Malaysia:
River siltation due to deforestation underlying severe floods in
Sarawak
Heavy rains
started pouring on January 14 and continued for almost one month
in the East Malaysian state of Sarawak, hitting especially the central
and northern region.
Thousands
of evacuees, essential foodstuff airlifted to longhouses, tons of
relief aid, closure of primary schools, landslides, crops destroyed
have been the toll of an unprecedented devastating flood that has
mainly hit rural Sarawak. Paddy fields were ripening when the rain
started. Eventually the crops were completely destroyed by
the flood. According to a report in The Borneo Post on 11 February
2009, indigenous communities from a number of longhouses in the
Baram river region have lost almost their complete harvest.(1)
While changing
climate patterns may be conveniently blamed for the devastation
(everybody’s fault - no one’s fault) more than twenty years of forestry
policies favouring large-scale depletion of the fragile tropical
rainforest ecosystems for short-term (rather short-sighted) profit
are a major underlying cause that some are highlighting now.
As the organization
Bruno Manser Fonds recalls “Despite warnings from environmentalists
and international scientists, less than ten percent of Sarawak's
primary forests have been spared from logging without due importance
being attached to the long-term environmental, social and economic
consequences of logging.”
A lawyer from
Kuching, one of the provinces hit by the floods, wrote in his blog
(http://voonleeshan.blogspot.com/2009/01/2009-floods-in-kuching.html)
that many of the causes of floods in Kuching and other adjacent
areas had been created through policies of the government of the
day. And he asks them: “Why fell the trees and cleared the forests,
when trees could help mitigate floods by soaking the water during
heavy rain? Why fell trees and clearing of forests be allowed for
purpose of profit of the few, yet, without proper replanting and
forest management? Were not these contributed to erosions and siltation
of the river beds of the Sarawak River? Had not this siltation then
caused the riverbeds to be shallow? Had not the shallow waterbeds
cause rain water to rise up very quickly to flood riverbanks and
into the farms, shops and houses?”
Siltation
linked to deforestation has also resulted in massive death of fish.
In this respect, the Digest on Malaysian News reported that “hundreds
of fish surfaced in the Batang Rajang [river] as they struggled
for air, some already dead. There also have been several reports
of such incidents in Belaga and Kapit since late last year which
was cause for much worry for the people there. Natural Resources
and Environment Board (NREB) had found that the fish had practically
suffocated to death and not poisoned. The cause of the incident
is very simple. Rajang River became too shallow due to heavy siltation.
Siltation was caused by heavy and uncontrolled deforestation in
upriver areas.”
According
to the same source, “We all know that the erosion is due to uncontrolled
logging in upper Batang Rajang. The culprits (who happen to be associate
of Taib Mahmud, the Chief Minister of Sarawak) are the timber companies.
They rape the virgin jungle of Sarawak which resulted in massive
deforestation and erosion and siltation which eventually make the
Batang Rajang proned to flooding (which severely affected Sibu town)
and hindering water nagivation due to shallow river. And now, the
fishes are dying.”
The huge profits
from logging have gone to a handful of corporations and to the pockets
of few and powerful people, but its devastating effects are now
being suffered by thousands of people, many of whom have actively
opposed logging in their territories.
(1)
“Rural Sarawak suffers flood consequences”, media release
of Bruno Manser Fonds, 17 February 2009,
www.bmf.ch,
info@bmf.ch
(2)
“Siltation killed fish at Batang Rajang”,
Digest on Malaysian News (http://malaysiadigest.blogspot.com/2009/02/siltation-killed-fish-at-batang-rajang.html)
Other sources:
several news features from the Malaysian website The Star Online,
http://thestar.com.my
