The perceptions of community and public agencies on the issue of coastal erosion in Selangor

Abstract

Malaysia is a maritime nation blessed with valuable coastlines. Therefore, it is important to preserve its precious coastal areas in a sustainable manner. However, coastal areas are continuously facing tremendous development pressures both from natural and anthropogenic factors. These include tsunami event, rapid urbanization process, the aquaculture sector, oil, and others. Consequently, these situations create problems to coastal areas. For instance, the issues of erosion and loss of habitats are significant in many maritime nations. Thus, this research was initiated to highlight the affecting coastal areas particularly, the problem of erosion. The research addressed the perspectives of community and public agencies on the issue of coastal erosion in Selangor. The coastline of Selangor was selected as it experienced erosion problem, due to continuous development activities. The objectives of the research were to comprehend the perception of the coastal community and public agencies in relation to the issue of coastal erosion in Selangor; to identify areas which are affected by coastal erosion in different categories; and to analyse the management method to address the issue of erosion in Selangor. Research methods applied was mainly by conducting questionnaire survey, which was distributed to a total of 377 coastal residents, as well as site-observation. Based on the data obtained from the Department of Drainage and Irrigation, Selangor was experiencing severe erosion problems at some stretches of its coastlines, which were considered as Category one (extremely dangerous). To be exact, Selangor coastline suffers from 63.5 kilometres stretch of category one erosion, 22.3 kilometres stretch of erosion in category two and 66.1km of erosion in category three. These areas involved 33 km of coastal areas. The areas are Bagan Beting, Sungai Besar, Bagan Sekinchan, Jeram and Sungai Sembilang. From the risk assessment, it shows that the mean wave and average sea level rise in Selangor was not that high. However, the geological form on the coastal area in Selangor consists of sensitive geological limestone and `shale`. This structure is not strong and fragile and could not cope with the burden of development. Results from the survey questionnaire also indicated that the coastal erosion was significant in Selangor with 77% of the respondents agreed with that statement. In addition, 75% of them felt that their coastlines were considered as ‘seriously affected`. As for the recommendations, soft approach and hard approach such as rock revetment, coastal revegetation, and enhancement of coastal policies and beach nourishment.