NGOs in Penang have come together to set up a "Penang Hills Watch" website to monitor hill all clearing activities in the state.

Penang Forum representative Kam Suan Pheng said the website is almost ready and will be launched by the end of October.

"Since it is a free and open source website, there are still some bugs that we need to deal with," Kam said.

"We are preparing a user guide on how to report on hill clearing cases," she told reporters after attending the screening of a documentary titled "The Disappearing Hills" during the Freedom Film Festival in Penang last Sunday, which was organised by Komas.

Kam (photo), a geospatial consultant, is a former Universiti Sains Malaysia lecturer and one of the resource persons who shared her views on hill clearing after the screening.

Others who shared their views on the matter were Dr Ti Lian Geh from the Taman Lau Geok Swee Residents Association and activist Rexy Prakash Chacko, who is also a member of Penang Forum.

According to Rexy, the initiative by Penang Forum aims to create awareness about hill clearing issues in the state, and to get the people involved in reporting hill clearing activities to the state authorities.

"Anyone who witnesses hill clearing activities, please snap photographs and mark the location, and then send the information to Penang Forum's WhatsApp at 011-51274277.

"The information will be uploaded to the map on the website, " Rexy said.

Kam believes the website would not only help members of the public to understand further the hill situation in the state, but also to indirectly assist the government's enforcement agency to gather information on illegal hill clearing.

"This is very useful for law enforcement on the matter," she noted.

Kam also called on the authorities to provide any relevant information or records that could be added to the website.

"This will help both sides to cross-check their facts and information.

"At least, the people will know that the government is already aware of the incident in a particular area, and they just need to follow-up and find out whether the law is being enforced," Kam said.

Not much forested hill land left

During her presentation, she pointed out that Penang does not not have much forested hill land left and that such land is concentrated on the island.

"Hill land above 250ft or on an incline greater than 25 degrees is legally protected under the Penang Structure Plan 2007.

"Meanwhile, 40 percent of Penang Island comprises land with slope gradients exceeding 25 degrees.

"Yet, Penang's hills are not spared the onslaught of land clearing, as hill agriculture and various development projects are taking place on steep slopes and high land as well," Kam lamented.

She went on to say that hill farming in Penang is quite extensive and intensive, from orchards (trees with deep roots that hold soil) to vegetables and flowers, which are seen as short-term crops with constant disturbance of the soil.

At the same time, a number of highrise residential development projects, with total of 55 blocks on hill land of 250ft and above, or on slopes steeper than 25 degrees, were approved between 2008 and 2015.

Although the state government can give approval for hill land development under its Special Projects scheme, Kam argued that housing and commercial development shouldn't be included or defined as Special Projects.

The sad state of the hills on the island, she said, was basically due to development taking place without proper planning, control and law enforcement.

Rexy said that only about 15 percent of Penang Island, or about 50sq-km, remains as forests these are mostly in the northern areas of the island.

"Therefore, losing even a small area is a great loss for Penang."

In response to recent developments on the hills of Penang, where both legal and illegal cutting of the hills is taking place with increasing frequency and intensity, Penang Forum, a coalition of NGOs, initiated the ‘Save the Hills of Penang’ campaign during a public forum held in December last year.

It was during this forum that Hamdan Abdul Majeed of the NGO Think City volunteered to sponsor a website for this purpose by donating RM1,000.