Ramsar wetlands to be protected from future development

KUALA LUMPUR (March 28): The government will no longer consider approval for Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) on all Ramsar sites to ensure the sustainability of these wetlands, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

"We have made the decision that EIA approvals will no longer be considered in the future for all Ramsar (wetlands) sites in Malaysia, including Sungai Pulai," said Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin.

"Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance and recognised through a UNESCO treaty signed in 1971,” Bernama reported the minister as saying.

Malaysiakini reports that she was responding to a question from Wong Shu Qi (Harapan-Kluang), regarding the Forest City golf course being built at the Sungai Pulai mangrove swamps, a development that had been approved by the former Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

"A ballpark figure is that less than 10% of Sungai Pulai has received EIA approval from the previous government," Yeo was quoted as saying.

Malaysiakini reported in February that 800ha of the forest reserves were being developed into the Forest City Golf Course Resort.

Yeo Bee Yin said the government had decided to make improvements to the EIA process.

A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. The Convention on Wetlands, known as the Ramsar Convention, is an intergovernmental environmental treaty established in 1971 by Unesco that came into force in 1975.

Yeo said Malaysia has seven Ramsar sites, namely Tasik Bera (Pahang); Tanjung Piai, Pulau Kukup and Sungai Pulai (Johor); Kuching Wetlands National Park (Sarawak), and Segama Wetlands and Kota Kinabalu Wetlands (Sabah).