Protecting Rafflesia’s home

IPOH: A steering committee on exploring eco-tourism conservation potential in the Ulu Geroh area has identified a 4,000ha site where the rare Rafflesia cantleyi can be found.

Perak Forest Department (development) deputy director Abdullah Sani Shaffie said the area was part of the Bukit Kinta Forest Reserve around Ulu Geroh, located about 40km from here.

“However, the forestry department will conduct another survey to see if it is necessary to declare the whole 4,000ha site a protected area,” he said yesterday.

SPOTTED: A blooming Rafflesia cantleyi flower in Kampung Ulu Geroh, about 12km from Gopeng. It can grow up to 55cm and usually looks its best for only four days before it starts to wither. --STARpic by CHRISTINA KOH

“The survey will take about two months.”

He said that the Bukit Kinta Forest Reserve, covering more than 65,000ha, was already a permanent forest reserve, of which up to 40% was being logged as a production forest.

However, he said that once the survey was completed, the steering committee would submit a proposal to the state to declare the Rafflesia sites as protected areas safe from logging.

Abdullah Sani said this after complaints by the Orang AsliRafflesia flower. community in Ulu Geroh that logging activities were lately getting too close to areas that are home to the Rafflesia flower.

During a workshop in Miri on Thursday, villagers Sani Sari and Bah Azmi Ngah Porgi had urged the Government to protect the Rafflesia sites, adding that the logging was only 6km away.

The two Orang Asli are coordinators of a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project for the conservation of the Rafflesia and the protection of the majestic Rajah Brooke butterflies in Ulu Geroh.

Working with the Orang Asli of Kampung Ulu Geroh, the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) has been organising trips for visitors to see the Rafflesia, butterflies and the nearby Damak waterfall.

MNS vice-president Datuk Dr Hashim Abdul Wahab said the Ulu Geroh area was especially valuable for its high concentration of Rajah Brooke butterflies and the Rafflesia cantleyi.

“People tend to associate the Rafflesia with Borneo, but here (in Perak), there must be efforts to protect their indigenous habitat in the Bukit Kinta Forest Reserve,” he said.

source: The Star Online
date: December 16, 2006