16 February 2019 – 95 CMS employees planted 600 mangrove seedlings and 300 propagules at Kuching Wetland National Park, a 15-minute boat ride from Samariang Batu Jetty at Petra Jaya, Kuching. The CMS Mangrove Tree Planting Programme was initiated in year 2016 in collaboration with the Forest Department Sarawak to create an awareness on the importance of conservation and preservation of the environment and more importantly to diversify our CMS Doing Good activities.
The mangrove forest at Kuching Wetland National Park is vital to the ecosystem. It provides a breeding sanctuary for marine wildlife for finfishes and shellfishes besides preventing it from flooding and coastal erosion. The Irrawaddy dolphin, proboscis monkey, crocodile and stork species on migration from Siberia can be seen in these areas.
The site was sacrificed when the riverbed was deepen during the construction of the flood mitigation channel years ago. The area is submerged during high tides and is suitable for mangroves. A vast area is now covered with thriving mangroves trees, thanks to the continuous effort of volunteers working together with the Forest Department Sarawak.
The Forest officers collected the floating propagules and brought them to the planting site a few days before the event. One this day, two species of mangroves were planted – the Bakau Minyak and Bakau Kurap. It takes an effort to move around the muddy ground due to rainfall the previous day. However, it did not hinder our employee volunteers, as they tugged and pulled to help each other out of the muddy terrain and planted all the seedlings.