Home / Blogs / dshee's blog
Renmin bakau project?
16th November 2008 was a day to remember for William, Gerald and myself.
On that day, we took to the muds so to speak ! No after thoughts of the consequences and no second thoughts about the dangers of getting stuck in knee deep mud or worries about the authorities hauling us up or the embarassments of onlookers laughing at 3 gila lunatics!!
Around 4pm William picked up 300 baby bakaus from his backyard, we met at Gurney drive round-about. We discussed the game plan, rolled up our sleeves and in less than 10 minutes we were plodding in the muds sticking the delicate baby bakaus in the stinking mud !
Will continue my story....
- dshee's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Email this page
Hi Daniel, I am really touched by your report. William is such a cool guy. A charity ride to support his bakau tree planting project will be very meaningful. I am confident many people here will be interested. Keep it going
..
Cheers
sk
Yes, William is an unsung hero. As for Gerald and myself, we're in purely for the love of trees.
Besides the shade and the aesthetics, it's pretty amazing to find what other benefits mangrove can bering to us and to our environment...
WHY IS A MANGROVE IMPORTANT?
The term “mangrove” refers to an assemblage of tropical trees and shrubs that grow in the intertidal zone. These zones are frequently inundated with salt water due to tidal activity of gulfs, seas and oceans. The term also refers to the mangrove family of plants, Rhizophoraceae, or more generally to mangrove trees of the genus Rhizophora. The relationship between mangroves and their associated marine life cannot be overemphasized. The mangroves and coral reefs are linked together not only in the ways they protect each other but also by the animals that move between the two habitats. Mangroves play a key role in near shore habitats of the tropical zone. They:
- ACT AS A FILTERING SYSTEM for the run-off and ground waters, clarifying adjacent open water, which facilitates photosynthesis in marine plants. Mangroves also help to control other forms of pollution, including excess amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous, petroleum products, and halogenated compounds. Mangroves stop these contaminants from polluting the ocean waters through a process called rhizofiltration.
- PROTECT COASTAL LAND, by absorbing the energy of storm-driven wave and wind action - creating in effect a natural breakwater that helps stop erosion, preventing a great deal of property damage and sometimes even human death.
- TRAP DEBRIS AND SILT, contributing to soil formation and stabilizing the coastline.
- SERVE AS HABITAT, their intricate root systems provide shelter for many marine and terrestrial animals, protecting them from ocean currents and strong winds. Many threatened or endangered species reside inside
- PRODUCE NUTRIENTS, a large amount of the leaf litter is shed, being dropped and then broken down by bacteria and fungi which is made available to the food chain of aquatic animals. Therefore mangroves contribute to productivity in off shore water.
- SERVE AS NURSERY AND REFUGE for many juvenile fish and invertebrates such as spiny lobster, gray snapper, jacks and barracuda. Mangroves are the nesting grounds for many water birds such as the great white heron, reddish egrets, roseate white-crowned pigeons and frigate birds.
- ARE IMPORTANT IN TERMS OF AESTHETICS AND TOURISM
This mangrove park is in Lumut. The next time if you are in Lumut or happen to be driving by Sitiawan, do stop by and witness for yourself how serene and nice the park is.
Hope I did not oversell, even if I do it's for the love of plants and trees...
That's all folks....
I have met up with William at lunch arranged by Daniel at Maple Gold. I come across him as someone every altruistic and honestly wanted to create a greener and better world. He may not be reading our website due to his poor English but I can assured you, he has done a lot of running abt to get the final approval from the authority to go ahead with the planting of the bakau trees at Gurney Drive. I hv not seen the approval letter but he has an interview with the Chinese press which highlighted his success. All he needs now is support from like-minded people and of course financial support.There are plans to make this bakau paradise complete with bicycle trails for leisure ride and also it will serve as a good meeting place for cyclists
We maybe hearing a lot more about him in future and let s all make this illusion of a bakau paradise into a reality.
Footnote; I was having dinner at Oriental Seafood once with some friends from Jakarta and I proudly pointed out into the swampy shoreline at Gurney Drive the few surviving Bakau trees that they were planted by my good Friend Daniel & Co :~))
Story of Renmin bakau project con'td...
William lives in Balik Pulau, at the back of his house you can see huge bakau trees, rising up to 30 feet, providing shade to his nursery of 30,000 bakau seedlings. Most of these bakau seedlings are now rendered useless because the roots are so intertwined it will be hard not to break the roots when you seperate the seedlings for planting. And when he bought the seedlings they were bundled and tied together in about 30 to a bag
Call it vision of grandeur or for the love of plants? Ask William, but undeniably he has that great passion for plants, and buying 30,000 bakau seedlings in preparation for a promised planting project is quite brave move, hats off to him !
Anyway Gerald and I met William after the last election and we visited his nursery in Balik Pulau. After listening to the stories of his many unsuccessful attemtps to get the authorities to allow him to plant his bakaus, we decided to 'just do it' and try to showcase to the people by planting 300 plants in Gurney drive!
Imagine a gurney park that looks like above, with shady walkways and bicycle paths ! So you know what motivated us to spend hours sticking bakau seedlings in knee deep mud !
Gurney park remains a dream. In fact a month later, most of our 300 bakau plants died. This knee deep mud experience had taught us some valuable lessons on planting bakau.
Will continue my story....stay tuned
The Bakau project was in danger of dying a natural death, but William was very persistent. During his spare time (he work as a cook) he visited the authorities in Komtar and the Perhutanan. I was told he was made to run here and there by the people in the ivory tower(komtar) and after nearly 15 months his efforts came to fruition.
One fine day in Jan 2010 William called me, we met for coffee and he excitely showed me the letter of approval he received from Perhutanan, granting him the permission to plant Bakau in a 5 hectars of swampy land near Gurney, Balik Pulau and the long stretch from Nibong Tebal to Sungai Petani !
The 5 hectar swamp land near Gurney roundabout behind the kampung houses
Notice on the right is Oriental Seafood, Gurney Drive
William and I were elated after our coffee meeting but at the same time we were realistically down to earth about the prospect of finding someone willing to finance the project. We realised this could even be a bigger hurdle than the earlier one.
William and I started to bounce around ideas...
"What about getting those staying around Gurney and businessmen to sponsor say 100 plants each?"
"What about approaching big corporations to sponsor the project?"
"What about getting the NGO like the greenies to help?"
"What about G Club adopting this project?"
We left without any action plan but a couple of days later I called William to tell him while we wait, lets publicize it through the newspaper. I called up my journalist friend with China Press Mr Teoh and he immediatelly agreed to do a write up.
I also shared this with G Club Chairman Dr Lim and he was happy to take it up with CIMB or Rotary. However immediately after this story was published in the China Press, a chap from KL called William and said he will help. Now the ball is back in Willliam's court...
I will update you every now and then when I have news. Cheers and continue to dream about it....
Heard from William a while ago that he has received a cheque of rm 6000 from the govt for him to plant 1000 bakaus. So I believe there will be some kind of hoo haa this coming Saturday at gurney drive?
I asked William sure he wants to go ahead with 1000 bakaus. From our last experiment almost all the 300 plants died and now he wants to do another expriement? Why can't he work with some big sponsors such as CIMB and do it in a bigger scale and in a more professional way? Imagine after planting the 1000 bakaus, who is going to maintain them? The seedlings are very vulnerable to waves and without proper 'aclimatization' to the surrounding before planting the chances of survival can be very low ! What does 1000 bakaus going to accomplish anyway? Shouldn't there be a longer term plan? this kind of project should be implemented in a couple of phases bacause the bakaus take time to grow and you need much more than rm 6000 to make the project worthwhile.
Tried to convince him to hang on but he seemed determined to go ahead.
G Club is trying to chip in to help, I'm more for the ecological benefits and I think most of us do. However it's William's own project and he calls the shot. Sincerely I wish him luck !
Tomorrow we are having a meeting with the CIMB officers regarding our proposal for them to adopt the 5 hectares mangrove project which will later have a elevated walkways specially for pedestrians and cyclists and to convert this area into a cyclists meeting point complete with masterplan board illustrating all the important trails in Penang.
YB Phee Boon Poh and YB Teh are both in charge ot this project on behalf of the state government and of course to set the record right William is the main catalyst in getting the whole thing going. Have spoken to YB Phee last week, he did mention about this 1000 bakau trees. This Saturday there will be a launching of the planting of the bakau trees at the gurney drive area complete with press coverages and funfare.I wasnt aware of it until Daniel's araticle above and subsequent phone conversations with our two YBs this afternnon. Well, it will be good if there can hang on until the CIMB decision in a few weeks time, however all this has already been planned way ahead so it is not fair to get them to abandon the launching. Anyway a 1000 bakau trees, that will be interesting.....
Tomorrow, William is going to be grilled by the CIMB Offficers who seems to be very experience in BAkau projects as they have a few ongoing pojects eleswhere. He needs all the luck.........
In conclusion of tongiht cimb foundation meeting, let the state goverbment go ahead with their bakau planting tomorrow and G club will concentrate on bicycling event. we will not take up the project.
OK good!
Looks like this project is in the good hands of the aduns and the state govt now! Hopefully in a couple of years time we will have a nice bakau park!
It would really be an achievemtn if this should come true, especially for Gurney drive. I notice a few bakau trees up and coming already along the muddy banks of Gurney Drive.
Can't wait to see it come true as I would be able to experience Gurney Drive turning from a beach (where I was playing in it) when I was young, into a dump (full of mud and smelly), and soon into a green lung again!
Kudos to you guys Daniel and friends! Helping save Penang... one tree at a time.
best regards,
nightrider