Current view: Text account
Site description (2003 baseline):
Site location and context
(I) Physical CharacteristicsThe North-Central Selangor is a coastal stretch of predominantly mangrove forest, which is inundated at high tide. It is dissected by several important rivers namely Sungai Klang, Sungai Selangor and other smaller tributaries.
Avicennia alba, Sonneratia alba and
Rhizophora apiculata are principal vegetation of the mangroves. The area contains one of the most important mangrove forests in the State of Selangor. The area is represented by three discontinuous stretch of mangrove forests namely;1.Tanjung Burung Mangrove Forest;2.Sekinchan, Banjar North and South Mangrove Forests; and3.Kapar Mangrove Forest.(II) Climatic ConditionsAverage annual rainfall is less than 2,000 mm and a mean annual temperature of 26.6
oC. The wettest months are april and October-December, the driest, January-February and July. Experiences both the north-east and south-west monsoons, although the latter is mitigated by the mountains of Sumatra. (Scott, 1989)
The mangrove belt of the north Selangor coast is highly productive and has significant social and economic importance. Thousands of shorebirds utilize the extensive mudflats during low tide for feeding. Some 39,000 birds were counted in a 1985/86 survey along the coast. Asian Dowitchers, Lesser Adjutants and Milky Storks have also been noted frequenting the coastline. Consequently, the habitat is an important staging and feeding site for shorebirds internationally and locally (Scott 1989; Lopez and Mundkur 1997); Mundkur et al 1996; Silvius et al 1986). Monitoring of the coastline by the conservation groups and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Peninsular Malaysia) has been periodical in nature (Siti Hawa Yatim and Ismail Hj. Mamat 1994).
The North-Central Selangor Mangrove Forests are important especially to waterbirds and certain globally threatened species particularly the Lesser Adjutants and Milky Storks. Spotted Greenshanks have been recorded and Spoon-billed Sandpipers have irregularly appeared along the coast. As an IBA site, it is classified under the A1 Globally Threatened Species and A4i Congregations categories.Non-bird biodiversity: Silvered Leaf Monkey (Presbytis cristatus(I) Globally threatened mammals (IUCN, 2002): VULNERABLE: Smooth Otter Lutrogale perspicillata; NEAR THREATENED: Long-tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis; DATA DEFICIENT: Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin Sousa chinensis
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Several critical issues surround the North-Central Selangor mangrove coast. The problems are exacerbated by the lack of enforcement and the demand for land for State development. The key threats to the habitat include reclamation for agriculture and housing, illegal mangrove timber extraction, pollution from developing industries, aquaculture schemes, use of pesticides in plantations, discharge of untreated sewage into Sungai Selangor, the proposed development of Sungai Selangor for water supplies and shorebird poaching (DWNP, 1987).
Most of the mangrove forests are gazetted as Forest Reserves. The rest remains as State land. Some of the mangrove Forest Reserve may have been encroached upon and converted to other land use type (DWNP, 1987).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: North-central Selangor coast (Malaysia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/north-central-selangor-coast-iba-malaysia on 22/12/2024.
