The problem with EIAs

The Natural Resources and Environment Minister has “rapped” 14 errant developers who have flouted environmental rules in Lojing. Nine of these naughty developers had carried out projects without submitting Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports while four had EIA reports but failed to follow its mitigation plans.

14 to face the music

Kami sokong! All errant developers should be rapped, preferably on their knuckles and toes until they turn blue.

We would, however, like to (humbly) point out to the honourable Minister that EIAs are only as effective as the agency that approves (and then monitors and enforces) them.

Many EIAs have been submitted and approved for many of the deforestation projects in Lojing and Gua Musang over the years, but (as far as we know) this has not changed a thing on the ground. Why is this so? It’s probably due to a number of factors. One could be that many of these EIAs that have been approved are of dubious quality and should not have been approved in the first place.

If this is so, then the rapping should not only be confined to the errant contractors who did not follow the mitigation measures contained in the respective EIAs or did not even bother to submit EIAs at all. The government agency that approved these EIAs should also be rapped.

Let’s backtrack a little and talk about some basics of EIAs in Malaysia with regards to forest conversion. There are two general categories of EIAs in Malaysia. Of these, the so-called “Preliminary EIAs” are required under Section 34A of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 for land development schemes covering an area of 500 hectares or more to bring forest land into agriculture production (50 hectares or more if it is hill forest). Preliminary EIAs are submitted to the respective State Department of Environment (DOE) offices for approval. Only “competent” EIA consultants that are registered with the DOE can submit EIAs.

Based on the Executive Summaries of EIA reports for conversion of forest to plantations in Gua Musang/Lojing approved by DOE Kelantan in the past five years (these summaries are available on DOE’s website), two things may be observed:

• The bulk of these EIA reports are done by a small handful of EIA consulting firms who seem to specialise in churning out EIAs for deforestation in Kelantan.
• Many of these EIA Executive Summaries are cut-and-paste jobs.
• Some of the findings and recommendations outlined in these summaries are just plain dumb.

Let’s play “Spot the difference”!

As EIA consultants are hired by the project proponents, it is only natural that they act on the best interests of their clients, which ultimately is to obtain approval from the DOE so the that the particular project can go ahead.

But when poor quality EIAs are approved, is it the fault of the consultant, or the DOE which approves it?

Although we are only baseing this claim on the Executive Summaries available online, would you put much trust in EIAs that have ridiculous conclusions such as this?:

“More importantly, the greening of the respective area may in directly contribute in producing an oxygen and carbon dioxide needed by the human being, trees (flora) and any other living organism within and surrounding the proposed project site area.”

Source: PEIA FOR PROPOSED OIL PALM PLANTATION AT MUKIM ULU NENGGIRI, DAERAH BERTAM, GUA MUSANG, KELANTAN DARUL NAIM
(See full Executive Summary here: RingkasanEksekutif-PEIAPMBKSawit5000Ekar)

And this is the conclusion given for a project that will clear fell over 2,000 hectares of rainforest, within a forest reserve, for oil palm. In a water catchment area (although the EIA denies this, the whole damn area is a water catchment lah, come on!). Less than 1km away from an Orang Asli settlement (who likely were not even properly consulted in the EIA study). And this EIA was approved by DOE Kelantan. What rubbish.

And don’t get us started on monitoring and enforcement…

Stripped Bare

The NST is now on the Lojing trail too… and has even lifted a sentence or two from this blog (See if you can spot it)! The articles below appeared in the NST today:

 

Orang asli are also Malaysians with rights and interests

SUNDAY STAR SAYS

30 December 2012

THE world did not “end” nine days ago as some had feared but our environment remains as fragile as ever.

Just because an apocalyptic expectation had not been fulfilled does not mean the natural environment is necessarily robust against wilful abuse.

For a pristine environment like our rainforests, blessed with rich natural biodiversity, great care must always be taken.

It is only too easy to destroy the sensitive ecological balance and cause grave and irreversible damage to natural habitats.

The risks multiply when commercial interests, such as logging, are involved.

Replacing lost natural forest cover with latex timber clone (LTC) plantations is no answer but merely prolongs an ecological crisis.

Valuable biodiversity is killed off, along with endemic species in the locality. Many thousands of species, including some unique to particular areas, can be lost forever.

News reports about the precarious situation in Kelantan make for disturbing reading.

In plans for some 400,000ha of land in Peninsular Malaysia to be cleared for LTCs, nearly half is slated for Kelantan alone.

This cannot be sustainable for a single state on such a massive scale. The lure of profits can be seductive but the state government has a duty and a responsibility to resist such material temptations in the larger public interest.

Not least among the communities affected are the orang asli, who live closest to the natural environment.

As if the plight of their villages has not been deplorable enough for many long years, the situation is now set to deteriorate.

Many of the 4,000ha of the Sungai Relai Forest Reserve in Gua Musang have reportedly been logged already. [rcanai’s note: this is a gross underestimate. Much larger areas in many other forest reserves have already been clear-felled]

It is no good for state leaders to make loud and pious noises supposedly championing the environment when their actions reveal the opposite.

The orang asli in particular rely on a clean, natural environment to provide a host of resources, including material for handicraft, medicines, food and water.

Killing the natural forests is also killing the people there, because for them it is a matter of life and death.

Local leaders should not simply berate the orang asli for allegedly not wanting to change with the times and “develop”, because one man’s development is another’s devastation.

Genuine respect for a community means caring for the people’s culture, life choices and needs.

Bar Council: Not right to leave orang asli in the lurch for profits

By Isabelle Lai

The Star, 29 December 2012

GUA MUSANG: Loggers and plantation owners in Kelantan must acknowledge the fact that the orang asli had been living in these areas for centuries, said the Bar Council.

Its researcher on the orang asli rights committee, Chung Yi Fan, said it was not right for them to take away the forest resources for short-term profits while leaving the locals with nothing.

He said even the orang asli involved in plantation schemes such as the Ladang Rakyat were a minority while real job opportunities for them were lacking.

“A mainly forest reserve area, where the orang asli have lived for centuries, is being clear-felled and converted to rubber plantations. Ladang Rakyat is the main driver behind it. Certain orang asli selected as participants do receive dividends but only RM200 per month.

“How do you expect a family, who has given up their native territory where they get all their subsistence needs, to survive on RM200 a month?” he said.

The orang asli, he said, viewed the land not just as a means to survive on but as part of their spiritual and cultural identity.

He claimed that the authorities had not taken heed when they tried to speak up for their rights.

Chung said there had been cases where orang asli in a particular area were offered to become participants of a Ladang Rakyat scheme located far away.

“This is a mismatch and cannot be counted as giving them native title land rights. It doesn’t make sense, especially when you say the land around their village is being taken away for logging or another Ladang Rakyat scheme,” he noted.

Chung said a new policy in administering orang asli affairs was necessary.

“The old policy was one of controlling access of outsiders to communities. It was to control the orang asli population against the communist influence, so today, the policy has to change.

“The new policy must recognise that they are citizens of Malaysia, have rights to vote and choose their local government,” he said.

Kelantan Orang Asli weep over red rivers

Nigel Aw

Malaysiakini.com | 29 December 2012

While the Gua Musang Orang Asli community in Kelantan battle chainsaws that threaten to transplant their traditional forest with plantations, one village here is up against a different kind of challenge.

Kampung Kelaik, situated along the quiet Gua Musang-Cameron Highlands highway, is isolated from the main cluster of Orang Asli settlements minus a ‘post’ or administrative centre like the rest.

Villagers here have no access to running water and complain that the river that they depend upon is literally turning brownish red, and are fingering the mining activities uphill for their woes.

“We don’t have running water here, so we need to rely on the river but the Kelaik River is red in colour,” said Angah Pandak (left), 55, pointing to the black and cracked skin on his leg, he claimed that the water was causing sickness among the local population.

The only nearby alternative river, Sungai Chia, he explained, was also off limits as villagers fear pesticides in the water from an upstream oil palm plantation.

An uphill 40-minute journey by four wheel finds an iron ore factory perched on the hilltop, churning out rusty-red water into what appear to be ponds dug out of the ground.

‘Even rice in pot turns red’

“This is the water that we are getting, even when we cook rice, our rice turn red in colour,” said another villager, Angah Muda as he pointed down at the ponds.

As the villagers surveyed the site which they claim is the source of their miseries, the factory’ manager, wishing to be known only as Tan and a group of men approached them.

Asked about the villagers’ claim later, Tan insisted that the factory is not responsible for polluting Sungai Kelaik.

“Whatever water that comes out of the factory stays in the ponds and is recycled, it does not flow into the river,” he said.

Angah Muda (top photo) appeared unconvinced by the explanation, leading his village men downstream, where the the clear Sungai Kelaik turns murky as it merges with the brownish red flow of Sungai Rumlah from uphill.

“This is the factory’s water, look! They are not telling the truth,” he insisted.

He claimed that the village was initially informed of the project but no real consultation undertaken nor compensation granted.

He also lamented that the state government had parcelled out land around the village for plantation, logging and mining without taking into account their traditional grounds.

Factory denies polluting river

When contacted, Sterling Goldhill Sdn Bhd, the factory’s contractor reiterated that the brownish red river was not its doing as their’s is confined to the ponds.

This only happens during the rainy season because the rain water washes the soil into the river, it is not our water, our water is stored in our ponds and reused,” said its manager Julice Chu.

She said that company was mindful of the environment, in particular the nearby rivers and its consultants had already conducted all the necessary regulatory work for the factory.

Chu denied that the villagers did not receive compensation, stating that the landowner had already given the village between RM30,000 to RM40,000 when the factory began operations early this year.

“We have also offered the locals work but they are not keen to take them up,” she said.

However, a lab analysis of water sample collected at the river directly downstream of the mine tailings pond found iron levels to be at significant levels of 11mg/L.

This, environmental activists Dylan Ong said, was above the two mg/L level for drinking water recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Iron in water at significant level

“The iron content in the river water was 11mg/L, this is way above normal level which is below one mg/L or two to three mg/L if there are ongoing earthworks,” he said.

Nonetheless, he noted that water sample taken from the same source further down stream where villagers use for daily chores and consumption was at 1.59mg/L.

“The reduction is probably because a portion of the iron was deposited along the riverbed but if there is heavy rain, it is possible that the iron level down stream will be much higher,” he said.

According to the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality, the average iron concentration in rivers is at 0.7mg/L and drinking water should be no more than two mg/L as a precaution against excessive iron storage in the human body.

While the iron concentration level was higher than normal, Ong acknowledged that these levels may not yet be toxic, but said more consultation should have been conducted with the Orang Asli community.

“The Orang Asli did not know what to expect and are of course worried.

“Who wouldn’t be worried when the water they use for drinking, cooking and washing turns red?” he said.

Kelantan government left us out of land matters, says orang asli department

Then on the following day, this article appeared in The Star.

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Unfairly treated: Excessive logging activities have resulted in orang asli losing their habitat and income, among many other repercussions.

KOTA BARU: The PAS-led Kelantan Government has kept Orang Asli Development Department (Jkoa) officers out of all meetings concerning forest reserve land allocated for deforestation, causing many orang asli to be displaced from their habitat, says a senior Jkoa officer.

The senior officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that although land matters were under the purview and authority of the state government, Jkoa played an important role in giving views and opinions on how to protect the rights of the orang asli.

“Since the change in government in 1990, the then Orang Asli Affairs Department (Jheoa) had never been invited, consulted or even asked to give opinions on plans by the state government to award logging concessions to companies or individuals.

“Our officers have always been kept in the dark over these matters. They are helpless to do anything to protect the welfare, socio-economic and standard of living aspects of the orang asli,” he said.

He was asked to comment on allegations by orang asli communities in Gua Musang that Jkoa had done nothing to look into their plight after the Kelantan Government awarded thousands of hectares including their habitat in logging concessions to companies or individuals.

Orang asli activists had also claimed that logging activities had muddied the rivers and that the orang asli’s source of water was threatened by the use of pesticides, triggering fears of water pollution and other health issues.

The activists claimed that rampant logging in the area had reduced the size of the orang asli’s hunting ground and that Kelantan Mentri BesarDatuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who was aware of the situation, had done nothing to stop such activities.

The Jkoa senior officer also alleged that one of the main reasons why Jkoa officers in Kelantan had been left out of the meetings was because they were federal department officers who were deemed to be “outsiders” because of political differences.

“In short, the Kelantan Government decided that any plan that had something to do with forest reserves should be kept under wraps’,” he added.

Kelantan/Terengganu Jkoa deputy director Abdul Razak Arshad declined to comment.

However, he said all land matters that concerned the department was under the jurisdiction of the state government and that the department had not been invited to meetings on spill-over effects of land clearing in forest reserves inhabited by orang asli.

Kelantan has tried to improve the lives of orang asli

This was the response from a Kelantan state executive committee member, which also appeared in The Star on 28 December 2012:

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PETALING JAYA: The Kelantan government has tried to bring development to the orang asli in Gua Musang and change their lives for the better through its plantation schemes, said state exco member Datuk Nik Amar Nik Abdullah.

He said the state government had hoped that the orang asli would find jobs working in the oil palm plantations where they could earn around RM300 to RM500 a month.

“But they are not interested. There are jobs, but the companies are forced to take in foreign workers,” he said in an interview.

Nik Amar said the orang asli found it “very difficult to open themselves to change”, adding that plantation work would offer them permanent jobs.

When asked about their unhappiness about the ongoing logging and forest conversion, he said he understood their feelings.

“But if all the forests cannot be touched, how is the Government going to obtain resources?” he asked.

Nik Amar also dismissed the notion that the orang asli deemed the territory around their villages as native territory (wilayah adat), pointing out that this was only applicable in Sabah and Sarawak.

“We will not stop them if they want to file a case against us. But we have acted according to the law,” he said.

He expressed hope that the orang asli can adapt to changing times and stop relying on the forests.

“It’s better for them to take a chance, join the development. Their kids need education and a better life,” he said.

State Housing, Public Works, Utility and Environment Committee chairman Datuk Anizam Abd Rahman said he would verify with Jakoa and the land office on all the claims made by the orang asli.

Expert: Replacing forests with LTCs destroys biodiversity

This supplementary article, which also appeared in The Star on 28 December provides context of the impacts on the on-going deforestation from a biodiversity perspective:

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GUA MUSANG: Conversion of natural forests to latex timber clone (LTC) plantations completely destroys an area’s natural biodiversity and ecology and could wipe out endemic species altogether, said environment and forestry expert Lim Teck Wyn.

“We are talking about thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of species.

“Some are known to be rare, some found only in Kelantan and some only in one specific location.

“If we destroy a locality like that, there is a possibility that the plant would be made extinct immediately,” he warned.

In addition, he said plantations contained very little minor forest produce, such as rattan or bamboo natural resources that the orang asli depend on.

He noted that the law currently allowed forests to be cleared as long as it was replanted with “timber producing trees”.

It would then still be considered a forest reserve, despite the fact that LTCs would drastically change the character of the forest, he said.

“In Peninsular Malaysia, there are plans to create more than 400,000ha of LTCs, while I hear almost 200,000ha has been planned in Kelantan,” he said.

Lim claimed that some of the clearing work done in Kelantan was a violation of the guidelines, with scant regard for the hill slope degree or an environmental impact assessment.

He said very few animals could live in plantations as well, which further affect orang asli villages throughout the area.

“The orang asli don’t just live on a dot on the map.

“They live in a more complicated system which encompasses the forest surroundings,” he said.

Orang asli in dire straits

This article by Isabelle Lai appeared in The Star on 28 December 2012:

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GUA MUSANG: Years of protests have come to naught for an estimated 10,000 orang asli who are living in dire straits due to extensive logging and forest conversion in Kelantan.

Orang asli activists, who have accused the state government of turning a deaf ear to their grouses, are now upping the ante in the battle to have their land rights legally recognised.

One of them, Dendy Johari, 20, claimed that Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat‘s administration was not taking responsibility for their welfare.

“The MB must understand our problems as they affect us directly, day in and day out. We are not greedy for a lot of land.

“We just want our native territory to be ours and left unspoiled.

“We want to live in a forest full of natural resources.”

He said the orang asli were also disappointed with the state Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa) as it had not assisted them despite numerous complaints about logging.

Water tanks were installed at the villages in 2010 but the water ran out within weeks, he claimed.

“We joked that the water tanks in the villages were mere decorative items. What use are they?

“We still rely on the river for our water needs,” he said.

Another orang asli activist, Awir Awe, said their villages, while left untouched, were surrounded by vast areas of logged forest which had been converted to monocrop industrial plantations, including latex timber clone plantations.

This has affected their livelihood as they depended on the forests for their food and materials for their craftwork, medicine and other daily requirements.

The logging, he claimed, had also muddied the rivers, while pesticide use in plantations had triggered fears of water pollution and health issues.

However, Awir said the orang asli were no longer taking the pillaging of what they deemed as their “native territory (wilayah adat)” lying down.

They are outraged that all of these activities have been done throughout the years with scant regard for their well-being as well as no prior consultation with them.

Awir is one of a rising number of people who have been fighting for their land rights to be legally recognised by the state government.

Memorandums had been sent, protests and blockades held, and complaints made but to no avail, he claimed.

“Now we are compiling evidence of the history of our occupation in this territory to show how we have used the land for years. Then we will bring this to the court, we will never give up,” he said.

He said they had also documented the chronology of events whenever a new area had been breached, including details about the company involved and the complaints made.

Due to the logging, Awir said even small animals such as squirrels, monkeys and wildboar that the orang asli hunted for food were becoming rare.

“It takes us six hours to hunt for game. When the rivers turn muddy, our rice turns red when we cook it because we have no other water source,” he said.

Kg Guling resident Adi Buru, 54, said all land surrounding the village had been converted into an oil palm plantation without prior engagement with the orang asli.

“Because of the polluted river as well, our children have worms in their stomachs and often have diarrhoea,” he said.

Mega plantations gobble up K’tan Orang Asli land

Looks like the press has picked up on what we’ve been talking about. This article below appeared on Malaysiakini, December 28, 2012.

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As logging trucks zoom pass the Orang Asli village of Kampung Parik, the charred bamboos by the dusty mud road serve as a reminder of the struggle to preserve what is left of residents’ forest and way of life.

Awi Along, 41, (right) recalled the day when he and his Temiar kin said “enough” and mounted a blockade on one of the access roads outside this village against logging trucks.

“The police dismantled the bamboo barrier and set fire to it. After that, they threw most of what remained into the river,” Awi recalled of the short-lived blockade of Jan 28 when 13 people were arrested.

Kampung Parik is among several Orang Asli villages spread along the Nenggiri River within the Kuala Betis regroupment scheme in Gua Musang, Kelantan, located on the outermost cluster of similar settlements, a mere 30-minute ride away from Kuala Betis town.

Not more than an hour in four wheel drive down the road from the former blockade site lies ancient Gua Cha, a neolithic settlement which the local Orang Asli proudly call the site of their forefathers.

However, the path to the ancient cave saw what was once a landscape of majestic green now replaced by kilometres of rusty red barren hills littered with wood debris and dead trees.

Jelak Anas, 30, (right) from the nearby village of Kampung Depak, remembered how he had led a contented life by living off the forest until two years ago when bulldozers and terraces carved into the hills for a plantation put paid to that idyllic way.

“Five or six of us would enter the forest for a week or two and if we were lucky enough to find fragrant wood, we could sell them for up to RM5,000 at the town and share the money among ourselves but now nothing is left”, he said.

A short way down the road, thousands of bagged rubber tree saplings line the hill side, waiting to take their place on the terraces in yet another plantation within the Orang Asli domain.

This was a familiar sight for the more than 130 Orang Asli villages here that run deeper inwards up to the borders of neighbouring Perak and Pahang, boasting a population of over 10,000, majority from the Temiar tribe and the minority tribes of Menrik, Jahai and Batek.

The plantation is in the PAS-led state government’s Ladang Rakyat programme.

Aimed at alleviating poverty, the project grants participants monthly dividends of RM200, drawn from profits earned by leasing lands to private companies for plantations.

However, only a handful of Orang Asli benefit from this project with the vast majority finding their source of sustenance being destroyed, said Jimi Ariffin, 30 (left).

“This is because many of the participants of Ladang Rakyat are outsiders or those who are well connected, only a few are Orang Asli,” he said.

‘Trading livelihood for cash’

Chung Yi Fan, a researcher with the Bar Council on Orang Asli rights in the region said logging has been a common sight here but intensified with the introduction of Ladang Rakyat which saw mass conversion of forest land for plantations since 2006.

“Certain Orang Asli do receive dividends but the selection of participants in Ladang Rakyat scheme seems very opaque, how one becomes a participants is not entirely clear, you fill up a form to become a participant but you many not necessary become one.

“Furthermore, how do you expect the Orang Asli to give up their native territory on which they rely for their subsistence and trade it for only RM200 cash a month,” he said.

The Auditor-General’s Report 2012 had criticised the Ladang Rakyat project, covering an area of 76,780 acres, with 41,472 acres in Gua Musang, as unsatisfactory and noted the local Orang Asli community’s concerns of encroachment into their traditional lands.

Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Abdul Abdul Aziz Nik Mat had previously described dissent against the Ladang Rakyat as being masterminded by outsiders and had declared that until titles were issued, any land belonged to the state government.

This is aggravated by National Forestry Act 1984 which allows the clearing of forest reserves for planting rubber trees as long as they are capable of producing timber, said environmental and forestry researcher Lim Teck Wyn.

Dual purpose rubber forests

This comes in the form of Latex Timber Clone (LTC) which is a commercial rubber tree able to grow quickly and later provide timber.

“Certainly when people see rubber plantations, they would not normally think that it is a forest – that this kind of activity would be going on in a permanent forest reserve.

“The Orang Asli gather rattan, bamboo and other non-timber forest produce in these forest reserve, if you turn a natural forest into rubber plantation, then it wouldn’t contain many of the resources or wildlife the Orang Asli have been given right to harvest,” he said.

Lim, who is also Malaysian Nature Society committee member, estimated that close to 200,000 hectares of LTC will soon replace Kelantan’s natural forest.

While, having contributed to the Orang Asli ‘s shrinking source for subsistence needs, these commercial activities have also aggravated the deterioration of their quality of life, as Kampung Angkek, another village within the Kuala Betis regroupment scheme stands as testimony.

At first glance, this village which was the second blockade site, still enjoys the luxury of substantial greenery surroundings as logging here is done selectively and at some distance from the village.

However, landslides caused by the logging had damaged the village’s gravity feed from a water catchment located approximately an hour’s ride uphill by four wheel drive, depriving the village of its traditional water supply.

“The landslides buried our water catchment, we have looked for a new catchment, but we couldn’t find a new one,” said Kampung Anggek village chief Damak Angah, adding that they now rely on the nearby river for water.

While the state government recognised lands around the immediate vicinity of the Orang Asli villages as rightfully theirs, Damak explained failure to consider the wider area by giving them out to private companies for commercial activities had adversely impacted the village.

“We have no choice but to use water from the nearby river which looks like teh tarik, we don’t know what pesticides or chemicals flow into the river from the oil palm plantations nearby lamented Angah Anjang, adding that the logging had also made rivers down stream muddy.

‘Window-dressing projects’

On the federal government’s front, under the auspices of Jakoa, the village here is equipped with water tanks and pumps, but no water reaches the village.

This village, and like many others in Gua Musang are equipped with infrastructure constructed under various federal projects for the Orang Asli community, but many sit idle after completion.

Incidences of villages equipped with solar panels but without power due to worn out batteries and water treatment plants without water were not uncommon in neighbouring settlements.

“The equipment are just for show,” said Angah.

When contacted on this, Kelantan and Terengganu Jakoa director Faridah Mat declined to comment, asking that a written question be directed to the department. It has yet to respond to Malaysiakini’s facsimile text.

Over at Kampung Kinjing, yet another village within Kuala Betis regroupment scheme, too, faces a similar problem.

As night fell, the children huddled together in darkness around a small fire to keep warm. Utility poles stood outside this village, but there was no electricity.

“We’ve written several letters to complain, but it’s still the same, it has been like this for more than 20 years,” said Awer Awi, who has lived here since he was a child for the past 24 years.