The recent mud slides (May 2008) on the hill slopes near Batu Ferringhi is a serious cause for concern. It is obviously due to the land stripped bare naked of vegetation - trees and shrubs that have been growing naturally for heaven knows how many years.
This is not about environmentalism or social activism, heck I don't even live anywhere near that area. This is about having a conscience and the awareness that our home is not merely the confines of the four brick walls around us, but also the vast landscape - beaches, forest, and hills that surrounds us. For our lives, whether we see it or like it or not, hang precariously in the balance of nature.
Nature can be the gentlest cool breeze on a warm night or the violent storms that ravage the land. It is one and the same. The recent devastations and unfortunate death tolls in Myanmar caused by Cyclone Nargis is believed to be due to the massive clearing of mangrove and coastal forests in the Irrawady Delta, which was started more than a decade ago. Despite its economic benefits to the locals by providing open land for paddy fields and shrimp farms, nature knows not and does not differentiate or discriminate.
The hill slopes are there for a reason and if it is to be developed for premium housing for those prosperous few, that is fine, but when the developments are carried out without taking into consideration the obvious mudslides come tropical downpour, there has got to be something wrong somewhere (or more accurately somebody wrong somewhere). We may not pay a financial cost now or will it cause an immediate upset as the red mud is washed into the sea, but what should definitely be worried are the 'hidden costs' that will only be revealed in time.
From,
Your fellow Penangite (who doesn't even live in Batu Feringghi).
References and images from:
Anil Netto: Penang Govt should establish its green credentials fast
Betel Nut Chronicles: Soil Erosion in Batu Ferringhi
Nature News: Forest clearance boosted power of Cyclone Nargis
No comments:
Post a Comment