Waterbirds are no strangers to Kamparians. However, very few know or care about them. Are they good? Are they pests? Are they residents? Are they migrants? As much as one would like to know, specific information on Kampar waterbirds is not readily available.

This has prompted Faculty of Science (FSc) Dr Goh Wei Lim and Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT) lecturer Tou Jing Yi to develop a public education programme on the importance and preciousness of waterbirds in Kampar through Kampar Nature Discovery Community Project 2019, themed ‘Fantastic waterbirds and where to find them in Kampar’. The project was jointly organised by the Malaysian Nature Society of Perak Branch (MNS Perak).

Dr Goh, who teaches Biodiversity and Ecology courses for Biotechnology students, thinks that it is the responsibility of the academics to convey the correct message about natural resources to the community.

Tou is a bird enthusiast with 10 years of birding experience. He is also a committee member of MNS Perak. Other team members include Dr Kwong Phek Jin, Dr Ooi Ai Lin, Dr Saw Seow Hoon, Dr Teoh Chaiw Yee and Dr Wong Wey Lim whose research fields are focused on animal sciences and ecology. They hope that through this project, waterbirds can be noticed by locals and eventually be something that the locals are proud of, and also a key feature that Kampar is famous for.

The Kampar Nature Discovery Community Project 2019 conducted a few community projects which included eight sessions of talks in seven local schools, namely SJK(C) Chung Huah, SJK(C) Jeram, SJK(C) Kopisan, SJK(C) Pei Yuan, SJK(C) Ying Sing, SMJK Pei Yuan and Pei Yuan High School, and two birdwatching sessions at the UTAR Bird Sanctuary.

The talks in the schools were delivered by UTAR students who were trained as speakers. Through the talks, children learnt that Kampar is home to about 75 species of waterbirds, attributed to its dis-used mining lakes that served as perfect freshwater habitats for these waterbirds. In fact, freshwater lake is not a common landscape feature in Peninsular Malaysia. Most of these lakes were artificially formed after the mining activities ceased, and many have been transformed under rapid development. Luckily enough, many ex-mining lakes in Kampar, left unused for decades, had the chance to undergo ecological succession and self-rehabilitation. The healthy ecosystem has slowly come back as reflected by diverse vegetation and wildlife.