KUALA LUMPUR: Environmental group RimbaWatch has asked the Kedah government to explain potential contamination of the Tasik Muda reservoir near logging areas.
It said it has noticed that the Tasik Muda reservoir is being muddied through deposits from the Ulu Muda river, which flows through logging operations upriver through the monitoring of satellite imagery.
It is now calling on the Kedah government to explain the reason why logging activities are taking place in close proximity to the Tasik Muda reservoir, to investigate impacts on the reservoir's environment through these activities, to halt logging activities within the Ulu Muda Reserve and establish the entirety of the forest complex as a protected area to protect the Tasik Muda reservoir.
It also wants Standard & Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (Sirim Bhd) to revoke the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) certification for the Kedah Kedah's Forest Management Unit (FMU).
"Given that ongoing logging in the Ulu Muda Forest Reserve could potentially contaminate the Tasik Muda reservoir and that it appears no action has been taken regarding the certification of the timber in the Tasik Muda catchment, we question the ability of the entire Sirim, MTCS and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) certification system to guarantee the provision of 'sustainably' logged timber.
"In particular, we are concerned over how the PEFC has remained silent on the repeated complaints made by RimbaWatch and other organisations, including Save Rivers, to the PEFC on the inadequacy of the Sirim MTCS certification system,"he said in a statement.
It also suggested that the PEFC investigate Sirim's certifications of FMUs, to declare a moratorium on their endorsement of the MTCS, and for top consumer governments such as Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to further stop importing MTCS timber until all the issues identified can be rectified.
It said the Tasik Muda reservoir supplies water to Kedah and regulates water flows to the lower Muda river, where the Sungai Dua intake supplies up to 80 per cent of Penang's water.
Impacts on Tasik Muda in the past have heavily affected Penang's water supply, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without water, it said.
It said the protection of Tasik Muda has been a contentious topic in the Kedah and Penang water dispute.
"While Penang has in the past called for a halt to logging in the Ulu Muda area, Kedah has argued that it would lose state revenue if it stopped logging, and has continued to allow timber activities in the state.
"This is despite the fact that the Kedah government had previously, in 2018, cancelled logging permits in Ulu Muda."
