FRUIT SEASONS & CLIMATE CHANGE

Petaling Jaya : Climate change has disrupted the fruit seasons in Malaysia, says Malaysian Nature Society.

Its executive director, I.S. Shanmugaraj has disclosed that they have observed changes in fruiting seasons in both orchard fruit trees like durians and wild trees in the forest.

''Fruit seasons, including trees in the wild, have changed due to disruption in rain and heat patterns. The pattern of flowering in plants and trees has also changed.

''When it rains, it is very heavy, places that used to be dry and now facing rain, and when the sun comes out, it gets hot very fast. We did not face this before, not even five years ago,'' he said.

Shanmugaraj and his team have also noticed changes in the patterns of migratory birds due to climate change.

''In UIu Muda Forest Complex, the plain pouched hornbill, which comes from Thailand to Ulu Muda before going on to Belum Temengor, has not been arriving on time.

Sometimes, it comes earlier or we don't see them at all. The pattern has noticeably changed,'' he said.

MNS is driving an environmental awareness project for the protection of the 160,000ha of Ulu Muda Forest complex  within Kedah.

MNS together with MI Cultural Events screened  Kadwi Hava, a feature film on climate change directed by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda.

The film portrays the effect of climate change in the lives farmers burdened with debt when they can't grow crops due to harsh weather.