SETIU, March 25 — Setiu Wetlands is to become Terengganu’s first state park this year, said state Forestry Department director Azmi Nordin.

He said various parties including the World Wide Fund for Nature-Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia) were conducting awareness programmes to realise the plan.

“We are also cooperating with Universiti Malaysia Terengganu and Sultan Mizan Royal Foundation for the past two years to intensify awareness programmes to educate the local community to preserve and conserve the wetlands that is rich in ecology,” he said at a press conference on Setiu Wetlands Run and Tree Planting Awareness Campaign 2015 here today.

“Before becoming a state park, the 1,350-hectare wetlands need to be gazetted as a forest reserve and we are currently working on this.”

More than 300 primary and secondary school students from 10 schools in the district will be planting 625 casuarina trees in the area.

WWF-Malaysia freshwater coordinator Daria Mathew said Setiu Wetlands, the largest natural wetlands in the East Coast of Malaysia, has a diverse ecosystem including freshwater, seawater, brackish water and a 14km lagoon.

“The wetlands is a suitable habitat for critically endangered river terrapin and a total of 29 species of mammals, 112 species of birds and 28 species of reptiles,” she said. — Bernama