Ocean Sentry
(From thestar.com.my) Malaysia – The Selangor government wants to make those responsible for clearing the mangrove forest in Taman Alam, Kuala Selangor, pay for the damage. State tourism, consumer affairs and environment chairman Elizabeth Wong said the culprits would also have to replant the trees they had chopped down. She said the land, a protected mangrove area, was cleared for prawn farming.
Nearly 32ha of the 324ha Taman Alam nature park in Kuala Selangor have been cleared with several ponds already built for the prawns.
“The responsible party has six months to restore the area, which involves filling up the ponds, recovering the previous natural soil conditions and replanting the mangrove trees,” Wong said.
Taman Alam, a gazetted forest reserve, is located near the mouth of the Selangor River, not far from the Kuala Selangor town centre. It is managed by the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS).
The park is a secondary forest and wetland with a man-made bund separating the wetland and the forest.
The park, as part of the Selangor River estuary, is home to a number of large bird species such as storks and herons as well as primates.
