Expanding protected forest area
Published on: Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Kota Kinabalu: The State Government is poised to expand the size of its "Totally Protected Areas" by 30 per cent within a decade to 2.1 million hectares from 1.35 million hectares in view of its commitment to forest conservation. Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said the Forestry Department is in the midst of identifying these areas, which will be gazetted as TPAs or Class 1 Forest Reserves and that the Government also aims to increase the size of such reserves by 1 million hectares this year. He pointed out the effort would include State Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. "A total of 18.6 per cent of the State land size or about 1.3 million hectares has been classified under the totally protected category.
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That is 10 per cent more than what has been set by the International Union of Conservation of Nature. "No state in Malaysia has succeeded in achieving such feat," he said, during the Question and Answer Session at the State Assembly, Tuesday. Musa was elaborating on the State's achievement on forest conservation efforts which, he said, were in line with the country's commitment to retain some 50 per cent of forested areas. "Sabah had set 53 per cent or about 3.9 million hectares of State land as protected areas or conservation sites. "This include forest reserves (3.514 million hectares), state parks (245,172ha), wildlife sanctuary (26,243ha) and wildlife conservation sites (2,854ha)," he said.
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One of the State's key contributions towards conservation is the execution of the Heart of Borneo initiative, where the Government has set aside 4 million hectares, which involved the collaboration of Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), said Musa. The Heart of Borneo (HoB), which was introduced in 2007, involves the restoration of degraded forests and launching of scientific expeditions in the local forest reserves.
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On rehabilitation of degraded forests, Musa said from 2013 about 504,287.60 hectares of forests had been restored by the Forestry Department, Yayasan Sabah, Long-Term Licensing Agreement holders, Sabah Forestry Development Authority (Safoda) and Sabah Rubber Industry Board (SRIB). They comprise 261,169.70 hectares of enrichment planting and silviculture, 239,169.70 hectares of forest farms and 77,108.10 hectares from rubber plantations planted by the SRIB. "The State government also channeled funds via the Tabung Amanah Projek Perhutanan Masyarakat dan Pemulihan Hutan for the work of forest rehabilitation. Until now, 6,300 hectares of forest reserves have been rehabilitated involving 48 projects at a cost of RM42 million," said Musa, adding that such activities are one of core activities of the forest sector in the span of 20 years to come. He said a major portion of the project is still active, involving local communities, where the funds had also assisted in improvements to their local socio-economic standing in the process. Meanwhile, he said some 2 million hectares of Class II Commercial Reserve are under a long-term licensing agreement, which stress on the sustainable forest management concept. And another one million more hectares are managed by the Forestry Department, namely Deramakot, Ulu-Segama Malua, Trusmadi, Banggi, Pin Supu, Tangkulap Pinangah Forest Management Unit 17 (FMU 17) and other forest reserves. "To date some 30 Long-term Licensing Agreements have been inked by the State Government. As a start the State Government has made it a must for licence holders to use the Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) method on their agreements since 2010," he said. RIL, which allows for independent auditors, ensures transparency, where now it is also using an open book system, because "there is nothing to hide and to be hidden", said Musa. Under the same agreement, he said the forests also need to obtain verification certificates, anytime this year. To date, Musa said 860,00 hectares have been given certifications, where about 386,607 hectares obtained the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which is the best system around, and the rest are Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme, Verification of Legal Origin (VLO) and Verification of Legal Compliance. "The State Government via the Forestry Department through a collaboration with the Worldwide Fund for Nature-Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia) had also set 214,000 hectares of forest reserves under the Global Forest Trade Network (GFTN) initiative towards obtaining a full certification," he said. Meanwhile, 42,955 hectares of forest farms under private management like Sabah Softwoods Sdn Bhd and the Hijauan Bengkoka Plantations Sdn Bhd had also been certified. "So far, the best approach done by the Forestry Department in obtaining the certification is through third party auditing which was developed based on the Timber Legality Assurance System (TLAS) from the European Union. The initiative created the comprehensive auditing procedure and the State's comprehensive auditing involves the joint need of TLAS and the Long-term Licensing Agreement," he said. He said a unit, Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade, was formed under the Forestry Department to keep all this activities in check. Apart from these the government is also actively involved in several initiatives such as the conservation of 240,00 hectares of the Ulu Segama Malua Forest Reserve for the conservation of wildlife such as Orang Utan, Sumatran rhino, pygmy elephants and Tembadau, he said. "The forest has also been certified and verified as having the highest population of Orang Utan of about 4,000 individuals" "All logging activities in the area have ceased in 2007 to make way for the formation of the world's largest Orang Utan sanctuary, which now has become the model for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco)," he said. He said the creation of the Kinabatangan Corridor of Life (K-Kol) is also designed for the conservation of the 150,000 hectares of the riparian reserves for the local wildlife, which is privately-funded by Nestle. Among others, he said are the Lower Kinabatangan Conservation Site and the Segama Wetlands, which is the country's largest Ramsar site, measuring 79,000 hectares, Trusmadi Conservation Area with 74,736 hectares and the Danum Valley Conservation Area with 43,800 hectares, which is aided by non-governmental organisations like the Borneo Rhino Alliances for the reproduction of the Sumatran Rhinos. Musa said by gazzeting the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve the link between Maliau, Imbak, Malua-Ulu Segama and Danum Vally has been established, thus creating the Totally Protected Area Block which measures around 500,000 hectares - the largest in Malaysia. He said the Forestry Department is also very actively involved with international bodies and non-governmental organisations and philanthropists to run the conservation effort of endangered species. To date about RM75 million had been collected from international and local donors after the series of Memorandum of Understanding, he said. They include the Royal Society of the United Kingdom, The Abraham Foundation, New York, The Adessium Foundation and others. "Sabah conservation efforts have been recognised worldwide and are always watched by others over what the State can do next in the same field. However, there are many challenges the State has to face, the Forestry Department is expanding its work via a collaborative network in the international level," he said. He said Sabah was invited to present its achievements by a United Kingdom think tank the Chatham House in London in 2008, to the St James Palace on the invite of Prince Charles, when he was the WWF-United Kingdom President in 2011 and one of the national representative at the Rio+20 in 2012 in Brazil. "This is a rare occasion and is the best recognition for Sabah on forest conservation," he said. Furthermore, the visit of Prince William, who is a member of the Royal Society, with his wife, Kate Middleton, to Danum Valley had also resulted in discussions with the Royal Society, he said. "It is one of the three Tropical Rainforest Research Institutes in the world," he said. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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