Kota Kinabalu: The Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Ministry (NRECC) fully supports the nomination of Kinabatangan Landscape to be next United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (Unesco) Man and Biosphere (MAB) site in Sabah.
If this is successful, it will become Sabah’s second biosphere reserve site after the Crocker Range which was declared as a Biosphere Reserve on June 12, 2014.
NRECC Deputy Secretary-General (Natural Resources) Abdul Wahid Abu Salim said the Ministry is aware that the Sabah Biodiversity Centre (SaBC) is in the midst of preparing a dossier to nominate the Kinabatangan Landscape.
“We welcome and fully support the nomination of Kinabatangan Landscape to be next Unesco’s MAB site in Malaysia. The (MAB) recognition would further bolster our commitment to preserve this unique environment for the present and future generations.
“NRECC also commended the Sabah Government and its agencies for the conservation efforts in the Heart of Borneo (HoB),” he said when representing the Minister to officiate the closing of the International Conference on HoB, themed “An Ecosystem That Provides”, at Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC), here, Thursday.
Earlier, Abdul Wahid said Malaysia has consistently upheld its commitment made during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 to maintain at least 50 per cent of the country’s land area under forests and tree cover. As of 2020, Malaysia has 54.58 per cent or 18.05 million hectares that area still covered by forests.
During the 18th Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests on May 12, 2023, he said Malaysia reiterated its pledge to maintain forests and tree cover at least 50 per cent of land area, committed to balancing conservation and development and intensifying forest protection conservation.
“In addition, we also propose that the global community should step up efforts towards reforestation and afforestation activities to increase global forest cover through the exchange of technology, capacity building and financial assistance.
“To meet the global targets and commitments, Malaysia has become a party to various international environmental instruments in the area of biodiversity, climate change, endangered species, marine life conservation, pollution and wetlands conservation.
Currently, Malaysia is working towards fulfilling our shared global responsibilities for biodiversity conservation with the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
“This includes translating its principles into our national plans and policies. Efforts are currently taking place to revise Malaysia’s National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans to be consistent with Kunming-Montreal GBF, taking into account our national circumstances, priorities and capabilities.
“Malaysia also continues to pursue Green Growth as one of the key strategies under the Twelfth Malaysia Plan, 2021-2025.
The strategy emphasises strengthening an enabling environment for green growth; adoption of sustainable consumption and production; conserving natural resources; and strengthening resilience against climate change and natural disasters.
“These actions are expected to safeguard not only biodiversity but also the forest landscapes that provide important ecosystems to its inhabitants.”
Abdul Wahid said Malaysia has introduced various programmes to establish ecological connectivity and ecosystem-based approach such as the Heart of Borneo (HoB) Initiative in Sabah and Sarawak since 2007.
He said the HoB Initiative is a trilateral voluntary cooperation aimed at conserving and managing the transboundary highlands of Borneo and parts of the adjacent foothills and lowlands, which straddle the borders of Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia, which Malaysia has made remarkable achievements in the past 16 years of the implementation of the HoB Initiative since the declaration was signed.
“We have seen a significant increase in land areas designated as the HoB area, including Totally Protected Areas (TPA) and Permanent Forest Reserves.
“It is also motivating to note that the Sabah Government’s goal is to conserve its natural ecosystems through various means, including gazetting 30 per cent of the State’s land area (about 2.2 million hectares) as TPA by 2025.
Today, I must congratulate Sabah, for the excellent progress in having increased her TPA to 27.33 per cent, following the gazettement of 69,607 hectares of new TPA in June 2023.
With the concerted efforts and support by the Sabah Government, I strongly believe that Sabah is on the course to meet its target,” he said.
Recognising HoB as an essential conservation brand, he said NRECC will continue to support Sabah and Sarawak in the implementation of this Initiative.
“In this regard, the Federal Government has allocated about RM28 million under the 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025) to implement various projects and activities under the HoB Initiative (both in Sabah and Sarawak),” he said.
Abdul Wahid said as one of the 17 megadiverse countries, forest resources and biodiversity need to be managed wisely.
He said in line with the decision made by the National Biodiversity Council Meeting on 22 March 2023, NRECC is in the process of establishing the Malaysia Biodiversity Centre (MBC), adding the establishment of MBC at the National level will complement biodiversity management initiatives at the states.
Sabah Chief Conservator of Forests Datuk Frederick Kugan was also present.
