Crucial role of wetlands in the ecology
By N. Shashi Kala
IN OUR quest to preserve and care for the environment, one area that is frequently ignored and receives little or no attention from the public is our wetlands.
The wetlands play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of nature as it forms the habitat for a very large variety of marine and plant life.
In West Malaysia, there are about 2,168 species of wetland plants, out of which half are known to be useful to man. The four main socio-economic uses are timber, medicinal, fruits/seeds and as a source of fibre.
In East and South Asia, wetlands cover an area in excess of 120 million hectares. But recent reports indicate that roughly 85 per cent of this area is now threatened by degradation or destruction.
This is indeed a grim statistic as the destruction of wetlands can and has caused, among other things, a severe decline in fishery and forest resources and biodiversity, leading to increased flooding, seasonal droughts and coastal erosion.
Wetlands are defined (according to the Ramsar Convention) as areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static, flowing fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water, depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres.
They play an important role in, among other things, erosion control/shoreline stabilization, flood control, groundwater recharge, water supply, groundwater discharge, sediment/toxicant retention, nutrient retention, biomass export and water transport.
The major wetland types in Malaysia are the mangroves/mudflats, freshwater swamp forests, peat swamp forests, lakes and river systems.
In Malaysia, mangrove forests, which are some of the most diverse in the world, cover an area of around 590,000 hectares. But there has been more than a 50 per cent loss in mangrove forests in the last two decades alone.
In most cases, such losses continue unabated as our country rushes headlong in its race for development (for the period 1965 to 1985, the rate of alienation was about 500 to 600 hectares per year (Mohamad Nor and Chan, 1988).
This type of wetland occurs primarily in Sabah, Sarawak, Johor, Selangor and Perak and are economically and socially important for their role in near shore fisheries, coastline fisheries and for forest products.
Freshwater swamps are normally found in a zone along the lower reaches of certain rivers, and around freshwater lake systems. it is a very species-rich forest and have a high diversity of understorey species.
Unfortunately, this rich habitat is threatened by logging, freshwater aqua culture and agricultural development, leading to a loss of 90 per cent of the total area.
It now covers only 10,000 to 20,000 ha.
The situation is not much better for peat swamps, which at one time covered 2.5 million hectares in Malaysia. Roughly 50 per cent of these areas have been destroyed or degraded by logging, agriculture,
housing and industrial development: This is indeed a tragic situation as peat swamps are important renewable sources of timber trees and play a valuable role in flood prevention.
But it is not all bleak for the wetlands of Malaysia, thanks in a large part to the efforts of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Asian Wetland Bureau (AWB) as well as government agencies like the Department of Environment.
The AWB is an international nonprofit organization which aims to promote protection and sustainable utilization of wetland resources in Asia.
To this end, it has carried out a number of projects which include the setting up of monitoring stations throughout Asia.
The AWB also acts as a sort of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) consultant, though it has disavowed this particular role due to "conflicting views."
However, it continues to function as a consultancy to parties genuinely interested in the wetlands, and has lent its expertise to various state government agencies.
The AWB feels that the two main problems of wetlands in this country are the lack of theoretical knowledge about its importance and the lack of enforcement from the authorities.
Despite this, efforts are underway to formulate some kind of management plan that could be applied for all the areas but while discussions continue, more areas are lost.
NOTE: Thanks to the Asian Wetland Bureau for providing the information for this article.
Source : The Star, June 1, 1993
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