of
a difference in elevation. Because of this difference the temperature in the Highlands
is lower compared to the Lowlands, the relative humidity is higher and the solar
radiation is lower.
Climatic data can be derived from the meteorological station in Cameron Highlands
near Tanah Rata on the way to Gunung Jasar. This is the only weather station on the
Mountain Range with a long-term record of the full range of weather and climate
data.

2.1.4.1 Temperature
When the altitude increases, the temperature decreases. An estimation of this
decrease can be made using data from other weather stations in lower areas.
Reduction rates of 0.549°C, 0.613 °C and 0.711°C per 100 m can be used to give
reasonable temperature estimates of the minimum, mean and maximum
temperatures respectively of a site in the Highlands. In Tanah Rata the average
temperature measured is about 18°C. The mean maximum temperature is around
22°C while the mean minimum temperature is about 15°C. These temperatures do
not fluctuate much from month to month.
When looked at the temperatures in Tanah Rata during the last 50 years, they show
fluctuating trends. From 1930 until 1960 there is an increasing trend while between
1960 and 1970 the temperature sharply drops after which the temperature shows an
upward trend. The temperatures have been increasing since 1975 (WWF Malaysia,
September 2001).

2.1.4.2 Climate Change

Forty years ago the streets of Brinchang were covered in mist in early mornings and
when going outside a sweater must be taken along. Nowadays a t-shirt is sufficient
when going outside and morning mist is only experienced a few times a year in
Brinchang. The local residents who have been here all their lives can feel the
difference in temperature and they can see the difference in climate.

Although global warming is a natural process, the speed of the process continues to
go faster and faster because of increasing human activities. In this process
greenhouse gasses are released into the atmosphere. In general carbon dioxide is
produced when fossil fuels are used to generate energy and when forest are cut
down and burned. Methane and nitrous oxide, which also contribute to the climate
change, are emitted from agricultural activities, changes in land use, and other
sources. Industrial processes release artificial chemicals called halocarbons and other
long-lived gases such as sulphurhexafluoride. Automobile exhaust fumes generate
ozone in the lower atmosphere indirectly. As for Cameron Highlands, only industrial
processes are not contributing to the increasing temperatures experienced in the
towns. Highland areas do not include industrial areas and because of this, everything
has to be transported from the lowlands.
The rising of greenhouse gases can cause climate change. Computer generated
climate models predict that the global temperature will raise by about 1 to 3.5°C by
the year 2100. Evidence suggests that the climate may have already started
responding to past emissions (Sabri Yusof, 2000).
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and based on
what is known as the Global Climate Models (GCM), it is expected that by the year
2100, global temperatures could increase between 1 and 4.5°C. With such changes
in temperatures and rainfall, sea levels are expected to rise between 13 and 94 cm
within 100 years. In Malaysia, forecasts have been made based on climate modeling
using 14 GCM’s, which show that Malaysia could experience temperature changes
from + 0.7 to + 2.6°C. Precipitation changes can be ranging from - 30 to + 30%.
Climate changes will affect many sectors within Malaysia. It will influence the
agriculture industry by rainfall fluctuations. As for water resources flooding is the
biggest worry when climatic circumstances change. Within the forestry division forest
fires and other ways of deforestation are a great risk to the countries rainforest
(CEMD and NRE, 2005).

2.1.4.3 Humidity
In Cameron Highlands the average relative humidity is around 90%.
February is the month with the lowest humidity during the year
(88%), while October is the month with the highest humidity during
the year (93%). This can be explained by rainfall patterns in
Cameron Highlands. February is dry compared to the wet October
month. Also because of lower temperatures compared to the
lowlands, the evaporative demand will be lower, thus humidity will
be higher. In lowlands areas the average humidity will be around
82% and fluctuates not much from month to month (WWF Malaysia,
September 2001).

2.1.4.4 Rainfall
As humidity is higher and evaporation lower in Cameron Highlands compared to
lowlands areas such as Ipoh shown in appendix 3, the number of rain days and the
amount of rainfall are higher. Cameron Highlands receives an average annual rainfall
of 2,800 mm and on average 2 out of 3 days are raining. January and February are
the driest with rainfall amounts of 100 mm per month while October and November
are the wettest with rainfall amounts of 350 mm per month. Normal monthly rainfall
will be between 150 and 250 mm (WWF Malaysia, September 2001). Also must be
noted that rainfall amounts in the months January and February 2006 were
extremely high compared to normal amounts. Almost every day a rain shower could
be experienced.

2.1.4.5 Sunshine and Solar Radiation

In general highland areas are cloudier compared to lowland areas. The average daily
sunshine duration of Cameron Highlands is 4.5 hours while lowland areas have about
6 hours of average daily sunshine. During the northeast monsoon, lower sunshine
duration periods and higher intensities of rain and cloud cover are experienced. The
fact that highland areas are cloudier contributes to the lower average daily solar
radiation of 14 MJ/m2 in Cameron Highlands while lowland areas receive about 16-
17 MJ/m2.

2.1.4.6 Surface Wind

In Cameron Highlands, the average wind speed is considered as low with 2 m/s, the
same as lowland coastal areas. The monsoon not only influences sunshine durations,
but also wind directions. During the northeast monsoon the wind direction is mainly
easterly and north easterly while during the southwest monsoon the wind direction
would be westerly and north westerly.

2.1.4.7 Evaporation
These rates are much lower in highlands areas. The average daily evaporation in
Cameron Highlands is a little bit above 2 mm while lowland areas have rates of 4
mm. This can be explained due to decreasing size of leaves together with an
increasing altitude and because of the steepness of the slopes what causes a higher
speed of run-off from water.

2.1.5 Hydrology and Water Resources

2.1.5.1 Water catchment area

Most of the earth’s surface is covered by water. From all this water, 97% is salty
water while round about 3% is locked away in ice caps and glaciers or are hidden
deep underground. It is estimated only 0.003% from all the water on earth is
actually available to use as freshwater. Because mankind depends on water for their
survival, it is extremely important to protect this rare resource. Estimations project
by the year 2050, as many as 65 countries with 60% of the world’s population, will
face water shortages. In Cameron Highlands local residents also suffer from water
shortage during tourist peak-seasons. Not tourism but illegal tapping of water by
farmers and river pollution are the main factors why there are water shortages.
Mountains, forests and water are linked with each other in the water cycle.

Picture 1: Water cycle

As shown above in picture 1, mountains intercept moisture-laden air to cause

rainfall. Mountains are also the source of most of the worlds freshwater because they
form the water catchment areas. The forested mountain areas also serve as a water
distributor as they collect and transport water to the lowlands using rivers to do so
(Murray, 2002).
From the 71,200 hectare Cameron Highlands counts, about 68,000 hectare is
designated as Water Catchment Area. The biggest water catchment, the Upper
Telom catchment, counts 22,298 hectare. As seen in appendix 4, the catchment area
is extremely close to the built-up area and thus sensitive for expanding development
(WWF Malaysia, December 2001).

2.1.5.2 River water quality

Waste disposal in Cameron Highlands means dumping waste downhill into a valley
where a stream is running past it. While most of the water intake points for drinking
water are located downstream, this way of dumping is seriously threatening the
water quality.
In Cameron Highlands, mainly the Bertam, Telom and Lemoi rivers drain the areas.
TSS Total Suspended Solid has increased dramatically over the years. TSS caused by
soil erosion events, causes siltation in the Sultan Abu Bakar Dam near Ringlet. TSS is
the main source of pollution in most of the rivers in Cameron Highlands. Sungai
Ringlet and Sungai Telom form the headwater catchment for water supply yet table 1
shows these two rivers are heavily silting up. Also many rivers downstream has to
deal with the consequences as they originate from Sungai Telom and Sungai Bertam
which are facing siltation problems too. The highland problems are causing lowland
problems. Not only siltation but also the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers by
farmers are causing a deterioration of the river quality.

Table 1: Amount of Suspended Solid in the rivers of Cameron Highlands

Rivers Suspended Solid (SS) mg/l

1996 1997 1998 1999

Sg. Ringlet 75.0 21.0 54.5 4056.0

Sg. Bertam 28.0 69.0 141.0 760.0
Sg. Habu 10.0 22.0 285.0 416.5
Sg. Burong 5.0 5.0 6.0 49.0
Sg. Tringkap 65.5 71.0 72.0 615.0
Sg. Terla 17.0 29.0 111.5 133.5
Sg. Telom 25.5 32.0 157.5 1469.5
Source: (WWF Malaysia, December 2001)

2.1.6 hydroelectric power

Cameron Highlands harbors two main power stations, the Sultan Yusuff power
station with an installed capacity of 100MW and Habu with an installed capacity of
5.5 MW. Also four small hydroelectric power plants can be found on location; namely
Robinson Falls (0.9 MW), Kampong Raja (< 3 MW), Kuala Terla (< 2 MW) and the
Sungai Plan’ur diversion from the State of Kelantan (WWF, September 2001). The
main power station at the Ringlet Lake faces problems of siltation and rubbish. This
forces the power plant to stop its activities once in awhile because rubbish gets stuck
in the system. Siltation is causing reduction of the river water flow what also can be
pointed out as a problem for the hydroelectric power plants.

2.2 Biological Environment

2.2.1 Flora

“Mountains are an important source of water, energy and biological diversity.

Furthermore, they are a source of such key resources as minerals, forest products
and agricultural products and of recreation. As a major ecosystem representing the
complex and interrelated ecology of our planet, mountain environments are essential
to the survival of the global ecosystem.” – Agenda 21, Chapter 13 –

In Malaysia, less than 30% of the surface land area exceeds the 300-meter contour.
Less than 7% exceeds altitudes of 900 meters above mean sea-level (amsl). The
altitude of 900 meters is taken to point out mountain areas because this is the point
where significant biological differences can be observed between lowland and
mountain species.
When looking at vegetation zones on the main mountains of Peninsular Malaysia, the
following observation can be made:

Table 2: Vegetation zones

Elevation Forest Floristic Zone Important groups
(m) Formation

0 - 300 Lowland Lowland dipterocarp Dipterocarpus spp., Shorea

spp. and Dryobalanops
aromatica
300 - 750 Lowland Hill dipterocarp As above + Shorea curtisii

750–1200 Lower Montane Upper dipterocarp Shorea platyclados, S. ciliata,

S. ovata, Dipterocarpus
retusus
1200- Lower Montane Oak-Laurel Fagaceae and Lauraceae
1500

1500- Upper Montane Montane ericaceous Coniferae, Ericaceae and

2100 Myrtaceae
Source: (Perumal, 2003)

With increasing elevation, the vegetation composition changes drastically. In

Lowland rainforest more different plant species are present compared to highland
forest where biodiversity is found to be lower. This is due to poorer and thinner soils
found in Highland areas where nutrients and soil particles can easily run off the steep
slopes. When altitude increases, the size of the flora decreases due to poor soil
conditions and lower temperatures. The number of epiphytes increases with altitude
where namely bryophytes and fern species abundantly can be found. Although
biodiversity may be lower compared to lowland areas, highland areas can be
considered as biodiversity isles. Because mountains are geographically isolated from
it surroundings, the flora found here is very different from lowland areas. Even
floristic characteristics on the species level between two mountains can be very
different. Every mountain has its own specific geographical and environmental
conditions that cause the differences between two locations.
A preliminary checklist of highland plant species has been made by Perumal & Lo in
2000. First must be pointed out this is an inventory rather than a complete list of all
species. Not much research has been conducted on highland plant species until so
far. By mentioning statistics from this research, the fact that more species occur in
Cameron Highlands must not be forgotten.
In Cameron Highlands, 23.8% of all the highland plant species occurring in the
peninsula can be found here. Cameron Highlands also has its share in endemic plant
species. A total of 145 endemic plant species have been counted. These species only
occur in Cameron Highlands and nowhere else in the world. A total of 52 species of
plants have been pointed out as rare species while 16 plant species where endemic
and rare. The highest number of endemic species (32) was found in the family
Orchidaceae (orchids), which suggests that Cameron Highlands supports a good
percentage of orchid species that are restricted only to Peninsular Malaysia (WWF
Malaysia, December 2001).

Picture 2: Tree fern

One other good example of rare vegetation occurring in
highland areas such as Cameron Highlands is the Tree fern
(Cyathea excavata). This remaining relic from the ancient times
of the dinosaurs is the only species from the group Fern and
Fern Allies included in the 1997 IUCN (World Conservation
Union) Red List of Threatened Plants. This Tree Fern is also
listed in CITES, so the trade of this species is closely controlled
and it requires export permit for international trade (WWF,
December 2001). This Tree fern can still be found abundantly in
Cameron Highlands.

2.2.2 Fauna

At Cameron Highlands, a total of 56 mammals, 199 birds, 43 reptiles and 16

amphibians have been recorded. This means Cameron Highlands includes 26%,
31%, 20% and 18% respectively of the total Peninsular Malaysian fauna for each
taxon. Focusing on highland fauna species, Cameron Highlands has 67% of known
highlands mammals, 74% of birds, 83% of reptiles and 53% of amphibians.
Endemism is very well known in Cameron Highlands as it houses several animal
species that are endemic to Peninsular Malaysia. The mountain peacock pheasant,
Malayan whistling thrush and Butler’s wolf snake are a few good examples.
Furthermore, this highland area includes one of the “Endangered” species in the
IUCN Red Data List of Threatened Species, namely the serow (Capricornis
sumatrensis). Also there are some “Totally protected wild animals” in Cameron
Highlands like the Malayan sun bear, flying lemur, leopard, leopard cat, siamang,
giant squirrel and some civet cat species (WWF, 2001).
Although never mentioned in literature, tigers and elephants also live in Cameron
Highlands. On the northern border of Cameron Highlands elephant dung can be
found although spotting the animal will be difficult. Also many local residents talk
about tiger spotting in the forested areas of Cameron Highlands. A few generations
back in time, it was not safe to walk home alone when your house was on the border
of the forest because tigers could attack you in the back. Nowadays tigers are no
longer spotted in built-up areas as for the last spotting was 40 years ago. Sometimes
tigers travel through Cameron Highlands in search for food in mountain habitats such
as the Gunung Brinchang area (a mountain near the township of Brinchang). In
Cameron Highland’s deep virgin forest, the penetrating smell of tiger can be
experienced and the footprints can still be found although the occasion is rare.

2.3 Socio-Economic Environment

2.3.1 Population

The population in Cameron Highlands increased from 15,635 in 1970 to 28,050 in

2000. In the period between 1970 and 1980 the average growth rate was 3.42
percent while it was only 1.14 percent in the period between 1991 and 2000. The
population is rather small when compared to the total residents in the State of
Pahang, which inhibited 1,231,176 people in 2000. The projected population in 2020
will be 34,567 for Cameron Highlands.
There are 26 Orang Asli settlements in Cameron Highlands with a total population of
4,868. These are the original inhabitants of Malaysia who still live a basic life in the
tropical rainforest.
The local residents are mostly elderly people as for most of the teenagers move to
bigger cities outside Cameron Highlands in order to study or find a job.

2.3.2 Tourism

Next to agriculture as the primary source of income, tourism is the second major
economic force. Cameron Highlands offers nature- and agro based tourism. The
appealing cool climate attracts a lot of people who wants to escape the high
temperatures in Malaysia’s lowland areas. Tourists can book tours to see the farming
lands, which includes crop growth and tea plantations or they can enjoy one of the
jungle trails that start from Tanah Rata. Tours to see the ‘mossy forest’, where moss
is abundantly growing on every tree and where endemic plant species can be found,
can be booked in almost every hotel and with local tour operators in Tanah Rata.
Along the main road going through Cameron Highlands, many tourist attractions can
be visited such as strawberry farms, honey bee farms, cactus valley, butterfly
gardens, rose gardens and insect farms.

2.3.3 Land Use

Cameron Highlands counts roughly 71,000 hectares of land from which 79% is still
forested, which makes 21% developed. These percentages do not include illegal
cleared lands. Mainly farmers clear land deep inside the forest to expand their
farming activities. At those locations accessibility is stopping enforcement officers to
go there to do their job. In reality less than 79% of the total land area of Cameron
Highlands is still forested. To make estimations on the actual percentages is
extremely difficult. Agriculture is the second major land use after forestry with
16.4% of the total land area (table 3). Round 26% of the terrain of Cameron
Highlands is steeper than 25 degrees and 60% of the land is steeper than 20
degrees (table 4). According to legislation permission on land use changes is highly
dependent on slope steepness and elevation of a proposed highland area.

Table 3: Land Use for the catchment areas in Cameron Highlands (hectare)
2003
Land Use Types
Forest 53,929.9
79%
Grassland, shrub forest and shifting cultivation 1,890.7
Market gardening and mixed agriculture 8,582.9
12.6%
Tea and orchards 2,594.6
 3.8%
Residential / estate buildings and associated areas 801.3
Mining 13.1
Agriculture experimental station 40
Water body 345
Clear / open land 47.7
68,245
Total
Source: Department of Agriculture (2000)

Table 4: Terrain Class Area for Cameron Highlands

Terrain Class Hectare %

0 - 5˚ 3733 5.5
5 – 10˚ 2251 3.3
10 – 15˚ 5660 8.3
15 – 20˚ 15,762 23.1
20 – 25˚ 21,789 32.0
25 – 30 ˚ 11,399 16.7
> 30˚ 6232 9.2
No data 1322 1.9
Total 68,147 100.0
Source: Department of Agriculture (2000)

On National level, monitoring the implementation of the National Physical Plan (NPP)
on the monitoring of land use changes is the responsibility of the Director General of
the Department of Town and Country Planning (DG DTCP). The implementation of
the NPP will require the support of the various federal and state agencies that have a
legal duty to adhere to the policies of the NPP. Because land matters are a state
business, the district land office has to provide them with information on land
conversions approved in its district on regular intervals. The NPP also provides a few
constraints in land use changes because Cameron Highlands is gazetted as a “Special
Management Area”. NPP 21 stated that future urban and agricultural development in
highland areas is only permitted in these Special Management Areas. However,
future agriculture development shall only be permitted in areas with slopes of 25 or
below. Furthermore, NPP 18 stated that the management of Environmental Sensitive
Areas (ESA) should be guided by certain criteria.

ESA Rank 1: all areas above 1000 m contour, catchment of existing and proposed
dams and all protected and potentially protected areas.
ESA Rank 2: all areas between 300 m – 1000 m contour and all other forests,
corridors linking important protected areas and buffer zones around Rank 1 areas.
ESA Rank 3: all areas between 150 m – 300 m contour, all areas with erosion risk
above 150 ton/hectare/year and catchment for water intakes.

Cameron Highlands can be placed in all three ESA ranks what means that proper
management should be conducted in order to adhere to the policies stated in the
NPP. The following criteria should be followed:
ESA Rank 1: No development, agriculture or logging shall be permitted except for
low-impact nature tourism, research and education.
ESA Rank 2: No development or agriculture. Sustainable logging and low-impact
nature tourism may be permitted subject to local constraints.
ESA Rank 3: Controlled development where the type and intensity of the
development shall be strictly controlled depending on the nature of the constraints
(NPP, 2005).

2.3.4 Agriculture

Temperate agriculture is the major economic activity in Cameron Highlands followed

by tourism. It is also the most important temperate agricultural area in the whole
country of Malaysia. The total land use for agriculture is 7,340 hectare (16.4%) in
Cameron Highlands. On farming lands tea, cabbage, cauliflower, spring unions,
lettuce, celery, French beans, carrot, strawberry, chili, orange, tangerine and flowers
are cultivated. Tea and vegetables are the main crops in Cameron Highlands with
2,309 (31%) and 2,720 (37%) hectares respectively in the year 1999. Vegetables
are not only distributed in Malaysia but also exported to Singapore where 20 percent
of Cameron Highlands’ yields are sent. Some of the vegetables are unique because
they are only commercially cultivated in Cameron Highlands and nowhere else in
Malaysia. In 1998, it was estimated that revenue from the total annual vegetable
production in Cameron Highlands was RM 135 million.
It is estimated that 89 percent of all the farmers in Cameron highlands operate on
lands smaller than 1 hectare, which results to a poor annual income. The Structure
Plan projected there will be an extra demand for round about 700 hectare of land by
the year 2020 in this highland area. The District Counsel adopted recent policy that
prohibits any opening of new land for agricultural activities (WWF Malaysia,
December 2001).
Agricultural activities have a lot of constraints in highland areas. The soils are poor
on nutrients; heavy rain can easily wash away the soil together with the nutrients.
The terrain is also very hilly and therefore steep which makes farming practices more
difficult. Flat areas have to be created in order to do some farming activities while
this will cause the soil to erode easily and will reduce the soils fertility. Already about
30 percent of the areas used for cultivating crops are above 25˚ in steepness while
this was prohibited in NPP 21 (paragraph 2.3.4). As the President of REACH pointed
out in many talks, no suitable areas for agriculture are left within the Cameron
Highlands District.
Given the low soil fertility, steep terrain and heavy rain in Cameron Highlands, high
levels of manuring are recommended on vegetable farming lands. The general range
for manuring recommendations is between 5 and 10 tons of organic manure (chicken
dung is mostly used) and between 0.75 and 1.5 ton of chemical fertilizers per
hectare per season. Most of the time farmers apply more than the recommended
manure on the farming lands in order to increase productivity. Actually, increasing
manure application limits productivity due to accumulations of phosphorus,
potassium, magnesium and calcium. Furthermore new soil is taken from slopes in
the forest and placed on the topsoil layer of the agricultural land because Cameron’s
heavy rainfall washes away nutrients and the soil itself. Pesticides are also
extensively used on agricultural land because demands go out for high cosmetic
values of crops (WWF Malaysia, September 2001).

Many of the farmers in Cameron Highlands operate with a TOL systematic, issued by
the State Authority, as land issues authorities are the State’s business. This system
provides farmers with licenses that are usually renewed annually and does not
provide them with long-term security. These results in poor farming practices that
leads to increasing soil erosion. It is a sure thing this will continue until farmers own
their land. Only then it is worth the effort to invest in good farming practices (WWF
Malaysia, December 2001).
The farmers with TOL licenses that are renewed on yearly basis carry out the
clearings and earthworks randomly without any surveyed or engineering plans.
Because most of these areas are outside the gazetted Forest Reserves, farmers
encroach areas larger than what they applied for. In the Gunung Brinchang area a
farmer illegally cleared a large piece of land in 1999/2000, while half of this land was
State Land and the other half was gazetted as a Forest Reserve. This indiscriminate
clearing resulted in heavy soil erosion leaving only bare rocks at some places
nowadays.

2.3.5 Road System

Because all towns in Cameron Highlands are located on one line and in one area, one
main road connects the five urban centers, namely Ringlet, Tanah Rata, Brinchang,
Kuala Terla and Kampung Raja. There is one access road from the South, the Tapah–
Cameron Highlands road. From Tapah, Federal Road 59 leads to the hilltops of
Cameron Highlands, first passing Ringlet and continues all the way up North to
Kampung Raja. From the North there are two access roads leading to Cameron
Highlands. The Simpang Pulai – Kuala Berang highway is one of the three roads in
Malaysia connecting the East- to the West Coast. Cameron Highlands is accessible
from both directions as the highway makes a connection to Kampung Raja located in
the North of the Hill Resort.
At this moment a road is constructed from Bertam Valley in the South of Cameron
Highlands near Ringlet to Kuala Lipis outside Cameron Highlands. This road was
proposed in order to reduce the distance to Kuantan, the main capitol of the State of
Pahang in which Cameron Highlands is located. This construction can possibly give
new opportunities for logging activities in the pristine rainforest surrounding the new
road.
The Highland Resort Road was a proposed road, which should have connected the
highlands areas Fraser’s Hill, Genting Highlands and Cameron Highlands. The
proposal was to construct this road following the spine of the main range on which
the Hill resorts are located. If this proposal were executed, it would have done a lot
of damage to the surrounding environment and it would have caused serious damage
to Malaysia’s water catchment areas. Because of a lack of financial resources this
proposal was postponed as for the costs will run in the billions.
9. 3. Soil Erosion

3.1 Soil erosion processes

Soil erosion is the detachment, entrainment and transport of soil from their original
location due to water, wind and man under the influence of gravity. Soil erosion will
occur when the original situation of the ecosystem is changed. Any condition that
enhances rainwater runoff on hill slopes will cause soil erosion. The forest ecosystem
provides a system to protect the soil from erosion. The canopy together with the
surface vegetation and litter layer prevents raindrops from falling directly on the soil
surface. The surface vegetation and litter layer are indispensable when protecting the
forest floor against erosion. The channeling of rainwater by leaves, twigs and
branches in the forest canopy produces through fall water-drop sizes larger then the
original raindrops. When raindrops fall down from the canopy onto the bare soil on
the forest floor, the soil particles can be easily disrupted. These particles will move
down slope causing soil creep and the beginnings of soil erosion. Furthermore the
tree roots make sure the soil is stabilized while they also partially absorb the runoff.
Runoff may occur for two reasons. Firstly, if rain arrives with too high an intensity for
it to infiltrate: the resulting runoff is then known as infiltration excess runoff, or
Hortonian runoff. Secondly, runoff may occur if the soil has already absorbed all the
water it can hold. In this case, the soil is either fully saturated or the soil is frozen.
The presence of leaf litter and a root mat at the forest floor inhibit the process of
erosion. Soil erosion is therefore affected by three groups of factors (Cranbrook and
Edwards, 1994);

I. Those determining the quantity of water runoff

Rainfall amount and intensity

Hill lope angle

Infiltration rate depending on the soil type
II. Those controlling sediment supply

Desegregation and disruption of soil particles

Transportability of soil particles
III. Type and amount of vegetation and litter at the soil surface

One more important factor in soil erosion is the soil depth. Soil erosion rates increase
with soil depth. When more soil is washed away by rainwater, deeper layers are
exposed which will lead in to higher levels of erosion rate (Shimizu and Ohnuki,
2004).
3.2 Types of soil erosion

Soil deterioration can be divided into two categories, namely soil displacement and in
situ deterioration. Soil displacement occurs mainly due to water and wind erosion.
While wind erosion is not significant in Malaysia, water erosion removes the topsoil
and results in terrain deformation. In situ deterioration consists of chemical and
physical soil degradation. Chemical degradation of soils is the loss of nutrients and
organic matter, while it also includes acidification, salinisation and pollution. Physical
compaction includes compaction, crusting and sealing, water logging and subsidence
of organic soils (Lim et al, 1996).

3.2.1 Tillage erosion

Tillage erosion is the redistribution of soil that occurs within a landscape as a direct
result of tillage activities. Primary tillage loosens the soil and mixes in fertilizer
and/or plant material, resulting in soil with a rough texture. Secondary tillage
produces finer soil and sometimes shapes the rows. It can be done by a using
various combinations of equipment: plough, disk plough, harrow, dibble, hoe, rotary
tillers, subsoiler, ridge or bed forming tillers or roller.
Soil loss and soil accumulation are caused by variations in the amount of soil that is
moved by tillage. The movement of soil by tillage is called tillage translocation. The
variability in translocation is affected by the design and operation of tillage
implements and by the topographic and soil properties of landscapes. Typically,
tillage results in the progressive down slope movement of soil, causing severe soil
loss on upper slope positions and accumulation in lower slope positions (picture 3).

Picture 3: Variability of translocation in hilly landscapes (up slope – down slope tillage)

Source: (Li, 2006)

It may not look like much soil is moving down slope, but a loss of only one millimetre
per hectare of topsoil is equal to 10 tonnes and is not sustainable over the long run.
Furthermore, at places where soil loss occurs, the topsoil layer will be completely
vanished over the long run. The subsoil layer located underneath the topsoil layer is
more vulnerable to soil erosion, already pointed out in paragraph 3.1, so the soil
erosion rate will be higher when more tillage activities are taking place (Li, 2006).

3.2.2 Water erosion

Rainsplash erosion Picture 4: Types water erosion

Rain splash erosion is the detachment
of soil particles under influence of
raindrops falling on the soil surface
under influence of gravity. The force of
falling raindrops can easily dislodge
soil particles. Thus this is the most
direct form of soil erosion caused by
rainwater. The process of dislodged
soil particles can only take place when
the rain falls with sufficient intensity.
When a raindrop hits the bare soil,
their kinetic energy is released and
can detach soil particles and move them for a short distance. Cameron Highlands is
an area where rainfall intensities are very high so rain splash erosion is more severe
compared to lowland areas where rainfall intensities are lower. The steepness of the
terrain and the poor coverage of soil surfaces during and after construction are
contributing to a higher rate of rain splash erosion during high intensity rainstorms
(Favis-Mortlock, 2006).

Sheet erosion
This type of erosion takes place when uniform layers of soil are loosened or detached
and transported down slope caused by rainwater under influence of gravity. Smaller
particles are moved down slope by suspension in the shallow layer of flowing water
while larger particles are rolled down. As runoff moves downhill, it is at first a thin
diffuse film of water, which has lost virtually all the kinetic energy, which it
possessed as falling rain. Thus it moves only slowly, has a low flow power, and is
generally incapable of detaching or transporting soil particles. When it happens in
steep hilly areas the situation is different. Increasing slope steepness results in
increasing flow power and increasing detaching or transporting of soil particles.
Naturally sheet erosion is interrupted by vegetation growth but on bare soils it can
occur rapidly during heavy rain. Same as any kind of water erosion, soil erosion rates
will be higher after removal of the topsoil. In subsoil layers it is proven to be very
difficult to re-establish vegetation growth due to a lack of nutrients and higher rates
of soil erosion. At places where the slope surface is not even, turbulence may cause
incision and this initiates the process of rill erosion (Hashim, 2005).

Rill erosion
Rill erosion is triggered by rainwater running down slope. While runoff through
rainfall moves soil indirectly, small rills are formed which are actually small channels
that can be up to 30 centimetres deep. Although the rill formations can be meters
long, they can still be flattened by tillage.
Rill erosion can take place in two different ways. Firstly, rills can be formed at the
most vulnerable locations in the soil when sheet erosion takes place. Secondly, rill
erosion can be the result of depressions. If heavy rainfall occurs, water will gather at
the lowest point creating some kind of small pond, a micro topographic depression.
This will reduce the impact of raindrops on the soil as the kinetic energy is absorbed
by the water surface. This process results into increasing depths of the depressions
when rainfall continues. Eventually rainwater will overtop the micro topographic
depression giving the released runoff more flow power as a result of its kinetic
energy. Now the runoff can detach or transport soil particles leaving rills on the soils
surface. Generally runoff moves faster in this type of small channels because the
water concentration is higher, making the rills deeper and wider until they become
gullies (Favis-Mortlock, 2006).

Gully erosion Picture 5: Big gully
Gullies are incised channels and they often begin as rills. The
process in which they are formed is similar to rill erosion only
gullies are a more severe form of soil erosion. The depth,
width and extent of the gully formation(s) are a good
indicator for the severity of erosion (Hashim, 2005). Shown in
Picture 5, is a very severe case of soil erosion taking place on
an uncovered, not drained road, cutting through a part of the
rainforest in Cameron Highlands. This gully formation
continues until the road ends. The size of gullies makes it
impossible to remove them solely by tillage.

Tunnel erosion
Tunnel erosion is based on the infiltration principle. Rainwater infiltrates the soil but
when reaching an impermeable layer the infiltrations stops and the water will move
down slope. This down slope movement in the subsoil acts like a natural pipe and it
creates underground tunnel erosion formations while fine particles are carried away.
Eventually, when the tunnel system grows bigger, its roof may collapse as for there
is no supporting layer of soil present to prevent it from happening. Collapsing tunnel
systems create new surface gullies with increased infiltration because gutter systems
accelerate the process (Hashim, 2005).

Stream bank erosion

Bank erosion is the detachment and transportation of soil particles from the banks of
rivers due to the flow of river water. When more water reaches the river system,
water levels will rise. This water can saturate the riverbanks, which can eventually
collapse and bring more sand into the water.

3.2.3 Mass movements

Mass movements involve the down slope movement of a significant mass of soil.
There are two dominant types of mass movements within the Cameron Highlands,
namely shallow landslides and deep-
seated landslides.

Shallow landslides
Picture 6: Mass
movements
This type of mass movement occurs
normally on steep slopes alongside rivers
or in the bottom of valleys. The soil and
the weathered material slide of the
underlying bedrock as a consequence of
heavy rainfall. This rainfall saturates the
soil at depth whereby the effective
strength of the soil is reduced. The slope
will collapse on a rapid speed. Normally
these landslides can be 5–50 m wide and
20–100 m long (picture 6 above). Shallow
landslide

Deep-seated landslides
This type of landslide concerns the more dramatic one (Picture 6 underneath). In this
one a whole section of a hill slope slides down along a curved plane of failure deep
within the bedrock. On one occasion the moving mass remains intact while it slides
down the slope. On other occasions it may disintegrate into a flow of debris. This
type of landslide is the consequence of water pressure inside the bedrocks. This
event may not be due to one particular storm. Movements like this may last from a
few minutes to many tens of years. These landslides also vary in size. Before a whole
mountainside comes down the pressure must have been build up inside the
bedrocks, which would have taken a long time to do so (Cranbrook and Edwards,
Deep-
1994). seated
3.3 Factors influencing soil erosion landslide

3.3.1 Factors directly influencing soil erosion

Soil erosion occurs when the soil has the opportunity to relocate itself. This will
happen in the Cameron Highlands when the land use of a certain area is changed.
When a forest area is fully cleared, only the bare soil is left. The soil has no more
protection against the raindrops. The canopy, the ground litter and the tree roots are
removed so they no longer posses the preventive function against soil erosion. In the
highlands they change the land use in order to create more farming land for
example, to build more houses or to construct new roads for a better accessibility.
Soil erosion problems have a bigger extent in mountain areas compared to flat
areas. Soil erosion will increase when slopes are getting steeper. The combination of
land clearing and heavy rainfall on the steep barren slopes will be causing soil
erosion problems of big extent. Purely development is not causing erosion; it is the
manner in which they are developing.

Land clearing
Land clearing combined with the heavy rainfall patterns in Cameron Highlands is
directly influencing soil erosion rates. In Cameron Highlands, lands are cleared in
order to create new agricultural land, to start new development projects and to
construct roads.
The slash and burn technique is often used by farmers when forested areas are
illegally cleared. First an area to clear will be chosen and afterwards the vegetation is
cut and allowed to dry. The bark of large trees will be removed in order to let them
die by themselves so no cuttings are necessary here. Useful vegetation will be
removed from the forest before the dry vegetation area is burned. Normally this type
of agricultural land will be used for about 5 years before it is abandoned. This is
because the soil fertility declines very fast and weeds invade very easily. This type of
clearing can only be sustainable when the area is big and the population density is
low. This is not the case in Cameron Highlands what makes the slash and burn
technique a serious threat to sustainable soil erosion levels. When an area is cleared,
used and abandoned, another area is cleared in order to continue agricultural
activities. Soil erosion rate levels will increase together with more land clearing.

Picture 7: New farming land

Even in the situation when land is legally
cleared with permission from the Land Office,
there are many problems with controlling the
soil erosion rates. Most of the developers do
not consult engineers or earthwork
professionals. They bulldoze the approved
area, remove the vegetation and superfluous
soil from the site and then hill cutting and landfill activities begin. Hill cuttings and
landfills are conducted to create flat areas on which development can take place.
Steep sides bordering the flat areas can still be found on the sites designated for
development as seen in picture 7. Those steep sides are very sensitive for soil
erosion during rain showers because no soil cover is provided after clearing and
during development. In many cases no proper soil erosion prevention and/or
mitigation measures are introduced during and after construction. In cases of
landfills, soil is transported from other locations and brought to the construction
area. By doing so, dynamic soil processes are interrupted and will result in poor soils.
This might be a problem when the area is planned for agricultural activities as for
farmers are forced to use a lot of fertilizers from the beginning on. For farming lands
this way of land clearing and construction is not sustainable. For other development
purposes, such as housing and road construction, the increasing rates of soil erosion,
which can lead to landslides, are threatening the safety of people in that particular
area.

Picture 8: Kuala Lipis Road

While agriculture is the major source and
development projects such as housing is the
second, road construction is the third major
source causing soil erosion in Cameron
Highlands. The now being constructed road
from Bertam Valley near Ringlet to Kuala
Lipis cuts through a pristine rainforest areas
where only Orang Asli people live. Hills were
cut, lands were filled and soil was detached
and transported down slope until it reached
the river down below resulting in water
pollution. Picture 8 shows only a plastic
sheet partially covering the slope was used
as mitigation measure against soil erosion,
which can initiate landslides.
In the future more development will take place along this road when construction is
finished. When there is a road, there will be development as for people can get to
that place. Lands will be cleared for farming activities, houses will be built and more
soil erosion will take place when not conducting sustainable development.

Agricultural activities
The ways farmers handle their agricultural activities in Cameron
Highlands are far from sustainable. On about 37% of all farming
lands in Cameron Highlands, farmers cultivate vegetable crops,
which make it the biggest group in agriculture. Many of the annual
vegetable crops have a short crop cycle so that farmers can harvest
that particular type a few times a year. There are a few times during
a crop cycle when the soil is more sensitive to erosion. When the
crop is planted there is no cover to protect the soil against rainfall.
Even when the crops are small and left in the open, the soil has no
protection at all against raindrop impacts. With increasing crop
growth, soil erosion rates will be reduced until it is harvesting time.
When harvesting vegetable crops they are pulled out to remove them
from the soil. This practice disturbs and loosens the soil, which will
increase erosion rates because rainfall needs less kinetic energy to
detach and transport the soil particles. This crop cycle process
seriously affects farming lands on steep slopes where rainwater can
easily transport soil particles down slope. Not only steep slopes but
also pieces of flat farming lands will be affected when crops are
grown on elevated rills because rainwater will eventually run down
slope where the farming land stops. On the steep slopes bordering
the farming land, soil erosion will take place. Not only short crop
cycles are increasing soil erosion rates, also the lack of drainage
systems, improper soil covering and absence of rain shelters on
farming lands contribute to this problem.
Cameron Highlands farming lands are seldom worked for more than 15 years, which
means constantly new cuts are made in valley sides approved by officials. Plots are
also periodically resurfaced with fresh soil from slopes, sometimes even as frequent
as every 22 weeks, which all contributes to increasing soil erosion rates (Barrow,
2006).
With agriculture as the main source for the serious soil erosion problems in Cameron
Highlands, unsustainable practices of farming are contributing a great deal to the
highlands problems. Because agriculture is the major source for soil erosion
problems, these problems go hand in hand with water pollution. When soil erosion
takes place, not only the soil particles are detached and transported but also the
nutrients located in the soil. Thus if soils erode, nutrients are also washed away
which forces the farmer to add fertilizers on his lands. This not only causes
environmental degradation, but it will also increase costs for the farmer to sustain its
practices. If more erosion takes place, even more fertilizers have to be applied and
more polluting chemicals will be moved down slope. Most of the time it will reach a
river system where it can no longer move down slope. From here the soil particles
and chemicals from the farming lands will be transported by the river system.

3.3.2 Factors indirectly influencing soil erosion

Global warming
Pointed out in picture 9 is the relationship between changes in land
use (land clearing) and rising temperatures. Land-use change
patterns follow the same increasing trend as temperature changes
showing the link between these two factors as they go hand in hand
with each other.

Picture 9: Relationship between changes in land use and rising

temperatures
 Source: (Hassol, 2004)

Not only land clearing leads to an increasing global warming effect,

global warming is also influencing soil erosion processes in an
indirect way. One of the effects of rising temperatures on earth are
fluctuating weather conditions. When temperatures rise, the cold and
warm sea currents controlling the weather system on earth are
disturbed. As a result of this disturbed weather system, rainfall
patterns will change. These patterns will be highly fluctuating and it
will be difficult to predict weather conditions in the future. When
rainfall patterns fluctuate, it causes more severe storms from time to
time, which will increase soil erosion rates. There will also be
occasions when rainfall intensities are low. Fluctuating rainfall
patterns cause extreme weather conditions. These high intensities of
rainfall combined with low intensities of rainfall patterns will result
in more soil erosion compared to average rainfall patterns.

Policies
First of all, the absence of a clear policy and comprehensive guidelines on highland
development is indirectly causing accelerated soil erosion. Another problem is the
scarcity of data on sustainable development. Developers and planners are not
equipped with the right knowledge (Komoo and Othman, 1996).
Existing policy documents can be confusing sometimes. The Land Conservation Act
1960 for example says land administrators can take action against landowners who
are responsible for causing soil erosion and damage to the land. Land administrators
only have this authority when the State government adopts this act. This makes this
act ineffective because the State government can repeal it. The land administrator
also looses its authority when an area is not gazetted as ‘hill land’ because in this
case, everybody can do everything with the land. The Ruler in Council or the Yang Di
Pertuan Negeri can declare any kind of land as ‘hill land’.
The Environmental Quality Act 1974 does not control soil erosion nor does it enhance
soil conservation. However, this act does include the Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) system. The EIA is required for certain categories of land
development and land use. One of the applying categories for soil erosion is the
category in which an EIA is required when more than 50 hectare of forested area will
be logged in a hill land area. The boundary of 50 hectare seems to be very high as
highland areas have very sensitive ecosystems (Lim et al, 1996). Another problem
lies in the EIA guidelines, which say environmental aspects only have to be
considered inside the proposed plan area. The environmental damage of the
surroundings, such as lowland areas in cases of water pollution does not have to be
taken into account. Even though it is a good thing there is are boundaries as for
example the 50 hectares mentioned earlier, in reality EIA procedures are not strictly
followed. A good example would be the EIA on the proposed rehabilitation of the
Ringlet Reservoir in Cameron Highlands (TNB, 2004). In every EIA environmental
impacts must be considered and mitigation measures must be taken whenever
suitable. In this EIA the suitability of selected sites to function as the future disposal
area were discussed. Several factors were included, such as the size of the area,
capacity, and steepness of the slopes, current land use, accessibility and distance for
transportation. All these factors are based on economic motivation rather than the
environment. As a fact, the environmental impacts were not included as a factor to
discuss the suitability of the future silt deposit site. As a result, a piece of 100
hectare of virgin rainforest was cleared, which can result in the siltation of the Jasik
River due to soil erosion. The Jasik River is located in the middle of the approved
disposal area and it leads to the Ringlet Reservoir that is located downstream. When
the 100 hectares of forest are not properly cleared, the objective of the rehabilitation
of the Ringlet Lake will be missed.
The Malaysian NPP has one big antithesis to the present situation in Cameron
Highlands that is not helping to solve soil erosion problems. NPP 19 urges the
importance of connecting the central forest spine located in the middle of Peninsular
Malaysia to other forested and wetlands areas. However in Cameron Highlands a new
road from Bertam Valley (near Ringlet) to Kuala Lipis is under construction and will
run through a lot of hectares protected forested (NPP, 2005).

Management in Cameron Highlands
For all built-up areas in Cameron Highlands, the MDCH is the local authority. On
other land matters, the District Office and the Land Office are the authorities to be
approached. Future land uses are still under jurisdiction of the State government.
Applications for TOL land for farming activities for example have to be applied to the
District Land Office. One problem of big extent is the lack of professionalism in this
kind of matters. The District Officers are most of the time from lowland areas and
not familiar with highland issues. They are able to give approval for land clearings in
unsuitable areas. Also specialists as engineers, town planners, architects, geo-
technical specialist and enforcement officers are lacking. The mismanagement in
Cameron Highlands is further aggravating the situation (WWF, 2001).
Furthermore, the penalties on serious offences in environmental issues are generally
low and those affected by harmful activities cannot recover their loss they have
suffered. Yet it is not a lack of legislation Malaysia is suffering from, but rather a lack
of enforcement of these laws. The reason for this can be found in their insufficient
resources, the lack of competence and expertise among law-enforcers and not to be
forgotten corruption and interference by politicians in the affairs of the enforcement
agencies (Kader and Faiez, 1996). When there is little enforcement, uncontrolled
development resulting in higher soil erosion rates will continue to take place because
there is nobody to stop it.
Also in EIA management many things are lacking as discussed above. Although the
legal part on EIA is there, the DOE (District Office of the Environment) does not have
the human, nor financial resources to ensure that the EIA objective is reached. There
is no clear mechanism from other governmental bodies to inform the DOE about
future projects. Sometimes the DOE finds out by reading the newspaper or watching
the news. This problem leads to the escape of many projects to EIA obligation. In
situations where an EIA was approved with attached conditions, it can be rather
difficult for the DOE to monitor whether the mitigations measures are being
executed. The question if the mitigation measures would have the desired effect if
another thing (Lim et al, 1996).

3.4 Consequences of soil erosion

3.4.1 Flooding

In April 2001 there was a big flooding event that affected 3,300 villagers. The water
level rose nearly a meter from the river level. This event was triggered by an earth
levelling and clearing activity to upgrade one of the highland roads. When areas are
cleared and erosion takes place, the steep slopes transport the soil to the rivers in
the valley down slope. This will cause a reduction of the river’s drainage capacity
that in its turn will cause flooding eventually.

3.4.2 Sedimentation and hydropower generation

Sedimentation in the highland rivers is also caused by soil erosion. The extent of the
problem grows bigger as the Sultan Abu Bakar Dam near Ringlet shows. This dam is
used to generate hydroelectric power. Water is transferred from the Sungai Telom
and Sungai Bertam through a system of tunnels to the Ringlet Falls reservoirs and
afterwards released to the main hydropower plants at Jor located in the headwaters
of the Sungai Batang Padang scheme in the State of Perak, outside Cameron
Highlands. The Sungai Telom and Sungai Bertam are both tributaries of the Sungai
Pahang and as was pointed out in table 1, those rivers are heavily silted. The
sediment coming from these rivers will accumulate at the dam site causing
decreasing capacity of the lake. In 1997, TNB (Tenaga Nasional Berhad) had said
they spend about RM 2.2 million that year to clean up the dam as rubbish and
siltation had obstructed water flow that caused reduced power generation. Even so,
sediment removal has changed into an ongoing process at the Ringlet Lake. This
action can be compared to removing water while the crane is still open. Next to the
Ringlet Lake an areas has been created where the silt from the lake is transferred in
order to let it dry. After the drying process, the remains are brought to the silt
deposit near Ringlet. This new silt deposit area has been created to solve the
problem of storage, but in order to do so they cleared 100 hectares of virgin forest.
Another thing, the Telom tunnel has been partially filled with sand, which has
significantly reduced its flow, also causing reduced power generation. The Ringlet
Lake used to be blue coloured in earlier times but nowadays only the brown, muddy
colour remains.

3.4.3 Pollution of water resources

As mentioned before in paragraph 2.3.4, 16.4% of Cameron Highlands consists of

farming land. Because of the steep slopes combined with heavy rainfall, soil erosion
easily takes place. Not only the soil, but also the chemical pesticides and fertilizers
are transported to the rivers down slope. Research pointed out that a rain shower
washes a lot of the applied chemicals away right after application. This results in
increasing application of chemical pesticides and fertilizers by farmers, which also
increases the concentration of these chemicals in river water. Next to sedimentation,
unsustainable farming activities are causing the deterioration of water resources.
This indiscriminate pollution can be easily seen after a rainfall event as shown in
picture 10. Both pictures were taken in June 2006 to illustrate the visual difference.

Picture 10: Parit Fall before and after rainfall

3.4.4 Landslides

Soil erosion in severe forms can result into landslides and mudslides, which are often
called mass movements. This will happen when soil looses it carrying capacity and
simply falls down. In Cameron Highlands, events of big-scale landslides endangering
lives or blocking access roads are graved into people’s mind5. Often is forgotten that
small-scale landslides occur all the time along roadsides and on agricultural land.
These small-scale landslides are just as much contributing to environmental
problems such as siltation and pollution as do the big-scale events.

3.4.5 Forever-lost forests

When no action is taken to prevent further erosion, the process is allowed to

continue until only bare rocks are left. At first, erosive rainfall will remove the top
layer of the soil, after that it will remove the layer underneath. This will take place at
an accelerated speed while removing all nutrients until the bedrock is reached.
Forest cannot re-establish itself on bare rocks nor can it on soils lacking nutrients.
When beginning soil erosion takes place and preventive measures are taken to
prevent further erosion, plant and animal species have a chance to re-establish
themselves. Hereby must be noted that the forest will never be the same again due
to climatic and other environmental changes.

3.4.6 Global Warming

In the worst-case scenario, cleared areas are left in the open. This is when soil
erosion can easily take place while the soil has no protection at all. The clearing of
forests that results into soil erosion and leaving bare soil out in the open, are
contributing to the global warming effect.

5
See appendix 5: Landslide events in Cameron Highlands
Mark Nearing, a member of the ISCO (International Soil
Conservation Organization) said that soil erosion affects climate
changes because the process of soil erosion releases carbonium
ions into the air, while carbon dioxide is the primary cause of global
warming.
There has also been proved a connection between clearing forest and rainfall. The
more forest is cleared, the less rainfall will occur, creating ‘dry spots’ because tree
canopies intercept moist from clouds. On the other hand, bare soil or bare rock areas
contribute to increasing temperatures. Thus land clearing creates dryer, warmer
areas. This is due to the fact that bare soil or bare rocks absorb sunlight, which will
result in the warming of the earth’s surface. If increasing soil erosion is contributing
to the global warming, this will result in more extreme fluctuating climatically
conditions. Periods of drought and periods of extreme rainfall events can be
predicted. The latter will cause more accelerated soil erosion, making the circle
round.

3.5 The extent of soil erosion

3.5.1 Global extent of soil erosion

Nowadays there is no good data about the global extent of erosion as a result of
water impact. The data on the severity of the occurring erosion is often limited.
While limited data is available on global scale, the worldwide erosion problems are
increasing.
The GLASOD study estimated that all forms of land degradation affect around 15 per
cent of the Earth’s ice-free lands. Of this, accelerated soil erosion by water is
responsible for about 56 per cent and wind erosion is responsible for about 28 per
cent. This means that the area affected by water erosion is, very roughly, around 11
million kilometres square, and the area affected by wind erosion is around 5.5 million
kilometre square. The area affected by tillage erosion is yet unknown.
Picture 11 gives an overview of the global problems of soil degradation. This does
not only include soil erosion severity but also chemical and physical soil degradation.
Although more than 99% of the world's food comes from the soil, experts estimate
that each year more than 10 million hectares of crop land are degraded or lost as
rain and wind sweep away topsoil. An area big enough to feed Europe – 300 million
hectares, about 10 times the size of the United Kingdom - has been so severely
degraded it cannot produce food, according to United Nation figures (Radford, 2004).
Because soil is formed slowly, it is essentially a finite resource. The severity of the
global erosion problem is only now becoming widely appreciated because soil
formation cannot keep up with the high soil erosion rates (Favis-Mortlock, 2006).
Societies in the past had collapsed or disappeared because of soil problems. Easter
Island in the Pacific is a famous example. Ninety per cent of the people died because
of deforestation, erosion and soil depletion. Another example includes Iceland, where
about 50% of the soil ended up in the sea. Icelandic society survived only through a
drastically lower standard of living.
 Picture 11: Soil degradation on global scale

Source: (From UNEP-GRID)

3.5.2 Soil erosion in Cameron Highlands

Agricultural activities generate most of the eroded soils in Cameron Highlands. Next
is urbanization, followed by road constructions. Appendix 6 shows soil erosion rates
in the whole area of Cameron Highlands. The left side of this area is where all the
townships, farming lands and other developments are located. It is at those locations
where soil erosion rates are highest. Thus soil erosion rates increase together with
development (Hashim, 2005).
Kampong Raja was identified as the area with the highest soil erosion risk in
Cameron Highlands because it receives the highest rainfall and has highly erodible
soils. Underneath in table 5 the soil erosion rates of each sub-catchment6 in Cameron
Highlands can be seen. On average, the Upper Telom and Upper Bertam catchments
are high erosion risks areas according to the classification for soil erosion risks for
highland areas shown in table 6. Those two catchment areas make up 26% of all
catchment areas. Around 44% of Cameron Highlands catchment areas have
moderate erosion risks and only 30% has low erosion risks. Hereby must be noted
these statistics are all averages. The Upper Telom catchment has an average soil
erosion risk of 140 ton per hectare per year. This means some areas in this
catchment will have higher erosion risks and some areas will have lower erosion
risks. In the Upper Telom and Upper Bertam catchments, areas with critical soil
erosion risks can also be found.

Table 5: Soil Erosion Rates in the sub-catchments in Cameron Highlands.

Sub - Hectares Soil Erosion Rate Amount soil
catchment (Tonnes / hectare / removed from top
year) layer / hectare
(mm)
Upper Telom 10,033 140 14

6
See appendix 7: Sub-catchment map Cameron Highlands
 Lower Telom 19,423 84 8.4
Upper Bertam 7,858 103 10.3
Middle Bertam 10,100 86 8.6
Lower Bertam 9,433 17 1.7
Lemoi 10,988 14 1.4

Total 67,835 74 7.4

Source: (Hashim, 2005)

Table 6: Classification for Soil Erosion Risk for Highland Areas

Soil Erosion Loss Range Classification
(ton/hectare/year) (Risk)

< 50 Low
50 – 100 Moderate
100 – 150 High
>150 Critical
Source: (Roslan and Tew, 1995)

This data on soil erosion risks is based upon soil erosion theory to include all factors
influencing soil erosion. According to the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), the
factors to predict the Soil Erosion Loss (A) include the Rainfall Erosivity (R), Soil
Erodibility (K), Slope Length and Steepness (LS) and Land Use Management Factor
(CP), which includes vegetation cover.

A = R * K * SL * CP

The Rainfall Erosivity ranges between 650 – 1000 MJ.mm/ha/hr/year (>25 mm/hour
is already erosive rainfall, rainfall is proved to be really erosive in Malaysia) and the
Erosivity is generally higher towards the western and southern sections
of the catchment. These data can be derived from local weather stations such as the
one near Tanah Rata and by using that data to fill in the following formula.

R = 28.5 + 0.35 * Pa (Where, Pa = annual rainfall)

Soil Erodibility ranges between 0.05 - 0.45. Soils in the northern section record
higher Erodibility compared to the rest of the areas in the catchment. Soil Erodibility
information is gathered by using data on soil characteristics and can be derived from
the following equation.
100 * K = 1.0 * M1.14 * (10-4) * (12 - a) + 4.5 * (b - 3) + 8.0 * (c - 2)

Where, M = (% silt + % very fine sand) * (100% clay)

a = % organic matter
b = soil structure code
c = permeability class

Slope length and steepness ranges between 0 – 20 with the middle and northern
sections recording higher values compared to other areas in the catchment. This
information is extracted from terrain and slope maps of Cameron Highlands and
using the following equation.

SL = (λ / 22.13)m * (0.065 + 0.46 * S + 0.0065 * SS)

Where, λ = slope length (m)
S = slope in %
m = 0.2 for S < 1, 0.3 for 1 < S < 3, 0.4 for 3 < S < 5, 0.5 for 5 < S
< 12 and 0.6 for S > 12%

The Land Use Management Factor (CP) is stated in table 7 where the vegetation
cover is also included. This factor is determined based on research work and
observations carried out to suit the local conditions (Tew and Faisal, 2006) and
(Hashim, 2005).

Table 7: Land Use Management Factor, CP

Land Cover CP Factor
Forest 0.010
Grassland 0.015
Recreational 0.100
Agricultural 0.250
Bare Land 0.8 – 1.0
Construction 1.0
Source: (Roslan and Tew, 1996)

As table 7 points out, there is a relationship between land use (CP factor) and soil
erosion loss (A). Soil erosion losses increase together with increasing CP factors. This
factor is found highest on construction and bare land areas, thus soil erosion losses
are also highest on these types of land uses. Underneath, table 8 provides
information on the relationship between land use and soil erosion rates. Hereby Soil
Erosion Rate Plots (SERP’s) are used on areas with slope steepness of 9 degrees
unless stated otherwise. Background information on SERP’s will be given in chapter 4
where the research strategy is discussed. As can be seen, providing a rain shelter for
the vegetables in Cameron Highlands makes a tremendous difference in soil erosion
losses. Soil erosion rates can be 69 times higher when vegetables are left in the
open. This type of cabbage can be cultivated three times a year, which makes the
soil more sensitive to erosion. When the cabbage is planted the soil is totally
unprotected and when it grows bigger the erosion rates will be reduced. However
after harvesting the loose soil is even more subjected to soil erosion. Thus these crop
cycles makes the soil at several stages within the cycle very vulnerable to soil
erosion. Even with slope angles of 3˚ in steepness the erosion rates are high on
cabbage farms. Imagine how high the rates will be on real steep slopes where
farmers in Cameron Highlands conduct their agricultural activities.

Table 8: Relationship between land use and soil erosion rates

Land Use Soil Erosion Rate
(Ton / hectare / year)
Just weeded plot in agricultural land 94
Exposed area without cover > 80
Cabbage in the open, slope is 3˚ 83
Cabbage in rain shelter 1.2
Primary jungle 0.25 – 0.50
Source: (Lim et al, 1996) and (Wan Abdullah et al., 1999)

Landslides due to increasing soil erosion in Cameron Highlands have resulted in the
loss of many lives and huge monetary losses. As recent as January 2001, there were
two major landslides. In the first, six people were buried alive in Kampong Raja,
while in the other, the only access road linking to Kampong Raja and Blue Valley
collapsed, effectively cutting off about 15,000 people and the bulk of the area’s
product (WWF Malaysia, December 2001).

3.6 Soil erosion in the future

3.6.1 Soil erosion severity prediction of Cameron Highlands

When knowledge about the present situation of soil erosion is

combined with the information about soil erosion in the past,
estimations can be made about the future situation on this topic.
Naturally there will be some differences because times change and
situations change. Before development was taking place in the
Cameron Highlands, there was only the natural type of erosion. This
type of erosion in forest areas can contribute to biodiversity while
giving other plant species a chance to grow inside the altered place.
After the discovery of the cool mountain area by William Cameron in
1885, the area was baptized into the Cameron Highlands. After this
discovery development took place. The more development took place,
the more soil erosion took place. For the future can be said erosion
rates would further increase hand in hand with more development.
As more development can be expected, for example because of the
construction of the new road to Kuala Lipis, increasing soil erosion
rates can be predicted. In appendix 8 a prediction is made for future
soil erosion rates in the Upper Telom, Upper Bertam and Ringlet areas
that shows an alarming increasing trend.

Not only future development but also global warming must also be
taken into account when talking about future scenarios of soil erosion.
Future rates of water- and wind erosion are both likely to be affected
by climate change. Water erosion will increase together with higher
intensities of rainfall, which will be a result of the increasing global
warming effect.
Still it is not possible to precisely predict the future scenario on long term on soil
erosion within the Cameron Highlands, except for the fact it will be getting worse
when unsustainable development keeps on increasing.

3.6.2 EWARNSTM

Prediction on short-term soil erosion scenarios in Cameron Highlands is nowadays

made possible with the help from new technology. Dr. Tew and Dr. Faisal have
created EWARNSTM (Early Warning And Risk Navigation Systems) in order to resolve
and minimize the serious soil erosion problems in Cameron Highlands.
Before the system could be developed, a case study on Cameron Highlands was set
up first. The same parameters as in the USLE equations (paragraph 3.5.2) were
determined using information from the latest Structure Plan, Satellite Imagery,
topographical and rainfall information of the Cameron Highlands area. In this system
only the developed western side of the Cameron Highlands district was taken into
account as for no people live in other parts except for some Orang Asli. After the
case study, the real-time warning system was developed using real-time rainfall
information. Solar-powered rain sensors will be used, which will be triggered by
certain rainfall amounts and intensities. A SIM-card based GPRS transmitter, which is
attached to the rain sensors would then send out e-mails at every minute interval, so
that the data could be transferred to a receiving unit. The e-mail is read and the data
is processed within the Geographical Information system (GIS) using an automated
keyboard simulation programme. The processed values will be compared to
threshold values and an early warning signal will be triggered when those values are
exceeded. Similarly, for the early warning forecast on erosion risks it would be based
on the baseline database developed and it is to be confirmed by the weather forecast
information as provided by the Malaysian Meteorological Service (MMS). The
EWARNS system can be seen as a local soil erosion risk forecast, which even can be
sent to mobile phones on daily basis making use of the following website:
http://www.ewarns.org.my. This system can be beneficial to local authorities,
highway operators and public in general because it can warn them on high risks of
erosion, which can trigger landslide and/or mudslide events. Local authorities can
use this information to take preventive actions; developers can be warned on
forehand; and tourists and local residents can decide not to take a certain road when
there is a high erosion risk. Lives can be saved, environmental threats can be
reduced, minimized or even prevented and costs can be spared (Tew and Faisal,
2005).

3.7 Soil erosion prevention and mitigation

Given the complexity of soil erosion problems in Cameron Highlands it is not possible
to solve the problem with only one measure, by only one person, in only one day.
Solving this problem will take the cooperation of many parties using many measures
and it will also take some time before improvements can be seen. Rather than end-
of-pipe solutions, source directed solutions should be carried out as much as
possible. The rehabilitation of the Ringlet Lake is a good example of an end-of-pipe
solution. It would be far more cost- and environmental effective to prevent soil from
coming into the river system.

3.7.1 Agriculture

The damage the 7,340 hectares of agricultural land in Cameron Highlands have done
to the environment cannot be made undone. Nor can the farming areas be converted
to forested areas as for agriculture is the major economic resource. Next to this fact,
tourism is the second major economic resource of Cameron Highlands in which agro-
tourism plays a big role. This will only promotes new lands to be cleared in order to
create more farming lands. The best option of soil erosion prevention on agricultural
land should be seen as promoting sustainable agricultural practices.
Many measures can be taken to promote sustainable agriculture. Measures can be of
biological character or they can be described as structural measures. It depends on
the situation which measure is best to apply.

Mulching for example is an effective method of erosion control because it provides a

good surface contact cover for the soil. Also the fact that remaining plants which the
farm itself produced can be re-used to serve as mulch is appealing in economical and
environmental views. When mulching is managed properly, it could also improve the
biological, chemical and physical properties of the soil.
Cover cropping could also work well to prevent extensive soil erosion on vegetable
farms. Several types of leguminous creepers are used to function as surface cover
for crops planted on the soil surface. This technique might not be beneficial for every
situation as for creepers can also suffocate young trees.
Instead of annuals (vegetables and flowers), perennials can be introduced as
preferred agricultural use because these crops generate lower soil erosion rates.
Because vegetables and flowers generate a higher income, it is not likely farmers will
convert their activities into solely perennial tree crops such as fruit trees. Combining
perennial tree crops with vegetables or flowers seems to be more realistic (Hashim
and Wan Abdullah, 2003). Another possibility is to cultivate a different type of
perennial, which are harvested every 2 to 3 months without having to uproot the
plant. One such crop is ‘kaukee’ or also called boxthorn (Lycium Ferocissimum)
because of the thorny stems it possesses, which protect the stem for being eaten
(picture 12). The benefits are that no pesticides are necessary, the root system can
be left in the ground so the soil particles are not disturbed and after taking the
leaves, the cut stems can be used to mulch the furrows in the farm that provides an
extra cover against erosion (Hashim and Rahaman, 2006).

Picture 12: kaukee

Research on two types of soil cover on cropland pointed out that proper cover
management is highly important in order to reduce soil loss. One cover was only leaf
litter and was sprayed upon with chemicals to prevent natural growth of vegetation,
while the other next to leaf litter also included surface vegetation because no
chemicals were sprayed. It was found the latter reduced the soil loss with 60%
compared to the leaf litter cover. Also an increased crop growth was found due to
soil and nutrient conservation. An explanation can be found in the fact that litter is
subjected to mobilisation by overland flow. Natural ground vegetation not only holds
the topsoil in place, but also retains leaf litter.
Intercropping can be another option to reduce erosion rates. Different types of crops
can be planted with different crop cycles. Because both have different periods in
which the soil is more vulnerable for erosion, the total soil erosion rate throughout
the year can be reduced.
Rain shelters can also provide a good solution for the problem of soil loss on
agricultural land. As has been shown in previous research, the average soil erosion
rate on a highland cabbage farm is 83 ton/hectare/year. When a protective rain
shelter was used on the same farming land, the soil loss was only 1.2
ton/hectare/year, thus a 69% reduction. Using rain shelters can only be effective
when a proper drainage system is present on location because accumulation of
runoff outside the shelters occurs during heavy rainfall. Systems where rainwater is
intercepted and used for irrigation are highly recommended because this will prevent
rainwater to run down slope after a rainfall event (Hashim and Wan Abdullah, 2003).
All these above mentioned measures to prevent or reduce soil erosion rates are
based on the willingness of farmers. Sustainable agriculture can only be promoted
when farmers adopt these measures. Before farmers are willing to adopt sustainable
farming practices, the problems of low farming incomes and TOL systems must be
solved.
Integration of small sized farms can be encouraged in order to make more money by
intensifying farming practices on larger scale on the same amount of farming lands.
The participating farmers can receive incentives, which will make their annual
income higher. Opportunities as eco-tourism on the farming lands can be further
exploited to provide farmers with a second source of income next to their crop yields.
As for the TOL system, longer lease of lands or possibilities to buy the land should be
introduced on the condition more sustainable farming practices are introduced.
Officials in Cameron Highlands should also no longer allow the 15 years cycle issue.
Authorities should restrict new clearance after 15 years of using the land and
encourage farmers to sustain production on land they already cleared. Although it is
possible to withdraw licenses if a farmer causes pollution, this is rarely been done.
Enforcement on this issue should be strengthened (Barrow, 2006).
Terrace farming should be encouraged on existing farms located on steep slopes.
Incentives are also possible here when farmers adopt good farming practices like
terracing on steep slopes, using organic fertilizers and with proper amounts, conduct
proper waste disposal, introduce rain shelters with proper drainage systems and so
on. Farms can be labeled in this manner in order to increase their annual income and
increase environmental care at the same time.

3.7.2 Land clearing

Land clearing activities should be carefully planned, whereby engineers and

earthwork professionals can be consulted. Vegetation that does not necessarily have
to be removed in order to execute the plan should be spared wherever possible. Soil
material obtained from clearing land should as much as possible be kept at the
location where it was taken from while cutting hills should be avoided as much as
possible so the original landform can be preserved. Furthermore, the construction of
pavement decreases soil infiltration rates, thus pavement construction should be
avoided if possible and grass should be planted. Also proper drainage systems should
be constructed as soon as the land is cleared when only bare soil remains (Hashim,
1996).
In exposed areas, mitigation measures such as planting grass should be taken
immediately. Solutions as providing a plastic cover on the exposed soil should only
be introduced as a temporary measure. Strategies of planting grass species in strips
across slopes are found to be very successful in soil conservation. Vetiver grass
(Vetiveria spp.) can adapt to a wide range of soil, slopes and climatic conditions
while its roots form an extensive network that strengthens surrounding soil on
slopes. It is also cheap to grow, resistant to pests and diseases; it sucks up
pollutants and improves crop yields. Other frequently used grass species are Bahia
grass (Paspalum notatum) and Axonopus compressus. From these three perennials
Vetiver grass is most suitable for the soil conditions found in Cameron Highlands
because highlands are more sensitive for soil erosion and this grass has a very
extensive root system to retain the soil.

Picture 13: Grass perennials to prevent soil erosion

Roots of vetiver Vetiver grass Bahia grass Axonopus compressus

Picture 14: Erosion Control Mattress

Besides grass, there are other possibilities
to control erosion, sedimentation and
slope failure problems. CHT-Natural
Solutions Sdn Bhd developed a bio
engineered Erosion Control Mattress
(ECM) to control soil erosion and slope
failure (picture 14). This ECM makes use
of by-products from the oil palm fruit
process, namely the fibres. The ECM is
proven to be effective in its objective
because it slows down water flow velocity,
retains moisture for good grass growing,
the fibre matrix retains soil and seeds on
the slope and the fibre also becomes plant
food in order to let them grow faster. Next Bioengineering
to this, ECM’s are light in weight and easy
to apply on slopes (Leong and Chan,
2006).

3.7.3 Highland management

Improvements in highland management

can be made in order to prevent further
soil degradation. To start with, guidelines
and policies on sustainable development
of highland areas should be formulated
and afterwards, implementation practices
have to be executed properly before proper management can commence.
The government must give all its efforts to eliminate corruption without regard to
position and rank. When this happens, enforcement can improve gaining back the
trust of the people in the legal process (Kader and Faiez, 1996). Because
development is not allowed in water catchment areas, on slopes >25 degrees, in
areas with a soil erosion rate >150 ton/hectare/year and in areas with >1000 m
contour, offenders must be handled with care. Also offences in environmental
pollution should be better enforced. MDCH (Majilis Daerah Cameron Highlands)
should give fines and jail punishments to all offenders.
MDCH should also develop and support implementation of programmes targeted at
local community participation in ensuring sustainable development at Cameron
Highlands. This may be in the form of Integrated Community Development
Programmes (ICDP), which seeks to conserve biodiversity while improving the
quality of life of the people whose livelihood depends on those biological resources.
The ICDP could include a range of related conservation and development efforts such
as community-based natural resources management, community resource
conservation and eco-development projects.
The Cabinet Committee on Highlands and Islands with the assistance of UPEN
Pahang should continuously monitor all development activities at Cameron
Highlands. An extra power must be brought into life that handles environmental
issues and will be on the side of MDCH. They can plan, monitor and implement
environmental measures and they can undertake environmental awareness and
education programmes. This unit must be trained on environmental protection and
be given sufficient manpower in order to carry out their activities effectively (WWF,
December 2001).

3.7.4 Research

Before any of above measures can be put into practice, more research on certain
areas is necessary. For example, not much is known about suitable soil covers such
as; intercropping, cover cropping and introducing perennials to prevent extensive soil
losses. Although MARDI (Malaysian Agricultural Research development Institute)
already did a lot of research on improvements in farming practices, opportunities are
there to do more research because different situations need different measures.
There is also a need in research on rain shelter systems because not much is known
about proper drainage management of exceeding rainwater outside the rain shelters
in highlands areas. Not only erosion control measures should be looked at, but also
social and economic aspects have to be taken into account. Some awareness among
farmers on soil erosion issues is already there, the willingness however, to adopt
new technology is not present. This is probably mostly due to economic reasons and
short-term thinking. However, research should be conducted on the attitude of
farmers towards sustainable farming.
Furthermore, research can be done on how to approach this soil erosion problem
from different angles. In some occasions a fresh view can be more effective than
older ones.
For future research students, community people, agricultural research institutes,
environmental NGO’s and earthwork consultancies for example can be attracted.

3.7.5 Awareness

Even though more research on prevention measures on soil losses is welcome, some
technologies to prevent increasing soil erosion are readily available. When
information and technology is present, the next step will be increasing awareness
among farmers, local management and others involved with the soil erosion issues in
order to let them adopt available technologies.
As awareness is the key-trigger to prevent further degradation of the environment,
the information must reach the people involved. Talks have to be given to
schoolchildren about the present environmental situation in Cameron Highlands and
how to lend a helping hand because the future is in the hands of the next generation.
These talks for increasing awareness can be followed by participating in
environmental projects such as ‘Adopt A River’. In this project guided by REACH not
only schoolchildren but also other community members can adopt a river in Cameron
Highlands and monitor the severity of pollution by taking measurements on water
quality and looking at the visual aspects of the river. Another option would be to
participate in reforestation projects to learn more about the importance of the
presence of vegetation to prevent soil erosion, which can result in dangerous
landslides. Next to this, farmers have to be educated through educational
programmes to increase their knowledge in how to improve farming practices for
their own and the environments benefit. Special attention must be given on
increasing their incomes without damaging the environment. Also local authorities
have to be invited to attend talks to increase pressure on them to take some kind of
action on the soil erosion losses. Organizations as R.E.A.C.H., Global Environment
Centre, WWF and MNS can play a vital role in increasing awareness among people.

4. Research strategy
4.1 Principles on Soil Erosion Rate Plot’s

The fieldwork was executed in order to support literature data on soil erosion rates
because data can deviate from each other. Furthermore in most of the research on
soil erosion rates, the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was used making it some
sort of prediction. Research in Cameron Highlands based on Soil Erosion Rate Plots
(SERP’s) was only executed on farming lands.
Given these facts, taking measurements with the help of SERP’s would be useful
when conducted on areas other than farming land. The decision was taken not to use
the USLE equation for this research, not only because data was already available, but
also because retrieving data to do so would be very expensive. To obtain correct
information on soil characteristics laboratorial work would have been necessary. Thus
research was carried out using SERP’s. An SERP is a dripping-bucket system to
measure soil erosion rates. Planks border the plot to prevent surrounding soil and
rainwater to come into the area where measurements are taken. Soil and rainwater
will be collected using a gutter on the down slope side of the plot. This gutter leads
to a connected bucket system that will collect both soil and rainwater. The bucket
system was covered with plastic to prevent rainwater from falling in directly. When
collecting the runoff, first rainwater will be taken out and measured in millilitres. The
soil remaining on the bucket’s bottom and rainwater leftovers are taken back. The
rainwater-soil combination will be kept in open air (and if possible in sunlight) letting
the rainwater vaporise leaving only the dry soil. Amounts of vaporising rainwater will
not be included in amounts of rainwater runoff because amounts will be so low it can
be neglected. The amount of dry soil after the vaporising process will be weight in
grams to collect data about soil erosion rates.
The objective of the fieldwork was to point out in what extent vegetation cover
makes a difference on soil erosion rates in non-farming lands. In order to get good
results, three sites for field study were chosen.

4.2 The three research plots

The first site was located on the east hillside of Gunung Jasar (a mountain), located
on the Westside of the township of Tanah Rata. This site was a bare soil area with a
slope steepness of 20 degrees, without vegetation cover. The east part of the hill
was partially cleared in order to construct power lines, which makes it a good place
to take measurements because even now the site is lacking proper soil erosion
control measures. TNB (Tenaga Nasional Berhad = National Power Company) is
responsible for the power lines, its construction and maintenance.
The second site was located next to the water storage construction, a small walk
uphill from the centre of the township of Tanah Rata. This site was partially covered
with minor vegetation, leaving about 50% of the soil uncovered. The slope steepness
was around 15 degrees.
The third site was located on the Jalan Tengkolok (Tengkolok road) next to the road
site. This road originates in Tanah Rata starting from the police station and ending at
the Tanah Rata power station on the Gunung Jasar. This site was fully covered by
minor vegetation leaving no soil uncovered and had a slope steepness around 10
degrees. Also present was a layer of organic matter on the soil surface.
Having three sites, one with bare soil leaving the whole surface uncovered, one with
soil partially covered by minor vegetation and one with a complete minor vegetation
cover leaving no soil uncovered, comparisons can be made. Because of limited time,
every site was given four weeks for measurement taking. Soil erosion rates are
expressed in ton per hectare per year and rainwater runoff is expressed in litres per
hectare per year. Given this fact, measurements taken must be according to these
standards. The SERP’s all have the size of 10 m2 to give reliable results. When the
surface area would have been bigger or smaller the reliability would have been
reduced. Smaller areas would have been less representative compared to bigger
areas as soil erosion occurs also on larger scale. Bigger areas would have been less
reliable because of increasing chances on bucket overflowing occasions. The size of
10 m2 is also chosen to make calculations into hectares easier while amounts of soil
were measured in grams and rainwater runoff in millilitres.

Picture 15: Soil Erosion Rate Plots

SERP 1 SERP 3
10. 5. Research results

5.1 Soil Erosion Rate Plot 1

Table 9: Soil Erosion Rate Plot 1

Date Rainwater Soil Runoff Rainwater Soil Runoff
Runoff (Grams/10 m2) Runoff (Ton / hectare)
(ml/10 m2) ( l / hectare )
12th April
13th April 10,300 400 10,300 0.40
14th April 9,300 370 9,300 0.37
15th April 550 30 550 0.03
th
17 April 2,500 100 2,500 0.10
21st April 8,400 450 8,400 0.45
25th April 31,700 1650 31,700 1.65
28th April 15,100 1150 15,100 1.15
2nd May 35,000 2650 35,000 2.65
4th May 19,000 1400 19,000 1.40
th
5 May 20,200 1550 20,200 1.55
9th May 15,600 1150 15,600 1.15

Total 167,650 10,900 167,650 10.9

Soil erosion rate = 10.9 ton / hectare / 4 weeks

Soil erosion rate = ± 140 ton / hectare / year

In this situation, every year 14 mm from the topsoil layer will be removed on every
hectare.

When returning to SERP 1 after the four-week period to remove the system from its
location, another result could be observed as for SERP 1 was nowhere to be found.
Illustrated in picture 16, only an area with a lot of loosened soil was there due to a
landslide event coming from the steep slope on the right side of the SERP.

Picture 16: Soil Erosion Rate Plot 1

Before After
5.2 Soil Erosion Rate Plot 2

Measurements on soil erosion plot number 2 were supposed to take place between
the 11th of May and the 7th of June 2006. After setting up the plot, measurements
were taken the following five days. Every day the plot was checked and rainwater-
and soil runoff were removed from the bucket system. Three out of these five days
the buckets have been overflowing and even an attempt was made to stay at the
plot site during rainfall events in order to continuously remove rainwater runoff from
the buckets. If this attempt were not made, the buckets would have been
overflowing when reaching the plot site after a rainfall event. After these ineffective
attempts, the measurements that can be taken from this plot were considered
inaccurate due to bucket overflowing events and cannot be included in this research.

5.3 Soil Erosion Rate Plot 3

Table 10: Soil Erosion Rate Plot 3

Date Rainwater Soil Runoff Rainwater Soil Runoff
Runoff (Grams / 10 m2) Runoff (Ton / hectare)
(ml / 10 m2 (L / hectare)
th
9 June
11th June 2,100 10.4 2,100 0.0104
16th June 9,800 48.6 9,800 0.0486
20th June 4,200 20.8 4,200 0.0208
24th June 12,500 62.2 12,500 0.0622
29th June 6,900 34.2 6,900 0.0342
6th July 4,800 23.8 4,800 0.0238

Total 40,300 200 40,300 0.2000

Soil erosion rate = 0.2 ton / hectare / 4 weeks

Soil erosion rate = 2.6 ton / hectare / year

In this situation, every year 0.26 mm from the topsoil layer will be removed on every
hectare.

5.4 Comparing results

Soil Erosion Rate Plot 1 had an erosion rate of ± 140 ton/hectare/year, while Soil
Erosion Rate Plot 3 had an erosion rate of 2.6 ton/hectare/year, which means a high
and a low erosion risk respectively according to the soil erosion loss ranges shown in
table 6. Furthermore, on SERP 1 a landslide event took place after measurements
were taken while this kind of event was not observed on SERP 3.
The results taken from SERP 1 correspond with literature data on exposed areas
without cover, which have a soil erosion rate of 80 ton/hectare/year and more. The
erosion rate on SERP 3 is double the value of cabbage in a rain shelter, partially due
to the possibility for raindrops to fall directly on to the soil underneath the vegetation
growth. Also results from SERP 3 are not far from soil erosion rates in primary
jungle, which ranges between 0.25 and 0.50 ton/hectare/year (table 8).

In order to compare results taken from Plot 1 and 3, factors influencing soil erosion
rates given by the USLE equation must be taken into account. Because of economical
reasons soil characteristics cannot be taken into account when comparing the two
SERP’s. The factor slope length is irrelevant because both plots have the same
dimension. The steepness however deserves some attention because SERP 1 has a
steepness of 20 degrees while SERP 3 has a steepness of 10 degrees. Results on
SERP 1 can be expected to be slightly higher due to a steeper slope. The land use
management factor is already taken into account by comparing a ‘bare soil’ area to a
‘vegetation covered’ area. Most importantly, rainfall amounts must be taken into
account because these amounts together with vegetation type cover contributes
most to soil erosion rates.

Table 11: Comparing soil erosion rates between SERP 1 and 3

Plot 1 Plot 3

Rainwater runoff 2,500 2,100

( l / hectare )
Soil runoff 0.1000 0.0104
( ton / hectare )

Decrease in soil runoff 89.6%

Rainwater runoff 9,300 9,800

( l / hectare )
Soil runoff 0.3700 0.0486
( ton / hectare )

Decrease in soil runoff 86.9%

Total rainwater runoff

( l / hectare ) 167,650 40,300
Total soil runoff
( ton / hectare ) 10.9 0.2

Total decrease in soil runoff 98.2%

As can be seen in table 11, soil erosion rates decrease with 88% when almost the
same amount of rainwater was taken into account. When looking at the total soil
runoff, with different amounts of rainwater runoff, a total decrease of 98.2% in soil
runoff can be seen.
11. 6. Discussion

6.1 Finding suitable locations for the Soil Erosion Rate Plots

Before commencing fieldwork the locations must be carefully selected. Because

serious soil erosion occurs on slope steepness of 20 degrees and above, the sites
must be around this value of steepness. The sites must be within distance of the
Tanah Rata Township on walking- or cycling distance and must be on a place where
people have no interest to go to. It turned out to be very time consuming to locate
suitable sites for taking measurement due to transportation limitations. Not
surprisingly, vegetation growth is an important factor to take into account as for the
three sites is selected on this feature. Especially finding a location for the first plot
was extremely difficult because people can easily spot barren soil areas. When the
Soil Erosion Rate Plot can be seen, there is a bigger chance of destruction of the
research site due to nosy local residents or tourists. The other condition, slope
steepness was contributing to the difficulty of finding a suitable location. The
difficulty of finding a suitable location was the main reason for the short periods of
measurements of four weeks. Also because the three sites were not located in near
distance to each other, it was not possible to attend to two SERP’s at the same time.
Visiting two sites was considered too time consuming and it would leave hardly any
time to produce reports. When finding suitable locations was not as difficult as it
turned out to be, more data could have been gathered. This could have led to more
reliable measurement results because of longer periods of measurements and more
sites to compare with each other.
Another factor influencing the schedule of four weeks for each SERP was manpower.
After locating suitable sites there was a lack of material and manpower to set-up the
SERP. Financial support was also a limitation as there was none. Planks had to be
found along the roadsides and a REACH committee member volunteered to provide
gutters and buckets.

6.2 Measurement results

When pointing out the soil erosion rate results of 140 ton/hectare/year on SERP 1
and 2.6 ton/hectare/year on SERP 2, the period of four weeks in which
measurements were taken must be mentioned. The measurement amounts of tonnes
of soil per hectare per four weeks were converted into ton per hectare per year. This
was done in order to convert soil erosion rates to severity classes. In this manner the
soil erosion rates can be called “low”, “medium”, “high” or “critical”, which delivers
an understandable message to people. Thus this label only provides information on a
four-week period and cannot say anything on soil erosion rates in the other 48 weeks
of the year. Off course based on rainfall data for those 48 weeks, when compared to
the measured 4 weeks period, predictions can be made on average soil erosion rates
throughout the year.
When the measurement results of SERP 1 and 3 were compared, some remarks on
rainfall amounts have to be made. Between 12th April and 9th May 2006 (SERP 1) it
was raining almost every day while between 9th June and 6th July 2006 (SERP 3) only
one out of three days rainfall events could be observed. By comparing soil erosion
rates of separate measurements instead of the totals (with round about same rainfall
amounts), these values can be compared. The total soil erosion rates however, are
not suitable for comparison due to differences in rainfall amounts.
One other difference between SERP 1 and 3 must be taken into account, namely the
slope steepness. Because SERP 1 has a slope steepness of 20 degrees set against
SERP 3 with a slope steepness of 10 degrees, results from the latter when compared
them will be slightly lower. Another discussion point would be the slope steepness
maintained in literature research of 9 degrees. Differences between literature values
and SERP 3 can be neglected as for the difference is only one degree. But SERP 1
with a slope gradient of 20 degrees, a difference of 11 degrees, must be discussed.
In literature data, exposed areas without cover have soil erosion rates of >80 ton per
hectare per year while SERP 1 had an erosion rate of 140. This is pretty much higher
than 80 ton/hectare/year and can be partially blamed on the difference in slope
angle and also on possible differences in rainfall amounts and soil Erodibility.
 7. Conclusion

Cameron Highlands’ natural environment with fragile ecosystems is very sensitive for
soil erosion problems. This should pose reason of concern because highland areas
are very special in many ways. These hill lands are the main water catchment areas
of Peninsular Malaysia providing many households with fresh drinking water. Not
only their ability to provide water makes the highlands special. The tropical rainforest
in Cameron Highlands is totally different from lowland rainforest due to differences in
climatic conditions, which are caused by increasing altitude. These differences result
in the presence of many endemic and rare species of flora and fauna in Cameron
Highlands.
All these special features in Cameron Highlands are under immediate threat because
of increasing unsustainable development. Farmers illegally clear many hectares of
land in order to expand their agricultural businesses. Their clearing practices result
into increasing soil erosion rates. Furthermore their farming practices are also
causing serious environmental degradation.
Not even legal clearances of forested land happen in a sustainable way. When roads
are constructed, sometimes only plastic sheets are used to prevent the soil from
eroding. When these practices continue, severe soil erosion, landslide events,
increased sedimentation; flooding and river pollution will be general topics to talk
about among local residents and tourists.
The effects of land clearing on soil erosion are widespread in the built-up areas of
Cameron Highlands. While 79% is still forested, 21% of the total land area in the
district has undergone changes in land use. This has resulted in critical soil erosion
rates (>150 ton/hectare/year) in the Upper Telom and Upper Bertam catchments.
Results from a four-week fieldwork period at the Gunung Jasar (a mountain near
Tanah Rata) showed that the area had a high soil erosion rate (140
ton/hectare/year) during that period. The Soil Erosion Plot was located on a huge
strip of land, which was cleared in order to construct power lines crossing the
mountain, under the responsibility of TNB. At the location where fieldwork took
place, a landslide event occurred, which indicated more landslides events can take
place in the future. This is a serious hazard to the area because the power lines can
loose their grip on the soil due to landslide events. This eventually can trigger the
power lines to fall down resulting in power failures, loss of biodiversity and hazards
to people walking in that area during landslide events. If a big company as TNB does
not take responsibility for this situation, how can we expect from others to take care
of the environment?
Further fieldwork pointed out this soil erosion risk on bare slopes of about 10-20
degrees can be reduced with almost 90% when the soil is completely covered with
vegetation.
Because agriculture is the biggest land use in Cameron Highlands (16.4%) after
forestry, clearing land for this type of land use is the major cause of soil erosion.
Therefore, soil erosion prevention and mitigation measures must be pointed primarily
at this sector. Before any changes can be made, guidelines and policies on
sustainable development in highlands should be formulated, implemented and
enforced and monitored. Authorities should also allow longer lease of lands on the
condition more sustainable farming practices are introduced. Furthermore,
authorities should restrict new clearance after 15 years of using the land and
encourage farmers to sustain production on land they already cleared. Terrace
farming can also be encouraged, especially on steep slopes and incentives can be
given to farming businesses that practice sustainable methods. Enforcement of
legislation on causing damage to the environment should be improved, as they do
not posses the knowledge to maintain the natural environment in Cameron
Highlands. Educational trainings should be given to them and more manpower should
be appointed to carry out this heavy task.
Sustainable farming practices should be encouraged such as cover cropping,
intercropping, mulching, introducing perennials instead of annuals, providing rain
shelters on farming lands and introduce proper drainage systems. On bare slopes
perennials should be planted or other soil erosion control measures should be taken
immediately to prevent the soil from eroding at high levels. Also all land clearing
activities should be proper planned with sufficient data on the area to proceed with
the earthworks without posing a threat to its surroundings.
Although soil control measures are readily available, improvement is always possible.
One way of improving technology and approaches to the problem on soil erosion is to
encourage more research. This research can be about social and economic
preferences of people causing soil erosion or it can be on soil erosion control
measures. Students, research institutes and environmental organizations must not
only be involved in this type of research, also the local community can play a vital
role in this. REACH can be the link between the community and the group of
“educated people” on soil erosion issues because creating awareness is the key to
success in solving soil erosion problems in Cameron Highlands.
To save Cameron Highlands from environmental degradation, parties must work
together. Parties such as local authorities, land users, community people, research
institutes, environmental organizations and others must cooperate in order to save
this special area. If no action is taken, the heritage of Cameron Highlands will be lost
forever and there will be nothing left to pass to next generations.
 8. Recommendations

The following recommendations are addressed to all committee members of the

REACH organization to point out what they can do on the soil erosion problems in
Cameron Highlands. Because REACH has only limited power being a community-
based organization, recommendations are focused on research activities, increasing
awareness and monitoring.

Research activities

Contact must be made with Universities in Malaysia and also Universities

abroad such as Saxion Hogescholen in The Netherlands. Collaborating with
them gives students the opportunity to do research for REACH on soil erosion
problems. Not only students from environmental studies should be attracted,
also students from botany or social-economic studies can do research on soil
erosion aspects such as loss in biodiversity due to land clearing or the attitude
of farmers towards sustainable agriculture.

Concerned and interested community members can also carry out research.
REACH can create opportunities for them by providing them with topics to
study. One option, suggested by Balu Perumal, is to educate REACH members
about flora in Cameron Highlands whereby every person can focus on one
group of plants. Whenever there is an occasion when land is about to get
cleared, REACH volunteers can go inside the forested areas and save the
special (sometimes rare or endemic) highland species before they are
destroyed. Gaining more knowledge on highland species will make it easier to
mention reasons why the highlands should be protected.

Conducted research and available information must be kept in a proper

organized library in the REACH office. This makes all information on soil
erosion problems available for all REACH members and other interested.

Increasing awareness

Having University students working for REACH as a part of their studies does
not only increase research activities but it also increases awareness of locals.
More students should be encouraged to come and help the REACH
organization because locals will start thinking there must be something
happening in Cameron Highlands why the students are coming.

REACH should initiate educational programmes to increase awareness on soil

erosion problems. Information given in this report can be used for that
purpose. Cooperation with Global Environment Centre can assist REACH to
initiate this kind of project. Programmes about sustainable agriculture should
be offered to farmers and local authorities. More systematically, educational
cycles on soil erosion problems in Cameron Highlands should be initiated
among schools. This programme can be repeated every year to reach all
classes. Priority must be given to the largest schools in Cameron Highlands
and when the organizations capacity allows, the other schools should also be
visited.

REACH should give talks on soil erosion and land clearing problems in
Cameron Highlands to all interested people. Information provided by this
report can be used in order to achieve the objective of increasing awareness
by giving talks.

REACH projects as reforestation, CSI (Community Stream Investigation) and

Adopt-A-River should be continued with volunteer groups and school children.
Trees are planted on bare slope areas in reforestation projects to prevent the
soil from further erosion. This increases awareness on land clearing problems
by showing volunteers the severity of the problem and how mitigation
measures can be executed. CSI and Adopt-A-River projects are about
monitoring the water quality of rivers in Cameron Highlands. The results will
show most of the rivers are heavily polluted, which will increase awareness on
soil erosion among volunteers and schoolchildren because this is the main
cause of river pollution.

Monitoring

REACH should continue and increase its monitoring activities on illegal land
clearing and hill cuttings although this is the job of the local authorities. Land
clearing events should be highlighted to the authority whereby using the
press can be a useful tool.

Other approaches

Cooperation between REACH and organizations as Global Environment Centre,

WWF Malaysia, MNS and MARDI should be increased. Exchanging ideas and
developing new approaches to solve the soil erosion problems in Cameron
Highlands can be worth the efforts of combining power.

REACH should introduce the EWARNSTM system to local authorities. When the
system triggers an early warning, REACH should inform the authorities about
the hazards in certain areas to let them initiate some kind of action.
Definitions

Bioengineering = Combination of vegetative and structural practices

Endangered = Not critically endangered, but it is facing a very high risk of extinction
in the wild in the near future.

Evaporation = a process which returns water vapour from the earth’s surface to the
atmosphere.

Leaching = Removal of soluble organic and inorganic substances from the topsoil
downward by the action of percolating water.

Mulch = Material possibly consisting of organic compounds as compost, bark, leaves,

grass, pine-needles or other plant materials which will protect the soil surface
against all kind of influences.

Mulching = Covering a soil surface with mulch.

Nutrients = Elements or compounds essential to life, including carbon, oxygen,

nitrogen, phosphorus and many others.

Organic matter = Plant and animal residues, or substances made of living organisms.

Parts Per Million (PPM) = Number of ‘parts’ by weight of a substance per million parts
of water. This unit is commonly used to represent pollutant concentrations. Large
concentrations are expressed in percentages.

Rare = something that cannot be found abundantly – or a species that occur at low
numbers and it is either highly localized or highly specialized to a habitat or both.

Runoff = Fraction of the rainfall which does not infiltrate the soil will flow downhill
under the action of gravity; it is then known as runoff or overland flow.

Sediment = Fragmented organic or inorganic material derived from the weathering

of soil, alluvial, and rock materials; removed by erosion and transported by water,
wind, ice and gravity.

Sedimentation = Deposition of sediment from a state of suspension in water or air.

Siltation = Process of becoming clogged with fine sediments.

Soil Erodibility = Rate of soil loss per unit of rainfall Erosivity factor for a specified
soil, depends on soil characteristics.

Soil degradation = the phenomena which lower the capacity of the soil to support
life.
Totally protected wild animal = a wild animal which shall not be shot, killed or taken
or be held in possession by any person except as provided in Part V of the Protection
of Wildlife Act, 1972.

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12.
 Appendix 1: Location Cameron Highlands

13.
14.
15. Appendix 2: Map Cameron Highlands
16. Appendix 3: Climatic data at Cameron Highlands
(highland) and Ipoh (lowland)

Source: (WWF December, 2001)

17. Appendix 4: Location Upper Telom Catchment

Source: (WWF September, 2001)

 18. Appendix 5: Landslide events in Cameron Highlands

Date Location Death Number Number Loss

Injured Relocated (RM)
29-5-1991 Tapah-Cameron 0 0 0 >1000
Highlands Road stranded
30-5-1991 Tapah-Cameron 0 0 0 >1000
Highlands Road stranded
8-12-1994 Tanah Rata 2 0 NA >10,000
(5 missing)
7-12-1994 Cameron Highlands 9 0 0 NA
24-10-‘95 Tringkap 1 0 0 NA
1-11-1995 Tapah-Cameron 0 0 0 > 1000
Highlands Road stranded
Dec. 1995 Cameron Highlands 7 0 0 >1000
9-10-1996 Kuala Terla 3 2 0 NA
18-10-‘96 Tanah Rata 0 0 16 families NA
6-12-1999 Tapah-Cameron 1 0 0 NA
Highlands Road
6-1-2000 Kampong Raja 6 5 NA >100,000
8-1-2000 Taman Tringkap 0 0 0 Road
Puncak Damage
17-1-2003 Puncak Arabella, 0 0 0 Slope
Tanah Rata Collapsed
24-2-2004 Tapah-Ringlet Road 0 0 0 Slope
Collapsed
and Road
closed for
one week

NA = Not Available Source: (Chan, 2006)

19. Appendix 6: Soil Erosion Rates Map Cameron
Highlands

Source: (Hashim, 2005)

20. Appendix 7: Sub-catchment map Cameron Highlands

Source: (Hashim, 2005)

21. Appendix 8: Future soil erosion in catchment areas

Source: (Hashim, 2005)