Objective 1: To develop and adopt a strategy for forest and water resource management of the upper Kinta basin
1) Diagnostic assessment of catchment and linkages to CFS
Diagnostic assessment of UKB been successfully carried out in year 1, 2018. The output of this diagnostic assessment is documented in the UKB Environmental Assessment Report (UKB EAR) which contain 6 chapters such as pollution source rapid inventory, stakeholder perception survey and linkages to central forest spine.
The UKB EAR has been handed over to YB Dr. Abdul Aziz Bari, EXCO of Education, Science, Environment, Green Technology and Information of Perak State. The output of UKB EAR has also been presented in all trainings and workshops involving stakeholders and targeted groups.
2) Stakeholder workshop on basin management
The stakeholder workshop on basin management was carried out on January 23, 2019 at Kinta Riverfront Hotel and Suites, Ipoh, Perak Darul Ridzuan. Overall 23 people from various agencies and 7 media representatives from different media agencies attended the workshop. The workshop was officiated by Dr. Abdul Aziz Bari, EXCO of Education, Science, Environment, Green Technology and Information of Perak State, which was followed by soft launching of project and photography session. The aim of the workshop is to present the UKB EAR outputs and Discussion on Strategic Management Content of UKB.
3) Establishment of Upper Kinta Basin Project Working Group (PWG)
Government agencies as all key stakeholders engaged for the project implementation. A total of 3 PWG meetings were conducted from year 2018 until year 2021 to guide the project’s implementation and to gain support from various agencies and stakeholder. In 2019, there is no PWG meeting conducted and most of the project progress was updated and presented to stakeholders during the workshops and trainings. Beside that regular communication with all stakeholders conducted through project WhatsApp group and individual as well as face to face discussions especially with DID, JAKOA, and PSFD.
Overall attendance for the 3rd PWG meeting is 28 representatives from 16 government agencies or departments and 3 non-profit organizations or foundations.
4) Develop Upper Kinta Basin Management Strategy (UKBMaS)
In order to develop UKBMaS, two (2) workshops were carried out on 23rd January 2019 and 13th November 2019. The Upper Kinta Basin Management Strategy (UKBMaS) is aimed to be the reference for stakeholders to better manage UKB and also to getting input to the main goals, strategies and action plans and identifying the key agencies for involvement. The UKBMas was completed and submitted to government agencies in series of meetings as well as consultations and discussions. The final copy was handed over to YB Dr Abdul Aziz Bari as Perak state government representative. Beside that all government agencies also received 1 hardcopies of UKBMaS. Although it has been completed, it will be living document with agencies advised to improve or add strategies as well as action plans at any point of time as any strategy is subject to revision depending on pertaining issues at that point of time.
5) Promote Strategy to Key Stakeholders for Adoption
The completed UKBMaS has been promoted to the state level through YB Tn. Ahmad Saidi, the new Perak State Executive Councillor (State Minister) for Health, Science, Environment and Green Technology on 23rd June 2020. As per now, some of the strategies as well as action plans highlighted in UKBMaS such as eco-tourism, nursery, and alternative income generation for Orang Asli, river and forest monitoring are already in progress or implemented by state government agencies with support of communities as well as NGOs. If any of the UKBMAS strategies are later implemented or adopted by state or other agencies beyond project period, project can claim the success over it as UKBMaS meant for it.
6) Development of Financing Mechanism for the Strategy Implementation
Financing mechanism for the strategy implementation officially called as UKB WFM (Cost- Benefit Analysis and Watershed Financing Mechanism for Upper Kinta Basin (UKB), Perak). The mechanism developed by GEC together with technical support from Associate Professor Dr. Abdul Rahim Bin Abdul Samad, Universiti Putra Malaysia with key inputs from all key agencies mainly from workshops and post workshop follow-up. A total of two (2) workshops on development of financing mechanism for the UKBMaS implementation carried out.
The first workshop on discussing financing options was held on 9th September 2020 at Impiana Hotel with the participation of 35 representatives from 9 government agencies, 4 private stakeholders, 3 non-profit organization/ foundation and 10 communities which include urban/ peri-urban communities and Orang Asli.
The second workshop was conducted on 5th April 2021 at Kinta River Front Hotel, Ipoh to finalize and develop the financing options. Overall attendance for the 2nd workshop was 37 people. The participants were from 18 government agencies, 1 university and 2 foundations/organizations. The final UKB WFM submitted to YB Mohd Akmal, EXCO Health, Science, Environment and Green Technology Perak through Tuan Fakhrudin, his Special Officer on 27th May 2021.