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George Town, Malaysia – When hikers found a strange and hairy bump clinging to the tree trunk on the jungle trail of Penang Hill, dusk was approaching.
It is not a common macaque, but a rare Sunda squirrel: similar to a mixture of fruit bats and giant squirrels, this nocturnal mammal uses a membrane that extends around its body to slide from tree to tree. The tree is one of many unusual mammals-sometimes rare-species that inhabit the jungles of Penang Mountain.
The central forest area of interconnected mountain peaks constitutes most of the undeveloped and underestimated green lungs of Penang, the northwestern island of Malaysia, which was preparing to welcome more than 8 million before the coronavirus pandemic stopped travel nearly 18 months ago Tourists.
Although the state’s capital, George Town, sits at the foot of the Penang Mountains and has been a World Heritage Site since 2008, it has helped Penang become one of Southeast Asia’s leading cultural destinations. The island’s natural wealth and 130 million-year-old forests are fresh Known.
Priscilla Miard of the Primate Society of Malaysia said: “The forests of Penang Island are amazing and actually inhabit a large number of species, such as threatened slow loris, gliding squirrels, civet cats and civet cats. Mouse deer, and most people don’t even know these species.” The first person to discover and study the ultrasound communication of the Sunda Cormorant in Penang Mountain.
Among the natural attractions on the island, Penang Hill, known as Bukit Bendera (Flag Hill) in Malay, can be said to be the most popular.
The rare Sunda Cormorant is one of the unique animals found in the Penang Mountain Biosphere Reserve [Kit Yeng Chan/Al Jazeera]It is 833 meters above the city and was originally developed as a mountain station by the British in 1787 when they were looking for a place to escape the tropical heat of the island they colonized.
In September, the mountain and its surrounding forests were named a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO due to its ecological diversity.
Designated by UNESCO to start in 1971, it aims to promote the protection of wildlife and habitats, encourage sustainable development, and support long-term research and research in each of the 714 biosphere reserves in the 129 countries it protects .
Given the inevitable return of mass tourism in Malaysia, the state is known for its development aspirations and controversial planned large-scale projects, so the nomination sparked a lot of pride but also raised concerns about the future.
Small and unique
The Penang Mountain Biosphere Reserve (PHBR) is Malaysia’s third site of its kind, after Tasik Chini, a wetland habitat near Kuantan City in the eastern part of the peninsula, and the Sabah Croke Mountain Range in Borneo, Malaysia.
The new biosphere consists of 125 square kilometers (48.2 square miles) of land and water, extending from Penang Hill to the island’s northwest coastline and ocean. It includes the state’s forest reserve, the historic botanical garden-first opened in 1884 and planned by the British botanist Charles Curtis-Penang National Park and its coastal and marine ecosystems.
“The Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve is unique in many ways,” Nadine Rupert, a senior lecturer at the School of Biological Sciences, Penang University of Science (USM), told Al Jazeera.
“It is one of the smallest biosphere reserves in the world, but it is composed of four different ecosystems (ocean, coastal, lake, forest) with rare and endemic species. It provides an altitude from 0 to 800 meters above sea level Gradients and different areas of human influence enable researchers to study the effects of human disturbance and climate change on their sensitive biodiversity,” she added.
Habitat is a nature reserve on the top of Penang Hill and is part of a cooperative effort to ensure the status of the region’s biosphere reserve [Supplied/The Habitat]When the British first developed Penang Mountain, the only way to the top of the mountain was a rugged path, but as interest grew, carriage travel became possible, and the funicular was opened in 1924.
This train line is one of the steepest lines in the world and was fully upgraded in 2010. In 2019 alone, it attracted 1.38 million tourists to the observation decks, restaurants, colonial huts and tours that now gather around the upper station facility.
The submission process is a collaborative effort involving academics, the state-owned Penang Mountain Company, and Habitat, which runs the natural park of the same name on the top of the mountain, and started in 2016.
Ruppert oversaw some of the proposals to help focus attention on Penang’s rich and low-key biodiversity.
“The results of our BioBlitz in October 2017-the rapid forest ground-to-tree top biodiversity assessment of the Penang Mountain tropical rainforest, involving a team of 117 local and international scientists and bioscience students-were nominated Provides baseline science,” said Reza Cockrell, co-founder and director of The Habitat.
The team knows that the environment of Penang Mountain is very diverse, but their research results once again prove that even though the mountain is close to the city, its ecosystem still has rare species such as the endangered dark langur and sunda loris. It also has rare plants and at least 144 species of orchids.
“We hope that the inscription will attract more scholars to carry out research and education activities in Penang Hill, thereby guiding us to formulate effective protection strategies,” Cheok Lay Leng, general manager of the Penang Hill Company, which oversees the mountain, told Al Jazeera.
A dim langur in Penang Botanic Garden [Kit Yeng Chan/Al Jazeera]Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow also welcomed the inscription, saying that it can encourage eco-tourism in the state.
“We believe that Penang can strike a delicate balance between mass tourism and the protection of this biosphere reserve, which means that without neglecting the necessary conservation efforts, this victory inscription promotes Penang’s tourism industry,” Said Yang Shunxuan, Executive Committee Member of Penang State. Tourism and the creative economy.
Balance the future
Nevertheless, despite the fact that the inscription has a lot to celebrate, environmentalists remain cautious and point out that although Malaysia is one of the world’s top ten biodiversity hotspots, it has a poor record of protecting its natural resources.
Tasik Chini is the second largest natural lake on the peninsula. Due to its unique wetland environment, it was designated as a biosphere in 2009. However, regardless of its protected status, the forests around the area have been largely converted into agriculture and mining, leading to siltation and pollution of lake waters.
Before UNESCO’s usual 10-year review, if Tasik Chini fails to comply with the actions that UNESCO submitted to the relevant Malaysian authorities in May, it may lose its status in September 2022.
“Habitat destruction is [also] A serious threat to the hills of Penang, quarrying, uncontrolled and unsustainable agriculture, residential development and large-scale transportation projects are all manifestations,” said local trekking expert Rexy Prakash Chacko, who is the co-founder of Penang Hills Watch , This is a citizen-oriented initiative to pay attention to activities that affect the environment of Penang.
Local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and environmentalists pointed out that the state government had planned an ongoing project for Penang Hill before the inscription. The tourist facilities at the upper station began to undergo an upgrade of 9.3 million Malaysian ringgits (US$2.2 million) in March, and the 150 million Malaysian ringgit (US$36 million) cable car project will open in the next five years.
The iconic Penang Hill cable car located on the colonial viaduct near the upper station [image by Kit Yeng Chan/Al Jazeera]“Both are in the transition zone of the biosphere reserve, which not only allows but encourages sustainable human activities and development,” Allen Tan, general manager of The Habitat Penang Hill, told Al Jazeera.
Cheok of Penang Hill Company added that many other national parks and UNESCO World Heritage sites also have environmentally sustainable cable car systems, and Penang will “help relieve stress [existing] Cable car service” emphasizes that all trees removed for the project will be relocated and replanted.
Unsung Hero
If sustainable human activities are to be encouraged, then the priority should be to expand the focus on the entire biosphere reserve as an interconnected ecosystem. This is especially important after 18 months of coronavirus travel restrictions, which have attracted thousands of Penang residents to the long criss-crossing hiking trails.
Despite the surge in locals’ appreciation of Penang’s natural environment, more trash and vandalism appeared along the trails-several rocks were defaced with rainbow-style graffiti to create social media-friendly photo spots or early impressions of dozens of mature trees Severely surrounded by October-this is mainly due to local hikers, in the past few years, the mountain and its surrounding area can still be accessed and patrolled.
This was especially true before the landmark 2008 elections, when the former Barisan Nasional government was dismissed and its negligence “resulted in leaving hiking trails mainly to the hiking community,” said Ng Seow Kong, organizer of Ultimate Trails. Penang race.
Nonetheless, popular trails that are now part of the reserve-such as the 90-minute hike from the Penang National Park headquarters to the popular Monkey Beach, which surrounds the island’s northwestern coast and leads hikers through the tropics Rainforest trails, coastal boulders and palm-tree beaches—before the pandemic had been in a mess, with trees collapsing and pedestrian bridges intermittent.
“As far as I know, the authorities have spent millions of dollars to promote bicycles, such as… the establishment of special dedicated lanes on the island, but no special funds have been allocated to improve and upgrade the hiking trails,” Suthakar Kathirvaloo said. I have been hiking in Penang for more than 10 years and added that most of the upgrades to existing facilities are done with public donations.
The popular Monkey Beach is one of the westernmost corners of the new Penang Mountain Biosphere Reserve [Kit Yeng Chan/Al Jazeera]Rexy of Penang Hills Watch said: “The state government is prudent to reconsider the proposal to build a cable car.” “Resources [should] Enhancing the natural attributes and facilities of Penang Hill, these are the first choices of’new normal’ tourists…make full use of the natural and historical heritage of Bukit Bandera without compromising its fragile ecological integrity. “
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