KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysian Nature Society has partnered with Hong Leong bank in restoring 15 hectares of degraded forest land.

The mangrove swamp ecosystem rehabilitation and conservation project will seee the planting of approximately 50,000 new mangrove trees in the Kuala Selangor Nature Park over the next three years.

The collaboration is apart of the Bank’s commitment to help mitigate climate change, and offset its own operations environmental impact.

The mangrove forest environmental management initiative is a considered approach given the valuable and highly productive ecosystem that mangroves provide. Their widely acknowledged capability is to sequester substantial carbon emissions.

They have their own circular ecosystem with a multiplier effect in conserving the environment and cultivating more sub-ecosystems.

This is also in addition to, sustaining community livelihoods and wildlife.

A healthy and established mangrove ecosystem supports habitats that are critical to preserve rich biodiversity, provide environmental protection against land erosion for example. They also offer socio-economic and commercial benefits including fisheries, timber and tourism.

Domenic Fuda, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HLB said that sustainability, climate change and environmental degradation have become major concerns over the past decade.

“To mitigate the impact on the environment, people’s lives and livelihoods, and to build greater community resilience, actions and adjustments are required from all of us.

“As a Financial Institution, we are cognisant of the need to incorporate ESG considerations into our banking activities, as well as, our own operations, so that we help direct resources that will build environmental and economic resiliency.

“Initiatives such as this one with MNS makes our sustainability journey more holistic and overtime yield tangible results that rehabilitate and conserve the environment and contribute towards the overall sustainability of the environment and socio-economic conditions for the surrounding communities.  

“Whilst much more needs to be done, this is a starting point in the journey to achieve our carbon neutral ambitions, and helping to achieve the right balance between the 3 pillars of sustainability – people, planet and the bottom line.”