Thursday January 17, 2008
Protect our last green lung
I WRITE to bring to the attention of the public the damage to one of our last beautiful green lungs within Kuala Lumpur/Selangor, i.e. Bukit Kiara.
Being an avid hiker and biker, I use the trails within Bukit Kiara frequently, and just in the past two weeks alone, the damage that has been done to it is not just irresponsible, but also carries with it extensive and adverse effects to the ecological system, not to mention the wildlife and the few hundred people who use the trails every week for exercise, especially on the weekends.
There have been excavators and tractors at work widening the trails. Never mind that the method they use is crude, what with the excavators tearing through the trees and levelling the trails in the shortest time possible, but what disturbs me more is that it is done in the rainy season. All the earth will get washed away, causing erosions and landslides.
Some of these trails have, over the years, been painstakingly crafted and maintained by the hikers, joggers and bikers alike. At times, it takes many weeks, sometimes months to create and maintain these trails with care to minimise the environmental effects.
Yet, in a matter of days, all that has become undone with the blatant actions of those who claim ignorance. Can you imagine how heartbreaking it is for those groups of people who have poured in hundreds of man hours to link the trails, and maintain them for the communal use of everyone, to see it all bulldozed away by heavy machinery?
There are organisations such as Traks (www.traks.org), Malaysian Nature Society (MNS – www.mns.org.my), etc who have a keen interest in protecting the environment, looking at minimising ecological effects to nature, would it not be possible to consult or work with these organisations to ensure that the impact is kept to a minimal level?
After all, Bukit Kiara is one of the last remaining green lungs within KL and Selangor, with many different users of the trails and its surroundings.
HEARTBROKEN TRAIL USER,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
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