Activities undertaken during the period of April – June 2022
This report summarises some of the significant activities undertaken during the period of April to June 2022, to implement this Recovery Project. The activities include Kampung Meranti community’s saplings collection and nursery training, Awareness Day, active operation community fire patrolling activity and biodiversity surveys.
- Nursery Management and Seedling Collection at Kg Meranti
Nursery management and seedling collection training was carried out on 25 May 2022 at Kampung Meranti. The activity is a part of community empowerment programme for forest rehabilitation and conservation. The community fire patrolling activity aims to prevent fire occurrence; whilst the nursery and seedling collection activity aims to enhance community capacity on reforestation activity for the project area. Prior to the seedling collection demonstration, the project team briefed the communities on best practices in managing a backyard tree nursery. Attended by 17 local women indigenous people, the activity then attracted 8 families to establish their own backyard nurseries at their house compound. The seedlings were collected around the village and in forest buffer zones. Until end of June, about 1300 seedlings of Mahang, Tenggek Burung and Bintangor were collected by the community members. - Kampung Meranti Awareness Day
An awareness day on 29 May 2022 was conducted at Kampung Meranti and was attended by 50 local indigenous people from various age groups. This event was specially held in order to formally announce to community of ongoing initiative by YPPH & GEC and to update activities being planned and partly implemented in collaboration with local villagers’ representative and the plantation sector in the project landscape area. The initiative includes community fire patrolling activity and nursery management. GEC have also carried out door to door promotion activity to distribute leaflets on fire prevention initiative to the community. - Community Fire Patrol and Monitoring
Active fire patrol has been commenced since April 2022. As in June, total of 8 Fire Danger Rating System (FDRS) signboards and 3 water level markers have been installed by the project to support the community-based fire prevention initiative by the indigenous people. In addition, GEC has continuously disseminating the FDRS information including hotspots and weather forecast to stakeholder via whatsapp application, e.g. “Pekan Fire Prevention Group” and the FDRS signboards have been directly operated/monitored by engaged local patrollers or estates according to respective managed areas. Together with the estate operators, the local patrollers are also responsible to monitor and record water level in community areas for fire prevention. The information is being collected and will be synthesized for next action on water management intervention if needed. - Biodiversity Monitoring and Inventory
In addition to the bird monitoring/survey, the project team have installed camera traps that aims to evaluate significant species available at the project area. Engagement and partnership have been made with Department of Wildlife Protection and National Parks (PERHILITAN), Department of Fishery and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu on aquafauna assessment within the SEPPL landscape, tentatively planned to conduct initial rapid fish diversity survey at project area starting August. Collection of this biodiversity information will be useful to strengthen management strategies that may prioritise action to significantly conserving and protecting the threathen and endangered species (if any) available in the landscape. - Quarterly Drone Assessment
Quarterly aerial view pictures for the proposed project area has been collected and completed during reporting period. As per reported in previous progress update, the logging activities on state land forest were approved before the start of the recovery project and the concession license will be ended in late September 2022.
Note: The project has held several discussions with the State Forestry Department on measures to minimise the impact of logging on the adjacent areas and rewetting the site to encourage natural regeneration and prevent fires. The project is actively monitoring the activities.