This year 2016 marks Unesco’s first celebration of the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem. In conjunction with this, the Natural Resources And Environment Ministry had organised a national celebration on Aug 18 at Pusat Eko Pelajaran Hutan Paya Laut Matang, Kuala Sepetang, Perak.

On behalf of my constituency Kuala Sepetang, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the ministry for the recognition of our Kuala Sepetang Mangrove Forest which was chosen as the venue for this event. The celebration was officially opened by the Natural Resources and Environment Minister YB Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

I would also like to highlight and provide an update on the issue of the Kuala Sepetang Mangrove Forest that I had brought to media attention last December 2015. This was regarding the mangrove forest trees along the Jalan Taiping-Kuala Sepetang area for which the land title had been released individually, although the area was supposed to be gazetted.

After my open letter to Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir, the Perak state government issued a stop-work order on the clearing of the part of mangrove forest pending an investigation. In the earlier state assembly session in April 2016, I received an answer to my written question where the site in question will be surrendered back to the Forestry Department to be gazetted as a Mangrove Forest Reserve.

Today, I once again received further confirmation when I was told by the Perak Forestry director that the piece of land is in the process of being surrendered to the Forestry Department. I hope this reflects the commitment of the Perak state government to preserve the Mangrove Forest.

As we all know, mangrove forests are one of our most important coastal ecosystems and wetland. The three major industries of Kuala Sepetang - fisheries, charcoal production and eco-tourism - all depend on the ecosystem of the mangrove forest. Any damage caused now will continue to affect us and our future generation not only environmentally but economically, too.

To protect this treasure, we need more awareness on environmental concern. I would like to urge the state government to seriously implement and improve the rubbish collection system in the Kuala Sepetang community. There are some areas in Kuala Sepetang community where the rubbish collection is not covered under the local municipal council.

I hope the government and the community can work out the best practices in the near future. This is part of the important daily job that helps to keep our environment clean and healthy.

Lastly, I would like to wish Happy International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem 2016. Let’s do our part to preserve our mangrove forest.

CHUA YEE LING is Perak state assemblyperson for Kuala Sepetang.