KUALA LUMPUR, July 28: There can be no shortcuts, nor conditional permissions and backdoor manoeuvres should there be any undertaking of coal exploration in Kalabakan and Gunung Rara, says the Organisation for the Preservation of Natural Heritage Malaysia (PEKA).
Calling for a full disclosure on Sabah’s coal mining scandal, PEKA said that with recent allegations that a massive coal exploration licence has been granted for the Kalabakan and Gunung Rara forest reserves, it wanted to reiterate its stand against any coal mining developments in Sabah’s vital biodiversity zones.
Sabah Mineral Management (SMM) must practice full transparency and provide all stakeholders with a copy of the EIA report, PEKA’s president Rajesh Nagarajan and its secretary general Vimala Raghawan said in a joint statement issued today.
The 70,000 hectare or approximately 173,000 acres of coal exploration in Kalabakan and Gunung Rara requires a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), it said.
Among the reasons cited for pushing against coal mining, PEKA pointed out the following:
The Kalabakan District is home to about 53,200 residents (2023 census) living in villages along forest edges and river valleys. All of the people living here will be exposed to the water paths of dust, acidic runoff, and toxic pollutants resulting from the coal mining.
The proposed coal mining on a hitherto unheard of scale will lead to massive land clearing and exploitation of the land that will undoubtedly damage the entire ecosystem of Sabah.
The proposed open-pit coal mining would cause irreversible destruction of land, widespread deforestation, air and water pollution, and serious geological disasters such as landslides and ground subsidence, burning cavities, sinkholes, and landslides due to subsoil destabilization, all of which are also life-threatening to surrounding communities.
Nitrous oxide (N₂O), one of the gases released when coal is burned, is a climate super‑pollutant with a Global Warming Potential approximately 270–300 times that of CO₂ over 100 years and it persists in the atmosphere for over a century. This means every ton of N₂O emitted from coal combustion heats the planet as much as 270 tons of CO₂ and the effect lasts for generations.
What of the habitat of the Borneo pygmy elephants who call Kalabakan their home—173,000 acres of elephant habitat will now become a barren polluted land that will no doubt become the death knell for these pygmy elephants.
With only 387 Bornean pygmy elephants left in Central Sabah, the clearing 173,000 acres in Kalabakan and Gunung Rara isn’t just deforestation, it’s a surety that these elephants will become extinct.
PEKA also urged full transparency from the Sabah government on all conditional, provisional, or proposed forest-related projects, including past and future coal exploration discussions in the Kalabakan and Gunung Rara forest area and the release of agreements related to Bumi Suria Sdn Bhd and any other companies granted conditional and/or any other form of permission under the plan.
It also called for a permanent moratorium on any form of fossil fuel exploration in Sabah’s rainforest reserves.
— WE