Mangrove\nforests are a unique ecosystem which are located between the land and sea. Mangroves\ncan be found in 118 countries in the world representing one per cent of the\ntropical forest worldwide, and less than 0.4 per cent of the world forests. Mangrove\nswamps are a very important ecosystem to human life and the diversity of life\nthat inhabit it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Firstly, humans are highly dependent on the products of the mangrove\nforest (timber resources) and fishery resources (mangroves become the breeding\ngrounds and early growth of various species of oceans living on coral reefs). Next, mangroves contribute to coastal protection from\nerosion and protect the environment from extreme weather changes. Besides this,\nthe mangrove forest is important in maintaining water quality, trapping\nsediments and filtering pollutants originating from activities in the surrounding\nareas. This is compatible with the Quranic verse which means: \u201cHe rules (all) affairs from the heavens to\nthe earth; according to His calculations\u201d<\/em> (Surah Al-Sajdah<\/em>, 32: 5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n But unfortunately, not many are\naware of the importance of the mangrove ecosystems, causing the ecosystem to be\nneglected, thus leading to the threat of its extinction. This is evident throughout\nMalaysia today in which the mangrove ecosystem is becoming increasingly\nthreatened by various unhealthy human activities such as: i) reclamation of\nland for various uses such as aquaculture, agriculture, industrial or housing,\ncoastal resort development, ports, roads, airports and oil excavations ; ii) widespread\nlogging activities; and iii) pollution problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most recently, it was reported that the\nsole surviving mangrove forest on government land located in the middle of\nPekan Baru Batu Maung and adjacent to the Bayan Lepas Industrial Park was being\nthreatened by irresponsible dumping of construction and industrial wastes. Such\nan activity had inflicted the river across the mangrove swamp that turned\nbrackish and became mixed with solids, along with the waste material disposed\nof at the dumpsite catching fire and scorching some of the mangrove tress that\nsurrounded the open ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Such an incident should not have happened. Instead, the Batu Maung\nmangrove should be given better protection, and needs urgent as well as\nstringent action by all parties concerned be they the local, state and federal\ngovernments which should ensure that the sole remaining mangrove was fully\nprotected and conserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All parties should be aware that the mangrove ecosystem is a valuable\nasset to the country and is among the region’s productive ecosystems in the world.\nNot only is it an important area of human life, but it also has benefits to the\necosystem and economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The survival of the mangrove ecosystem is also important to conserve because\nof its great function in helping to protect coastal areas as well as controlling\nerosion. As an example, the mangrove ecosystem acts as wind breakers, that is,\nit gives protection against strong winds of coastlines from disasters. If the\nmangrove ecosystems continue to be destroyed, then the affected areas will be exposed\nto rainstorms, floods and erosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, many still do not realise the\nimportance of the existence of mangrove ecosystems. In fact, it was found that\nthe current level of public awareness about the importance of mangrove\necosystems is still relatively low in comparison to other ecosystems. This has led\nto conservation efforts of the ecosystem to reach a critical level in Malaysia at\npresent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hence, in preserving the mangrove\nswamp ecosystems, efforts to foster awareness among communities should be done proactively,\nso that the ecosystems are not marginalised, which can then contribute to their\nextinction in the future. Perceptions of some members of the community who\nconsider that mangrove as idle ecosystems need to be changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such people should be given appropriate exposure in terms of accurate\ninformation and knowledge from time to time on the ecosystem which also has its\nown important role as supplied by other ecosystems. This effort is crucial in\norder for the survival of the mangrove ecosystem to be maintained not only for\nthe benefit of the universal human life, but also its survival as an important\nhabitat for plants and animals rarely found in other ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For such an effort, all parties need to be committed to ensuring that\nefficient management of the mangrove ecosystem can be achieved by trying to\nimprove the weaknesses of the past management system, enhancing knowledge of\nthe mangrove ecosystem and sharing information about it that is accurate to be\nchannelled to all levels of the society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, the restoration of mangrove ecosystems needs to be the main\nagenda in the sustainable development of the country. The high commitment at\nthe leadership level towards this effort is necessary to ensure proactive action\nis taken in order to sustain the sustainability of mangrove ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, mangrove replanting efforts should be taken seriously from\ntime to time by getting the community to be involved in the activity to\nunderstand and learn more about the existence of the ecosystem in the future.\nTheir participation in such activities will certainly raise awareness amongst\nthem to safeguard and preserve the mangrove ecosystems.\n\nPublic awareness is\ncrucial in creating a generation of people who are concerned about conservation\nof ecosystems and other aspects of natural resource management. With such awareness,\nconservation teams can hopefully be inspired to work together with the\nauthorities to ensure sustainable production and management of the environment. \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mangrove forests are a unique ecosystem which are located between the land and sea. Mangroves can be found in 118 countries in the world representing one per cent of the tropical forest worldwide, and less than 0.4 per cent of the world forests. Mangrove swamps are a very important ecosystem to human life and the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[225,139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-new-straits-times","category-225","category-139","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23988\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}