Plantation company AA Sawit Sdn Bhd has breached the law by developing an oil palm plantation without mandatory environmental impact assessment (EIA) report approval, says Jabatan Alam Sekitar(DOE). DOE's investigation began after Macaranga reported the evidence in July 2022.
#aasawit #oilpalm #EQA
July 4: #Floods killed at least two persons and destroyed villages in #Baling, Kedah. At Kampung Iboi, locals said the disaster was one of the worst in memory. Hundreds were placed in flood shelters. Locals blame development in Gunung Inas.
Here's forest loss (red) in the area.
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Sad, terrible news: Balu Perumal, Head of Conservation at the Malaysian Nature Society, has passed away due to COVID.
Balu has been instrumental in the reporting for some of Macaranga's biggest stories. He was a busy man giving his best to conserve our country's natural heritage, and yet he always responded promptly to our questions.
He gave us his time even when he didn't know us personally and Macaranga was new. We are immensely grateful for his trust and help.
Attached below is one of his many contributions to Macaranga: a recording he made on 12 May 2020 of his feelings for Malaysian forests. We draw strength from his passion and belief.
And we had many more questions to ask of him. But alas, environmental journalists in Malaysia have lost an inspiring, cheerful, and helpful source.
In one of his many chats with us, Balu told us:
"We (MNS) have always been in the front mind of monitoring and trying to protect (forests). But being a NGO there's only so much that you can do. Because (we are) not authorized to manage these forests, we are not authorized to protect or conserve them...
So this has been our ongoing effort and also struggle...When people ask us how successful are we now as MNS, I would say we are still failing.
If you look at the situation of the forest and also the you know amount of forest cover that we have, we are failing the Malaysian public. But we are trying very hard.
When we first started we are maybe the only NGO but now there are many NGOs, so I think the way to move forward is we need to consolidate. All of us have the same objective here to address deforestation in this country."
Thank you very much, Balu. Rest in peace.
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Malaysian Nature Society's announcement of Balu's passing: https://www.facebook.com/MalaysianNatureSociety.Official/photos/a.10151600064022706/10156955560812706/
Balu's photo for the video below: https://www.mns.my/council-and-exco-members-2/
