Of Logging & Rubber Forest Plantation in Bencah Forest
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THE PROPOSED 202.35 HA (500.00 ACRES) OF LOGGING & RUBBER FOREST PLANTATION IN BENCAH FOREST RESERVE, MUKIM KUALA LIPIS, DISTRICT OF LIPIS, PAHANG DARUL MAKMUR. 1.0 INTRODUCTION Alaf Berjaya Corporation Sdn Bhd has planned to undertake the forest plantation activity in the Bencah Forest Reserve under custody of Forestry Department with an area approximately 202.35 Ha (500.00 acres) at Mukim Kuala Lipis, District of Lipis, Pahang Darul Makmur. The title of the proposed project is “The Proposed of 202.35 Ha (500.00 Acres) of Timber & Rubber Forest Plantation in Bencah Forest Reserve, Mukim Kuala Lipis, District of Lipis, Pahang Darul Makmur”. 2.0 PROJECT PROPONENT AND CONSULTANT Project Proponent ALAF BERJAYA CORPORATION SDN BHD No. 52-2, Jalan 2a, Seksyen 1, ES Wangsa Maju, 53300 Kuala Lumpur Tel: 03-41423001 / 03-41434001 1 Fax: 03-41481002 Attention: Mr. Wan Nizar Environmental Consultant ECO SYNERGY SOLUTIONS SDN BHD Tingkat 1, 3374 Jalan 18/31, Taman Sri Serdang, 43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor Darul Ehsan. Tel: 03-8942 3495 Fax: 03-8948 5912 Attention: Mr. Shamsol Azhar Ismail ES ECO SYNERGY SOLUTIONS SDN BHD 1 THE PROPOSED 202.35 HA (500.00 ACRES) OF LOGGING & RUBBER FOREST PLANTATION IN BENCAH FOREST RESERVE, MUKIM KUALA LIPIS, DISTRICT OF LIPIS, PAHANG DARUL MAKMUR. 3.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION 3.1 Project Location The proposed project site is located at latitude of 04° 06’ 30.00” N to 04° 07’ 30.15” N and longitude of 102° 15’ 00.00” E to 102° 06’ 30.00”. Figure 1 shows the location of the proposed project. 3.2 Project Concept The proposed project site will be logged (clear-felling method) and then will develop as a mono crop forest plantation, planted with Timber Latex Clone (TLC) to produce rubber wood and latex. During the development of the proposed project site, a zero burning technique will be adopted as environmental friendly land preparation method and implemented to produce a sustainable rubber forest plantation in line with Pahang Forestry Department’s objective to conserve and manage the forest through sustainable management. The rubber forest plantation will be executed in three phases which are Phase 1 (71.38 ha), Phase 2 (72.04 ha) and Phase 3 (58.93 ha) with total area 202.35 ha. ES 2 ES ECO SYNERGY SOLUTIONS SDN BHD 2 THE PROPOSED 202.35 HA (500.00 ACRES) OF LOGGING & RUBBER FOREST PLANTATION IN BENCAH FOREST RESERVE, MUKIM KUALA LIPIS, DISTRICT OF LIPIS, PAHANG DARUL MAKMUR. ES 3 ES ECO SYNERGY SOLUTIONS SDN BHD 3 THE PROPOSED 202.35 HA (500.00 ACRES) OF LOGGING & RUBBER FOREST PLANTATION IN BENCAH FOREST RESERVE, MUKIM KUALA LIPIS, DISTRICT OF LIPIS, PAHANG DARUL MAKMUR. 4.0 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT (PHYSICAL) 4.1 Topography The overall elevation ranging between 100 m to 240 m above mean sea level (MSL). The highest point located at the southern side and sloping down from south west towards north west. Flat lands are available along the sides of the tributaries of Sungai Kerak. 4.2 Land Use The proposed project site is a part of the forested area in Bencah Forest Reserved. Oil palm and rubber tree plantation is a major agricultural activity within 5 km radius from the proposed project site. The nearest plantations are FELCRA Lanar and FELCRA Talun which is located about 2 km to the north and southwest of the proposed project site. The nearest settlements within 5 km radius of the proposed project site are Kg. Baru. Lanar and Kg. Kuala Lanar, which is located about 4 to 5 km radius from the boundary of the proposed project site. 4.3 Geology Kuala Lipis lies in the Mixed Carbonate-Siliciclastic Gua Musang Basin was located in the central belt. The Central Belt stretches from Kelantan to Johor between the eastern foothills of the Main Range, forming its western boundary, to its eastern boundary marked by the Lebir Fault in the north down to the western boundary of the Dohol Formation in the south. 4.4 Hydrology For this project, only one catchment involve which is Sungai Kerak that will be divided into ES four sub-catchment which are Sungai Temiang (tributaries of Sungai Kerak, 2.01 km2), 2 2 tributaries of Sungai Kerak (0.69 km ), tributaries of Sungai Kelalak (0.33 km ) and 4 tributaries of Sungai Kerak (0.27 km2). The catchments are undulating land with the highest range of 240 meter and the low range of 100 meters above mean sea level. 4.5 Water Quality There are 2 different rivers are included in this study; Sg. Kerak and Sg. Temiang (Tributary Sg. Kerak). Based of Water Quality Index (WQI), the majority of sampling stations are considered as ‘Clean’ and fall under Class I and Class II according to NWQS.The main stream of Sg. Kerak is located at the outside of the northwest part of the project boundary. There are 8 sampling point have been taken in Sg. Kerak and 1 sampling point in Sg. Temiang. ES ECO SYNERGY SOLUTIONS SDN BHD 4 THE PROPOSED 202.35 HA (500.00 ACRES) OF LOGGING & RUBBER FOREST PLANTATION IN BENCAH FOREST RESERVE, MUKIM KUALA LIPIS, DISTRICT OF LIPIS, PAHANG DARUL MAKMUR. 4.6 Air Quality The results of the air quality monitoring in the study area shows that the concentrations of TSP measured in and around the proposed site were within the Malaysian Recommended Air Quality Guidelines values and the air quality can be considered as good. The proposed project is not anticipated to cause any air quality deterioration problems in the long term. 4.7 Noise Generally, noise level during day time is higher than night time. For all stations, the results of the noise level monitoring during night time are not compliance with the guideline. This high noise level during night time might be due to the movement of vehicles that used by the villagers of Kg. Lanar. 5.0 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT (BIOLOGICAL SYSTEM) 5.1 Flora Results of floristic composition of the study area divided into five categories in terms of habit of the plants which is trees, lianas (climbers), fern/fern-allies, herbaceous and rattans/palm. Overall assessment found that the tree composition in study area contained 255 species derive from 138 genus and come from 60 families of flora. In terms of species diversity, flora form Rubiaceae family are highly diverse than the others which recorded 28 different species with mostly from shrub form and followed by euphorbiacea and dipterocarpaceae that they are mostly in tree form. 5.2 Fauna ES a) Mammals 5 Survey conducted by the consultant team has recorded 9 species of mammals (tapir, malayan sun bear, barking deer, leopard cat, wild boar, long tailed macaque, white handed gibbon, siamang and lesser mousedeer) and 2 species of reptile (water monitor and common ground skink). There are 4 species of big mammals being present in the proposed area. b) Avifauna A total of 45 species from 24 families of birds were recorded at the survey sites. Out of the total number recorded, 32 bird species were listed as totally protected and 6 bird species ES ECO SYNERGY SOLUTIONS SDN BHD 5 THE PROPOSED 202.35 HA (500.00 ACRES) OF LOGGING & RUBBER FOREST PLANTATION IN BENCAH FOREST RESERVE, MUKIM KUALA LIPIS, DISTRICT OF LIPIS, PAHANG DARUL MAKMUR. were protected under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 [Act 716], while another 7 bird species were not listed under the act. 6.0 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT (SOCIO-ECONOMIC) Table 1 shows the public perception of the potential impacts of the proposed development. 55.2% and 58% of the respondents felt that the project encourages development in the surrounding area and would create job opportunity for the local residents respectively. However 77.6% and 75.5% of the respondents perceived that the project would not increase the socio-economy for the local population and would not prepare a proper development planning. In fact some 50.3% felt that there would be destruction to the environment and green area. Nevertheless, some 79.7%, 99.3% and 98.6% of the respondents perceived that the foreign workers would not be a nuisance, there would be no social problem to residents, and that local culture and customs in this area would not be affected respectively. Table 1 Public Perception with Regards to the Project No Reasons Response Percentage (%) 1 Encourage development in the surrounding area Agreed 55.2 2 Create job opportunity for the local residents Agreed 58.0 3 Increase socio-economy for local population Disagreed 77.6 4 Prepare a proper planning for development Disagreed 75.5 5 Destruction to the environment and green area Agreed 50.3 ES 6 Foreign workers nuisance Disagreed 79.7 7 Social problem to residents Disagreed 99.3 6 8 Affect the culture and customs in this area Disagreed 98.6 Source: Socio Survey, January 2015 ES ECO SYNERGY SOLUTIONS SDN BHD 6 THE PROPOSED 202.35 HA (500.00 ACRES) OF LOGGING & RUBBER FOREST PLANTATION IN BENCAH FOREST RESERVE, MUKIM KUALA LIPIS, DISTRICT OF LIPIS, PAHANG DARUL MAKMUR. 7.0 POTENTIAL IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES (LOGGING ACTIVITY) DURING LOGGING COMPONENTS POTENTIAL IMPACT MITIGATION MEASURES Land Clearing and Site Uncovered land Implement Erosion and Sediment Control Plan (ESCP) Preparation Soil erosion and sediment pollution Scheduling and staging of development. 8.0 POTENTIAL IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES (DEVELOPMENT OF FOREST PLANTATION ACTIVITY) DURING CONSTRUCTION COMPONENTS POTENTIAL IMPACT MITIGATION MEASURES Soil Erosion Soil erosion and sediment pollution Implement Erosion and Sediment Control Plan (ESCP) Scheduling and staging of development. Waste Management Solid waste from the base camp workers Base camp shall be equipped with sufficient garbage bins at Schedule waste from machineries such as oil strategic site shall be collected regularly.