Kota Kinabalu: The State Government will prepare a Management Plan for the Mabul Island Cluster and the Pom-Pom Island Cluster in Semporna, to further encourage sustainable development and preserve the environment.
Tun Dr Juhar said this will be a reference source for the public and private sectors in developing and expanding socioeconomic of the local community.
He said this is also in line with having a balanced physical development along with efforts to preserve the environment has always been the State’s development agenda.
“Wildlife-human conflict that is not curbed not only poses a threat to the safety of the people but also to the wildlife thus increasing the crime of illegal hunting and the sale of wildlife organs.
“Therefore, the State Government will further enhance enforcement activities as well as increase collaboration with residents and Non-Governmental Organisations or NGOs to increase people’s conservation awareness of the preservation and conservation of wildlife treasures in Sabah,” he said.
In addition, he said the State Government is also committed to increasing the sustainability of biodiversity by targeting 13 per cent of marine protected areas in Sabah by gazetting several more areas as Sabah Parks apart from the Darvel Park which is expected to be gazetted this year.
In an effort to maintain and dignify the cultural and ethnic heritage of the state for future generations, Juhar said various initiatives are implemented by the State Government to preserve and conserve the treasures and ethnic heritage.
Among them, he said is through the development of a digital integrated cultural mapping system which will become a comprehensive integrated database to be used as a reference source for the community in exploring and increasing knowledge regarding the ethnic groups in Sabah.
“Furthermore, a storage platform for collections of artefacts and specimens, namely the Sabah Museum Repository of Cultural Heritage Collection System (SMRICHES) has been developed by the State Government which functions as a learning medium and engagement session with the community.
“This year, the artefact and specimen storage system is expected to be further improved by 960 data entries,” he said.
