Exploring public perceptions for the conservation of the Batu Caves limestone hill, Selangor, Malaysia.

A preliminary public perception survey concerning the importance of this karst hill for conservation was conducted in April 2019 at Gua Damai Extreme Park in Batu Caves, Selangor, Malaysia, and nearby neighbourhoods. It aimed to determine the public's perception of Batu Caves natural heritage and the awareness level of the importance of conserving this iconic tower karst. A questionnaire with 20 questions was designed and a total of 116 respondents were interviewed during the survey. About a third of respondents (35.8%) associated Batu Caves with the Thaipusam festival, followed by extreme sports and recreation (33%), high biodiversity (19.6%), while 11.7% of respondents thought that Batu Caves had no indicative attractions. Most of the respondents (88.8%) agreed that it is important to conserve Batu Caves as a natural habitat. A total of 28.6% of respondents agreed Batu Caves should be conserved specifically for tourism, followed by its unique flora and fauna (27.7%), its importance as a paleontological site (23.8%), as a place of worship (19.9%), or agreed with all four reasons (6.1%). Caving was described as an exciting experience by many respondents. With its strategic location, rich biological diversity, and large number of caves within the limestone massif, there is great potential to develop Batu Caves into a popular caving site. This study showed that to protect this unique hill more effort is needed to publicise its rich and outstanding natural history to the public and stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]