Get Together

Dear all;
Fancy an evening stroll after work to relax or just to have a very light workout?
Come join us on Gunung Raya and take an evening walk from the foothill up to the one of the car park areas. This should be about 1.5km walk for one way only. Catch the hornbills flying by, dusky leaf monkeys leaping away, macaques calling, woodpeckers pecking and glimpse of the sunset. Maybe the elusive Blue Winged Pitta (should we are lucky! hey, I had spotted it once along that route).
This is a non-interpretive and non-formal activity for all Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) members. What is this for then? Well, you can pick a choice from this list here:

1) Nature appreciation and exchanging ideas
2) Catching up with other members (in other words – socialising!!)
3) How a hornbill looks like? Does it horn?
4) Is the Pitta I had mentioned earlier is something like bread?
5) Prick the brains of other members
6) Challenge yourself with a 3km stroll
7) Fed up with sunsets at the beach and want a different sunset scene
8) Bring a newbie and convert the newbie to be one of us (I like this the best!!)
9) Been driving too much and need to do justice to the environment by doing a 3km walk
10) I am too bored to be at home, need some fun.
Please make sure you had made a selection from the above before reading on.
Date: 7th February 2008 (Sunday)
Time: 6:30pm starts
Meeting point: Foothill or entrance to Gunung Raya road; before the empty guard post.
Min number of pax: Three (3) ie Me,Myself and I
Max number of pax: Here is your challenge – Get me a football team!
What to wear:

1) Light clothings; something suitable for a stroll
2) Dark coloured clothings
3) Strapped sandals or sports shoes with good grips
What to bring:
1) Your own WATER!!
2) Binoculars (if you have)
3) Your wealth of knowledge to share around
Fees: COMPLIMENTARY for paid-up MNS members. If non-members wish to contribute
to the running of Langkawi chapter, they are welcome to do so by signing up as a member.
For those who wish to renew your membership, this is an opportunity.
ALL ARE WELCOME TO JOIN.
See you there,
Wendy Chin
p/s: Please do not cheat by driving up!

Filed under: Announcement, bird watching, conservation, langkawi, Langkawi Permata Kedah, nature

A very worrying situation

2000 until 2009

I have been coming to Langkawi since the end of 2001 and I have been based full time in Langkawi since 2004. My job spec’ – Conservation and wildlife rehabilitation on Pulau Singa Besar under the funding of USM’s Usains research grant by MOSTE and this task is still in play today, with the exception that the primary burden has been taken over by the state government’s GLC (Government linked company)-which is the PKNK.

I have spent countless hours, days and nights in Pulau Singa Besar and I
have done numerous exploring expeditions within Langkawi’s islands. 22 days
in Pulau Singa Besar, 18 days in Dayang Bunting Island, 4 days in Pulau Besar
Basah, 12 days in Pulau Tuba, 3 days in Matchicang area and 4 days around
Gunung Raya.

In this short period of time, there has been a tremendous transformation
In Langkawi’s natural environmental status.

Once upon a time there were Porcupines (Hystrix brachyuran) /Landak Raya
roaming the areas of Bukit Malut, Gunung Matchingcang, Kedawang, Padang
Lalang, Gunung Raya and other parts of Langkawi. Now it is safe to say
that, if any survive at all, there are less than 10 to be found in the whole of Langkawi’s natural forest. There have been ZERO reported sightings between 2003 and 2009.
On several occasions from 2002 until the end of 2003, I saw with my own
eyes Napuh (Tragulus napu) roaming the lime stone areas of Dayang bunting.
Now there is only limestone.

From 2002 until 2004, dolphins frequently roamed the coastal area of Pulau Singa
Besar, Dayang bunting and Teluk baru in schools of 30 to 60…now there
Are only 3 to 5 in a group.

In 2000 until 2004, Pulau Singa Besar bay area was lighted up with a glowing,
light blue, swirling motion every night for a minimum of 1 hour, and the
size? From the mouth of the bay area until the end of the mangrove area, an area
estimated to be the equivalent of 6 or 8 soccer fields. More than 100 people mostly amateur astronomers from USM Penang were among the lucky few to witness such a spectacular sight.

It was actually millions of fish the locals call “ikan kekek”. it seems that its a form of communication among the fish. It starts with a 1-3 feet in diameter illumination and within 15 minutes the whole area is lit up. It was like throwing a match into a floor of wet petrol…after more or less one hour it slowly shrinks and then fades away..

The perpetrator!

Scientific Name: Leiognathidae
Common Name: Slipmouths, Ponyfishes and Slimys
Local Name: ikan KeKeK

It is a Small, sedentary fish, shoals in shallow coastal water, feeds
on invertebrates has an elongated oval compressed body with naked, bony ridges to dorsum of head.

Between 2000 and 2003, walking on the dead corals of Pulau Singa
Besar’s shore line during low tide was a nightmare, it took me 30
Minutes to reach the shore when the distance travelled was less than 100
meters…there were hundreds of sea cucumbers (Gamat). Now it is close to
impossible to find one.

From 2000 until 2002, on several occasions on the way back from Pulau Singa besar
in the evening, several fishermen’s boats would be coming to shore with
the day’s catch. Catches were fish, crabs, prawns and sting rays. Fish were
mostly groupers no smaller than 1kg in size, sting rays no lesser than 5 kg
and prawns were A or B sized prawns. One scene I will not forget is a wooden
boat with a wing flapping as if the occupant was trying to take flight; I waited until the boat came to shore. It was a 120kg sting ray. Now fishermen come to shore with
an average fish size that is less the 800grams. Fish now are mostly 200grams to
300grams.

This is just a tiny view of the real picture…If We as MNS members do not
step up and play a role in completing some serious MNS goals, then less than 5
years from now , I guarantee my tale of “there were Once upon a time”, will double in length. This is now in all our hands…believe it or not. Most us here in Langkawi are directly and indirectly dependent on the natural beauty of Langkawi Island , so YOU all do the maths…

I really hope that more of MNS members can volunteer just a little bit of
your precious time to look beyond your homes and consider what “Once was
there”. Project that image into the future and visualise what is coming…

Please step up because you want to save what is left of our decreasing nature….

Food for thought…

1st November 2009

Terry

Filed under: Habitat Destruction, Beras Besar, conservation, dolphins, fishing, langkawi, nature

The History Of Conservation

“Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and
man can only mar it.”
 
PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT, speech,
Grand Canyon, 1903, quoted in William Schwarz,
ed., Voices for the Wilderness, 1967
 
Wilderness Preservation Begins With the Kings of England
 
The word wilderness originated in the old English
first conscious effort to protect nature in the World was
made by the kings of England in the Middle Ages. They were
motivated by a desire for private hunting preserves where
they could hunt wild animals recreationally . But they
learned very quickly that if they were to have animals to
hunt they needed to protect the wildlife from poachers and
the land from the villagers who would cut down the trees for
firewood.
 
The idea of nature being something special and beautiful
only really emerged in the 1800s when British artists such
as John Constable and JMW Turner first started to paint the
splendors of the natural world. Up until then almost all
paintings had been of religious scenes or of human beings,
so the idea of seeing the beauty in nature was something
new. Wordsworth, one of England’s premier poets, first
started talking about the wonder of the natural world
(before then, the natural world had been a scary,
intimidating place). Increasingly the valuing of nature
became an aspect of British culture.
 
But despite this, when British settlers came to North
America and discovered the vast pristine lands of this new
continent, they were completely overwhelmed. Their first
reaction was to try and subdue the wilds. But soon their
appreciation for the beauty and expansiveness of the land
showed up in their writings, gradually germinating into the
idea that the destiny of America was to carve itself out of
the wilderness. The ability to contend with and live within
wilderness became an integral part of the American identity.
By the 1870s, this concept had expanded to such an extent
that an awareness evolved of the importance of preserving
some of the country’s wilderness. Because without
wilderness, Americans would lose what it meant to be
American. That this idea should emerge into the American
consciousness had much to do with how fast settlement was
proceeding. For the first time the frontier no longer seemed
infinite. Indeed the expansion of railways
across the west, and the role they played in speeding the
settlement of the land, was so rapid that for the first time
wilderness was seen to be truly waning.
 
“The ability to contend with and live within wilderness
became an integral part of the American identity.”
The First National Park
 
As proof of this growing appreciation of wild nature, in
1872 Yellowstone, the world’s first National Park, was
created. At the time, the desire to protect this parkland
also reflected monetary interests in the area. The country’s
railways, including Union Pacific, reasoned that if people
heard about the beauty of Yellowstone, they would be
attracted to visiting as tourists. To ensure this would
occur, Union Pacific had several artists paint spectacular
pictures of wild Yellowstone, of its canyons and geysers, to
show to the wealthy populations of the Eastern United States
and Europe. Obviously the railways hoped that such visitors
would be inspired to ride their trains to Yellowstone and
stay in their hotels while there. To them, creating a park
made good economic sense.
 
From these beginnings a tradition evolved that nature
should in fact be preserved for its beauty’s sake. It was
the writings of people like Ralph Waldo Emerson and
especially John Muir, who in the 1890s formed the Sierra
Club and led the campaign to preserve Yosemite National
Park, that so inspired the public. Indeed, Muir’s campaign
to preserve Yosemite was the first citizen-led effort to
protect wilderness in the world.
 
The idea of conservation and of protecting wild lands began
to gain great favor when Teddy Roosevelt became president of
the United States. Roosevelt was a great outdoors man who
truly valued nature, wildlife, and wilderness. He moved
quickly to greatly enlarge the United States National Parks
system, and to establish the National Forest system.
 
This US concept of national parks was copied by other
countries around the world, especially Canada. Canada’s
first national park was created in the 1880s at Sulfur
Springs, in what is now Banff, when the transcontinental
Canadian Pacific Railway was being built. A few people
building the railway discovered the area’s hot springs and
intended to make themselves rich. The Canadian government
however, also recognized the tourism potential of the area
and decided to move pre-emptively to create a small park
there. Over the years, the idea of enlarging Banff National
Park gained more favor as the CPR (like their US counterpart
had earlier at Yellowstone) saw the value they could reap
from tourism, by enticing people to come across the ocean
and see the great wild spaces of Canada.
 
By the 1920s, more and more wealthy visitors were traveling
by train across Canada and the United States to experience
what it meant to be in the wilderness. At the time, the
preferred version of “wilderness” was to stay in fine hotels
and look out at nature through big windows. This mentality
led to the commercialization of many of Canada’s National
Parks through the building of great hotels such as The Banff
Springs and Chateau Lake Louise.
 
Soon however, the idea of protecting nature for nature’s
sake was furthered by American writers like Aldo Leopold,
who in the 1930s talked about the need for a land ethic and
the need to protect wilderness quickly. By then it was
becoming clear that wild spaces were very much in retreat
and unless rapid action was taken the wild country would be
lost.
 
“By the 1920s, more and more wealthy visitors were
traveling by train across Canada and the United States to
experience what it meant to be in the wilderness.”
 
British Game Preserves
 
In the late 1940s, global conservation took a major step
forward with the beginning of the end of the British Empire
in Africa. The British elite had became used to hunting ‘big
game’ here, and became concerned that once the African
colonies were turned over to the local people, the wildlife
would be slaughtered and the wild spaces that they valued
would be lost.
 
As a result, one of the last things the colonial power of
Britain did was to establish great wildlife preserves there.
This spawned the idea in the 1950s and the early 1960s of
the need to protect large spaces for wildlife worldwide. It
was at this time that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was
founded. Eventually WWF was to become one of the largest
conservation organizations in the world.
 
Meanwhile in America, concern over the rapid disappearance
of wilderness was resulting in strong pressure being placed
on government to preserve nature. This pressure was focused
on great fights, such as the one to stop the proposed
damming of the Grand Canyon. It also led to the passage of a
truly historic piece of legislation in 1964: the Wilderness
Act. This Act’s magnificent preamble states “Wilderness is a
place where the land remains untrammeled, where man is a
visitor who does not remain.” It was this vision of saving
wilderness, not just individual parks, but the whole system
of wilderness, that really inspired conservationists. Indeed
the passage of this Act in the United States was the
catalyst to the modern age of wilderness protection.
 
The Wilderness Act instructed the US Government to create a
vast system of wilderness preserves nation-wide, not just in
National Parks, but in all categories of nationally> administered and. This included those lands managed by the
US Forest Service, the US Wildlife Service, and the Bureau
of Land Management, as well as the National Parks service.
It was a magnificent accomplishment that eventually resulted
in the retention of 110 million ha (270 million acres) of
wilderness.
 
Given such success, in the early 1970s major national
environmental organizations, such as the Sierra Club, the
Audobon Society, and the Wilderness Society, boomed in
membership, particularly as the youthful baby boom
generation started to reach an age where they could spend
their recreation time in the wilderness.
“National parks and reserves are an integral aspect of
intelligent use of natural resources. It is the course of
wisdom to set aside an ample portion of our natural
resources as national parks and reserves, thus ensuring that
future generations may know the majesty of the earth as we
know it today.”
 
PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY (1917-1963), speech,
First World Conference on National Parks, Seattle, 23 June
1962
 
The Beginning Of Modern Conservation
 
There was another crucial reason for the fast rising
concern for the wild earth. Just before 1970, humanity saw
the first pictures of earth from space, the images beamed
back by the Apollo astronauts. For the first time, as the
spacecraft traveled in the black abyss of space, the
finiteness of our planet became starkly evident. Earth was
seen for what it was, a lonely jewel of life. It became
unmistakably clear that if we destroyed Earth, we would
destroy ourselves. From this image the environmental
consciousness we know today was born. As people began to see
and understand for the first time how precious and rare
Earth was, they also began to understand why it was
necessary to protect nature. This new view point generated
many lineages of environmental awareness, from concern about
pollution, to the need to protect fresh water sources. As
well, it served to intensify the tradition of protecting
wild spaces, of protecting the land.
 
“Earth was seen for what it was, a lonely jewel of life. It
became unmistakably clear that if we destroyed Earth, we
destroyed ourselves.”
 
Become Involved!

selvakumaran rajamanickam

23rd November 2009

Filed under: Education, conservation, langkawi, langkawi conservation, nature