SAVE LANGAT SOUTH

by LEONG ChowPong & YAP Jin Rui

We received a message just before Christmas, stating The Selangor State Agriculture Corporation
(PKPS) has made a proposal to acquire the whole of Langat South Forest Reserve for an oil palm
plantation. The Selangor Forestry and Wildlife Department was given 2 weeks by the MB’s office to come
up with a paper to justify to continue conserving the reserve.

Located in Southern Selangor, bordering the state of Negeri Sembilan, Langat South Forest Reserve is a
peat swamp forest which was first gazetted as a reserve in 1927 under the Federated Malay States
Forest Enactment 1918 (F.M.S En 34/1918). If you take off or land in KLIA, looking out the window of the
plane, you should be able to see a large sea of greeneries, looking closer this greeneries are actually all
oil palms plantations. A large area of these plantations is actually sitting on what used to be the Langat
South Forest Reserve

South Selangor Peat Swamp Forest Reserves, then and now (source : Lim Teck Wyn)

Originally 12141 hectares (ha), Langat South Forest Reserve covers an area of 6908 ha after its
boundaries were amended over the years for the building of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)
and for use in development of agriculture, mainly for oil palm plantation. Illegal encroaching by farmers
adopting the slash and burn farming method has also affected more the some areas within the reserve.
Today, approximately 5000 ha of Langat South Forest Reserve are still under forest cover. This includes
the last of the peatland Virgin Jungle Reserve of about 270 he.

A Rapid Ecological Assessment is currently being carried out to determine if the Langat South Forest
Reserve is worth conserving. This was a true demonstration of hand in hand efforts between the
stakeholders: government, NGOs, and community, within day, surveillance teams were already deployed
Camera traps were set, and species identification works are being carried out with the objective to
determine the biodiversities and ultimately the actual value of this reserve.

The thing about peat swamp forests is that its ecosystem is characterized by waterlogging, in which the
soil is saturated with water of a level too high to allow for typical agricultural activity. This creates a
condition of low oxygen and nutrient level, whereby the water reaches acidity. This sort of harsh
environment creates the distinctive condition that is conducive for the growth of many unique species of
flora. Peat – dead and decaying organic matter – forms the base on which these peat forests grow,
besides acting as major carbon storages that slow down the process of global warming.

Estimates suggest that 5,800 tonnes of atmospheric carbon per hectare can be stored in a 10-metre deep
peat swamp, considerably much more compared to the estimated 300-500 tonnes per hectare for other
types of tropical forest. Besides that, tropical peat lands have active carbon sequestration properties, in
that they actively accumulate carbon in the form of peat – all of which are released the moment these
forests are drained and cleared. This will further contribute to already rising carbon levels and global
temperatures. It goes without saying that preserving our peat swamp forests would be one of the easier
and most natural ways of regulating our nation’s carbon emissions.

We went to the site on the 26th December, and within 2 hours in the reserve, the group were greeted by
numerous evidences of wildlife. From mammals to insects, from birds to spiders, from huge trees to wild
crawlings, the forest came alive and awed us with nature’s most mesmerizing symphony. It was a friendly
reminder that there are still lives in this reserve, and a hasty conversion into commercial agriculture land
will leave many unidentified species remains unidentified, and nature best treasures would vanish under
the current of greediness of mankind.

The assessment report will be presented to the MB early January, afterwhich a decision on which
proposal the state government will use, would be made. We need all support from the public in this effort
to Save Langat South Forest Reserve. Various groups are already carrying out separate campaigns for
this cause, one of which currently planned is the Phone Campaign to save Langat Forest by MyCJN,
th
(http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142528245802614&ref=mf), happening on the 30 December
2010, 10am to 3pm.
MYCJN’s Phone Campaign (Source: MYCJN)

Please join SAVE LANGAT SOUTH on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Save-Langat-

South/128830887171971) for updates, or follow the writers on twitter at @ChowPong, and @xjinrui