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| Emkay Group proposal for Orang Utan sanctuary in Belum : Let's not play God | |
| In December 2010, the developer
Emkay Group, through its Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island Foundation
(BMOUIF), announced that it would be releasing orang utan into the Belum
Forest in Perak. This, for the purpose of eco-tourism – or if you want to
call a spade a spade, the exploitation of orang utan to generate profit
for the company. At the same time, the government announced it would be
establishing an orang utan sanctuary in Shah Alam and Gombak. Both these
announce-ments beggars belief. The first idea by Emkay was hailed as
nonsense by scientists and members of the public a few years ago when it
was mooted. Obviously, this has fallen on deaf ears as the com-pany has
made the announcement yet again. It says the Belum plan is for
eco-tourism. What is even more disappointing is that there are a couple of
con-servation organisations working with Emkay for the conservation of
Belum, and this idea has come up again. These organisations are not
playing the role of conservationists if they are keeping quiet and not
saying anything about the release of orang utan as part of the company’s
eco-tourism plan. Both plans are obvious cases where conservation is
trumped by potential millions in profit to the company and the government.
Both are ill-advised ideas and some-thing the public should be very
concerned about.
The International Ecotourism Society defines eco-tourism as "Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people". The emphasis here is "natural" and "conservation", which both Emkay and the government’s ideas do not support. What would be of more conservation value, particularly for Emkay, is to conserve wildlife native to the Belum forest; ensure habitats in the area are pres-erved for the numerous native wildlife in Belum such as tigers, hornbills and elephants; provide funds to conduct research on the biological diversity of the area; and where possible, support the efforts of enforcement agencies to control the poaching of Belum’s flora and fauna. And as for the government’s plan, why is there a need to create a place for tourists in Kuala Lumpur to view orang utan, when there are already existing facilities in both Sabah and Sarawak where these primates are native? And isn’t the whole point of eco-tourism to promote natural surroun-dings without disturbing the existing eco-system? Not to mention that creating these so called "sanctuaries" would greatly reduce funds generated for Sabah and Sarawak who have long promoted orang utan as one of their major natural attractions? BMOUIF claims on its website that it aims to "Support and assist the government via its agencies in carrying out orang utan research, education, dev-elopment, conservation, breeding, and rehabilita-tion programmes, and drawing up protection poli-cies". How is introducing orang utan in non-native areas be supporting any of the foundation’s aims? Orang utan are not native to Peninsular Malaysia. If it was intended for them to be in forests of the peninsula, God would have placed them in Kuala Lumpur and Belum in the first place. So for the sake of the species, Emkay and the government should not play God by using eco-tourism as an excuse. Any eco-tourism plan must only be conducted in a manner where the surrounding eco-system will not be disturbed but instead enhanced, and that which does not require the import of non-native species to make the surroundings more attractive in the name of conservation. I also hope conservation organisa-tions in Malaysia will be up in arms about these ideas and not keep silent over ideas that are most probably generated by greed and lack of thought, understand-ing and consideration for orang utan survival. Azrina Abdullah is conducting research on the links between indigenous groups and wildlife trade. She was regional director of Traffic, an NGO which monitors the global wildlife trade |
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