WHILE Selangor allows for public hearings before forests can be cut down, the state government will only listen to the voices of local residents in the area.

But this has not stopped a coalition of environmental groups and a community of Orang Asli who call the forest home from pressuring the state government against degazetting the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve.

The degazettement is the first critical step towards removing the forest’s protected status and opening it up for development.

In this case, the state government wants to allow for 931ha of the peat swamp forest, also a water catchment area, to be bulldozed for development.

An online petition opposing the degazettement has so far collected more than 16,000 signatures over three days, according to green group Treat every Environment Special (TrEES).

Also, more than 1,000 individual letters from residents have been sent to the Forestry Department director since the government opened up about receiving public objections.

On February 5, the Selangor Forestry Department had placed a notice in a newspaper inviting stakeholders in the Kuala Langat district to voice their objections to the proposal within 30 days.

By state law, public opinion must be sought before any exercise to degazette a forest reserve.

Selangor became the first state to mandate a public hearing before a forest is degazetted, thanks to an amendment in state law overseen by the Pakatan Rakyat administration in 2010.

Although the state must hold a public hearing for all stakeholders, TrEES director Leela Panikkar said the state government can choose to listen only to Kuala Langat residents.

She said the district has about 300,000 residents and that only 9% of its land area, or 7,467ha, are covered by forest.

“We need the people of Kuala Langat to send in objection letters to the state Forestry Department to oppose the degazettment,” said Leela.

“The Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve is also a water catchment area for the Langat and Klang river basins. It is also important for flood mitigation,” Leela told The Malaysian Insight.

“If you cut it down, what will happen to Langat? The forest also functions to stabilise the local climate in the neighbouring areas, such as Cyberjaya, Putrajaya and Sepang.

“If you cut it down, it will affect the climate in Putrajaya and Cyberjaya.”

The forest straddles a western stretch of the Elite Highway between Putra Heights in the north and Gamuda Cove in the south. Opposite the forest and across the highway lies Cyberjaya and Putrajaya.

Opposition to the state government’s plans stem primarily from concern about preserving existing water resources, said Leela.

“Selangorians are very protective of their forests after (concerned about) having to go through water-rationing exercises and droughts.”

The peat swamp forest also stores carbon, the greenhouse gas responsible for global warming.

TrEES, along with other environmental and Orang Asli groups, will launch a coalition and campaign to stop plans for the forest’s destruction today.

Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari had said the forest is depleted and frequently catches fire, which is why his government wanted to allow the land to be developed.

A Straits Times report said that the bulk of the land – 566.56ha – will be awarded to a private company called Titian Jutaria, while 364ha will be developed by state government-linked company Menteri Besar Inc. – February 23, 2020.