Mulu: natives against highway that threatens UNESCO park
The Kaum Tering and Kaum Penan tribes oppose deforestation of large swathes of unspoiled forest because it risks having a devastating impact on the local ecosystem, known for its biodiversity and rare animal species. Road construction goes hand in hand with greater forest conversion, illegal hunting, and illegal wildlife trade.
Kuching (AsiaNews) – The largely Kaum Tering and Kaum Penan tribals living close to the Mulu National Park, in Sarawak’s northern interior region, are concerned that logging activities prior to the construction of the Miri to Mulu highway will drastically impact their livelihood and the park’s biodiversity.
For these tribes, the forests around Mulu National Park are alive and responsive to their physical and spiritual needs in a thousand ways since time immemorial.
The Mulu National Park is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest national park in Sarawak known for its high biodiversity, Karst features, 2,376 m-high sandstone pinnacle called Gunung Mulu, limestone karst and isolated mountain peaks, as well as rare and endemic plants and animal species.
Speaking to AsiaNews, social activist and environmental conservationist Willie Kajan said that big areas of forests in the area will be earmarked for logging to clear land for the Miri-Mulu highway construction. “We will not accept this,” he said. “We do not want to see big portions of our forests cleared by the state government just because they want to build the highway.”
In fact, “If this road construction means cutting down big swathes of forest land, we local natives of Mulu will protest, tooth and nail,” he warned. "We think it will be best to just build a small trunk road that is tar-sealed and not a big highway that will involve clearing big sections of our forests.”
Recently in a media engagement, Kajan said the tribal communities have already pointed out that they will not allow any blasting of rocks or cutting of hill slopes in the proposed Miri to Mulu road project.
It was reportedly said that the highway linking Miri to the world heritage site Mulu National Park measuring about 200 km long will be constructed to facilitate easier travelling for tourists visiting the biggest cave systems in the world.
The proposal for this project was endorsed by the State Legislative Assembly, with an estimated cost at RM3.6 billion (US$ 810 million).
The main purpose of building the Miri to Mulu highway is to boost tourism and socio-economic activities in the region.
Although state authorities have given assurance that the highway will not encroach into the Mulu National Park as it will end at the fringe of the park and tourists will be ferried into the park using boats – native communities feel uneasy about the overall project, as previously constructed highways and dams in the state have heavily impacted on the livelihood of the Indigenous people and the biodiversity.
According to Kajan, considering the contribution good roads can make to economic growth and rural connectivity, it is justifiable to expand a country’s network of roads. “However, significant problems arise when road proponents do not consider the full costs and risks that roads may pose to the economy, society, and environment,” he pointed out.
According to him, road building comes hand in hand with increased forest conversion, illegal hunting, and illegal wildlife trade.
“The tropical climate, sporadically distributed communities, and exceptionally biodiverse and sensitive forest landscapes in Malaysian Borneo mean that building good roads is especially challenging.
“Furthermore, inadequate environmental impact assessments fail to expose the true risks, and thus do not enable policymakers and approving bodies to adequately respond to minimise potential risks,” Kajan added.
Sarawak has two world heritage sites – Mulu and the Niah National Park, both located in northern Sarawak. At present, the only way to get to Mulu is via flights on small aircraft from Miri or by river transportation.
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