Pollution Status of the North-Central Selangor Coast as an Important Shorebirds Area

The North-central Selangor (NCSC) is one of the important IBA in Malaysia that holds over 50,000 migratory shorebirds including globally threatened and near -threatened species. Nonetheless, the NCSC is currently under a very high pressure or threat. For instance, heavy metal levels have been reported to increase significantly along the west coast of Malaysia. However, little studies have been done to highlight this issue in NCSC. Moreover, the lack of studies on emerging and new pollutants in the area is also concerning. Micro-plastics pollution should also be addressed as they are abundant during high tide, exposing the shorebirds as 70% of their foraging activity occurs at that time. The increase in pressure is mostly attributed to the anthropogenic activity and development along the NCSC area. Other issues faced by the shorebirds population in the area include coastal erosion, exposure to coal-by-product, land management and climate change. Similar challenges also occur within the region as such, understanding and solving the issues in NCSC would help improve conservation works in nearby areas too. Hence, suggestions to mitigate and improve the current issues are also presented.