PKR Sabah Secretary – Dr Roland
Chia who is also PKR Central Council member urged both Federal Ministry of
Plantations Industries and Commodities and the Federal Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment of whom the Minister and Deputy Minister are Sabahans
and also the State Ministry of Environment and Tourism to stop playing the “BLAME GAME” and
immediately come together to resolve the perennial problem of worsening
pollution of all the affected rivers in Sabah especially the Kinabatangan River
the longest river in the state of Sabah.
This perennial pollution is
also hurting the tourism industry in Sabah which has raked in a whopping amount
RM5 Billion in the year 2011. This problem will definitely see revenue
generated by tourism to disappear rapidly. Revenue from tourism comes in 2nd
after royalties from Oil, Gas & Timber to the state coffers.
Tourist locally and from
abroad paid top dollar to come to watch the Kinabatangan Wildlife were upset to
see the black gooey substance flowing near the boats. Such black gooey
substance will definitely hurt and kill the wildlife. Many tourism related
economic activities especially the villagers will definitely be deprived of
their livelihood derived from tourism.
The main culprit of the
source of pollution is the indiscreetly dumping of POME – Palm Oil Mill
Effluents. It is believed that only 25% of the hundred over palm oil mills in
Sabah managed to pass the MPOA guidelines in processing POME.
The worsening pollution due
to Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) that has caused high levels of Biological
Oxygen Demand (BOD3) as high as 55% has threatened the lives of myriad of
iconic wildlife such as proboscis monkeys, orang utans, pygamy elephants and
birds along the Kinabatangan river.
It is also believed that
other source contributing to the high levels of BOD3 are generated by
population areas, human activity including lodges and resorts and other forms
of agriculture. In the other parts of Sabah, angry poor villagers in Sook and
Keningau has reported of the POME all of a sudden had wiped out their fresh
water fish tagal system, clean water for drinking, cooking, bathing, gardening,
irrigation and livestock.
In short – what POME can do
to the river is take dissolved oxygen
out of the water of a river, all aerobic fish, prawns and other aquatic life,
will die. After it has emptied out all the dissolved oxygen, anaerobic bacteria
take over and turn the river into a foul smelling torrent of toxic water filled
with deadly chemicals: ammonia and hydrogen sulphide. If a stream, creek or
river is relatively small, palm oil mill effluents (Pome) will kill it swiftly,
turning it into a dead zone overnight.
It is the onus of The
Ministry of Plantations Industries and Commodities to exercise authority to
shut down and suspend licenses of errant millers however on the other hand the
recommendations must come from the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environment to enforce and control the
environment.
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