Kota Kinabalu: Sabah will not back out from the use of helicopters to log hill forests despite the recent crash of a logging helicopter in Sarawak which killed its three Russian crew, said State Forestry Department Director Sam Mannan."We have no problem with that, we are very happy with it," he told Daily Express.
He said the matter had been clarified in the State Legislative Assembly.
"Soil is very important to tree crops. Without soil, nothing will grow," said Mannan. "And if you want to protect forests, the first thing you protect is soil because soil is the basis of all that biological wealth above the ground and below. You must not destroy that," he added.
"In helicopter logging, soil destruction is 30 times less than Reduced Impact logging (RIL). That's a massive difference," said Mannan.
"We are happy with it. Of course, it is not a perfect system but then we must be creative, do things in an environmentally-friendly manner," he explained. However, it is not a widespread practice.
"It is only done in the Sabah Foundation area, using only one helicopter and it's treated as an experiment and we are heavily involved with research input led by the Forest Research Centre," he said.
Meanwhile, WWF Malaysia praised Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman for having the "foresight" to maintain 60 per cent of Sabah's land as valuable forest asset.
"Maintaining the forest asset will potentially generate more wealth for Sabah in spin-off economic activities such as tourism," said WWF Chief Technical Officer Borneo Programme, Dr Rahimatsah Amat, citing total tourism receipts in 2004 amounting to RM2.2 billion.
He was surprised by Sabah Forestry Director Sam Mannan's showcase natural forest management unit Deramakot's ability to potentially earn RM2 million per year from just wildlife tours.
Revenues from all other Forest Management Units must be enormous if their nature tourism potentials are "unleashed," he reckoned.
"This is clearly Sabah's unique tourism proposition, which brings tourists from all over the world," he said.
This unique strength which makes Sabah an easy winner in competition for the tourism dollar should be pushed for expansion instead of competing in the wrong areas, Dr Rahimatsah urged.
In addition, more jobs will be generated for locals who are directly linked to sustainable forest management, he said, citing Mannan's disclosure that 100 per cent of the silviculture staff in Deramakot were Sabahans who earned up to RM2,000 per month.
"We support the Chief Minister's suggestion for five per cent of the total hectarage under oil palm plantations in Sabah to be planted with timber species.
Dr Rahimatsah suggested that timber species be planted along plantation boundaries, water courses and wetlands
He said these planted timber areas would help diversify the economic activities within a plantation and act as a buffer to floodwaters and also act as common corridors to wildlife, especially if they were managed properly.
"We would be glad to assist the State Government to put in place formal mechanisms to ensure the Chief Minister's idea of incorporating timber planting within oil palm plantations is made a reality," Dr Rahimatsah said.
