Kota Damansara Community Forest is finally to stay after many rumours of earmarking for development. The Chief Minister of Selangor announced that the forest, home to many wildlife and 100 years old flora and fauna will be gazetted within 3 months. This announcement brought joys and tears to many residents and friends attended the Earth Day Carnival organised by Friends of Kota Damansara in collaboration with MBPJ last Sunday. Friends and Malaysian Nature Society deserve for their persistent in conserving the forest. It is never an easy task for collaborating with many NGOs and CBOs in making the forest the home for everyone. We saw the Girls Guild and Scout use the forest for training and leisure activities, then we saw anglers fishing there, we saw residents brought their families there for a walk. Hopefully in near future we will see the aboriginal people to greet us into the deeper side of the forest.
With land status confirmed now, it is time to move forward to manage the forest. It is also a challenge from the Chief Minister to request the Friends to look into a workable and collaborative management model for the forest. The community needs to convince others that community partnership and participation can manage and optimise the potential of our heritage instead of letting development to take place. To me, it is our commitment to the future generation.
Perhaps, this must be the greatest gift for Petaling Jaya and Kota Damansara residents in celebrating 2009 Earth Day.
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