From Dhivya Nair

In January, news broke about Widad@Langkasuka, an RM40 billion mega-development in Langkawi involving planned reclamation of nearly 2,000 acres of coastal sea area near Padang Matsirat.

This would reportedly be turned into luxury resorts, golf courses, business centres and shopping malls.

Asia is no stranger to coastline land reclamation projects. China, Singapore, Japan and others have turned to it to support fast-paced development.

Locally, states like Penang and Johor have also embarked on similar projects, with controversies of their own.

Land reclamation means making new land with sediment that usually comes from the sea. Although there are various ways to achieve this, the simplest would entail dredging up the seafloor.

It’s obvious this could disturb the surrounding environment and why an environmental impact assessment (EIA) must be done.

An EIA should include assessments on how the physical, biological and socio-economic conditions of the area might change, and whether the environment can withstand these changes.

Biodiversity’s death by a thousand cuts

The mudflats and coral reefs adjacent to this area are home to an amazingly diverse array of marine organisms.

Dredging and silt from reclamation could change the sedimentary makeup of the seafloor and suffocate these animals.

Reclamation projects also often produce heavy underwater noise, heavily impacting marine life.

Dolphins and porpoises, in particular – like the threatened and protected Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins and Indo-Pacific finless porpoises that call Langkawi’s waters home – rely heavily on sound to navigate and communicate, a link most significant between mother and calf. Loud noises often mask these sounds, further affecting foraging and reproduction habits.

We at the MareCet Research Organization have been conducting cetacean research and conservation work in Langkawi since 2010.

According to our research, the proposed project location and surrounding areas are important feeding grounds for both species. The scale and likely impact of the project could cause the animals to avoid the area altogether.

It’s not just the wildlife that’ll be affected. Land reclamation often causes physical changes in the area. They could influence tidal flow and waves as well as destroy coral reefs, intertidal habitats and mangrove forests that protect coastlines.

Minerals and chemical byproducts of reclamation could further pollute our waters. In the extreme, this project could decimate Langkawi’s biodiversity and threaten the island’s fragile ecosystems and complex marine food webs.

This would all be a huge miss where Malaysia’s National Policy on Biological Diversity 2016 – 2025 is concerned, especially two of the five policy goals – to reduce threats to our biodiversity, and to conserve the country’s ecosystems and species.

What about the fisherfolk?

Another issue with projects such as Widad@Langkasuka is the resulting socio-economic impact on the local population.

The Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project had fishermen voicing out over dwindling catches, which left them with lower incomes and forcing them to go out into deeper seas or invest in more expensive equipment.

Ironically, Kedah’s current Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Noor was at one time seen protesting alongside fishermen at Sungai Batu in Penang over planned reclamation works there. Surely, the same factors apply here?

Yet it was he who announced the planned Widad@Langkasuka. The principles he upheld so publicly can’t have changed so drastically? Shouldn’t he now stand by such principles again, given his position of authority?

Sadly, despite our biodiversity policy and environmental laws in Malaysia, implementation and enforcement appear to be an entirely different story.

Official guidelines for coastal and land reclamation can be outdated, and could give developers more leeway when pursuing huge development deals.

However, one cannot only think of profit as development requires the consideration of multiple factors.

A distant need

It would seem every possible factor mentioned above would lead to a hard no for this project. There’s also no solid evidence restoration efforts after all the damage has been done will even work.

Do we really need yet another development project? Why destroy what’s natural when we can conserve and preserve it instead?

It might be the false idea that modernising every corner of our beautiful country would allow Malaysia to achieve a developed country status.

With the amount of funding involved with the Langkawi project, couldn’t we do better with existing infrastructure and to aid local communities preserve and conserve the biodiversity Langkawi’s been gifted with?

With the tropical waters of the Langkawi archipelago a designated IUCN Important Marine Mammal Area and the island a Unesco Global Geopark, surely it’d be worthwhile to invest in and boost nature-centric tourism? The island’s tagline is, after all, “Naturally Langkawi”.

Development, done responsibly and sustainably, is definitely welcomed – and needed in many areas of our country. But it shouldn’t come at a cost to the environment and to our people.

NOTE: Between The Lines contacted Kedah MB and state natural resources exco Muhammad Sanusi over MareCet’s concerns.

He said work on the Widad@Langkasuka project has yet to begin, and that he’d been informed the necessary EIA approval was previously obtained by another company. However, this was before the project was taken over by the Widad Business Group (WBG).

“In the development process, there are many regulations that must first be followed (such as obtaining) planning permission, EIA, National Physical Planning Council (NPPC) and others…that is when all these (environmental) concerns will be detailed.

“The land use (for the project) must first be approved and then they can apply for the (new) EIA. If we don’t approve the use of the land for them, how can the process (of obtaining the EIA) be done?” he said.

This article has been edited for brevity. The full version was originally published on Between The Lines, a weekday newsletter that curates the most important news stories of the day and explains the context behind them. Sign up here.

Dhivya Nair is a marine biologist and project assistant at The MareCet Research Organization. She holds a degree in marine biology from the University of Queensland in Australia.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.