An ecological evaluation approach for dam project development in Malaysia

Dams are built to provide water for irrigated agriculture, domestic or industrial use, to generate hydropower or help control floods. Decisions to build dams are made, as human knowledge and experiences expand and new technologies develop, parallel with the fact that the decision-making process is also increasingly becoming more open, inclusive and transparent. Despite the benefits provided by the dams to humankind, much environmental damage has occurred as a consequence of these projects. In particular, dam projects often lead to considerable changes in the natural ecosystem. As the changes are related to the fundamental ecological issues, ecological input should be mandatory and play a major role in all dam project decisions. This paper looks into various studies on the application of ecological evaluation methods in regards to the EIA for the land-use development projects, particularly the dam projects. It details the limitation and challenges faced by the ecological evaluation. Alternative approaches are considered and elucidated as the way forward to enhance the ecological evaluation framework. Towards this end, an ecological evaluation method for the EIA of dams based on ecosystem rarity is proposed. This method allows the loss and fragmentation of the ecosystem of the alternative dam site to be determined in an objective and replicable way

Conservation of river terrapin (Batagur affinis) in Malaysia: status and challenges

With the steady declining of nesting river terrapin reported annually in Malaysia, it is just a matter of time before this species listed extinct in IUCN Red List of Endangered Animal. This paper attempts to develop an overview on the current status, conservation effort, and challenges in conservation of river terrapin (Batagur affinis) in Malaysia. Lack of knowledge and lack of enforcement of law and regulation is the two main factors contribute to the failure of conservation of wildlife in Malaysia. Overview on the existing conservation programme at Perak and Kedah show that the programme are not sustain and number of terrapin successfully being breed annually is decreasing. It was relevant to enhance proper approach in the management from wildlife conservation perspective. Despite the high potential and opportunities and successfulness at Terengganu in conserving river terrapin, we should try to replicate the programme in Terengganu to Perak and Kedah as well. The government should committed to significantly improve the facilities in Perak and Kedah to promote and enhance the programme. With issues and challenges in river terrapin conservation that were highlighted in this context especially from the, aspects of knowledge and awareness, availability and other loopholes within policies and, related wildlife conservation such as turtle within the country, the question on whether the goals in increasing the wild population of river terrapin remains unsure of but there is a possibility for a successful implementation of sustainable conservation programme

Gas chromatography mono spectrometry study of malathion residues in Centella Asiatic.

Centella asiatica is a herbaceous plant and known as pegaga in Malaysia. It was commonly used as a healing agent and constituent to improve mental ability because contains polyphenols and triterpenes. Malathion is an insecticide that helped to increase value and yields of Centella. asiatica by control the damage caused by crop pests. Study was done in MARDI Serdang to measure malathion residue in Centella. asiatica with different treatment methods using GC-MS. Six plots were randomly selected and samples were taken a day before, a day, three days and five days after the application of malathion. The samples were divided into treated (soaked in tap water and salted water), and untreated groups. The sample was extracted through the liquid-liquid extraction and underwent a clean-up process by a silica gel. The residues were found in; three samples treated with salt water (A1= 19.78 μg/kg, C1 = 8.53 μg/kg and E1= 0.99 μg/kg), one sample treated with tap water (E1=0.44 μg/kg) and two unwashed samples (E1=0.0053 mg/kg and F1=0.0077 mg/kg). Therefore the safest way to consume is by soaked with tap water compared with soaked in salt water and unwashed. However the malathion residue found were below the Maximum Residue Limits set up by US EPA

Knowledge and awareness of a local community on river terrapins in Sungai Perak, Malaysia

Malaysia is the largest and final bastion of wild river terrapins (Bataguraffinis), especially in Sungai Perak in the state of Perak. However, the lack of knowledge among the local communities about the reptiles may accelerate the decline of its population. To overcome the problem, community-based conservation is a valuable tool to educate and carry out sustainable conservation programs. In this study, the knowledge and awareness of a local community in Mukim Bota, Perak, were accessed using a questionnaire. This study found that members of the local community in Mukim Bota were well aware of the existence of river terrapins in their county, with 56% of 397 respondents replying in the affirmative. A total of 62% of respondents knew that sandbanks were the nesting habitats for river terrapins and 70% noticed that the landings and population were decreasing every year. This study strengthened the theory that a knowledgeable and participative community could produce better outcome in sustaining a terrapin conservation programme

Building a knowledge-based system for river water quality management.

Managing water quality is considered most challenging due to the multitasking decision making and the necessity of the convergence of opinion by multidisplinary experts in the field. Many decision making models have been developed with various application tools for water quality management. Knowledge-base system-river water quality (KBS-RWQ) is a system developed using visual basic as the language platform to assist non experts in decision making in managing water quality. Application of the pollutant load concept by using the load duration curve to determine the status of water quality is the basis for the KBS-RWQ. The objective has been to support decision making addressing the following: determine the load capacity of the selected river; evaluate the field data; decide on the source of pollutant; and select control strategies. Deterioration of water quality with health threats to human kind are the result of poor planning and decision making of the past. By combining the the capable modeling technique, databases, and expert intelligence, the KBS-RWQ will improve the quality of the decision making