Time to ban access to Sabah’s forest reserves

Published on: Sunday, March 07, 2021

By: Dr Rahimatsah Amat

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Pix above and below shown poachers caught on camera.

I CAN sense the frustrations of the former Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF), Datuk Sam Mannan on the issue related to illegal entry into forest reserves under the Forest Enactment 1968. During his tenureship as CCF together with his deputy (who is the current CCF), we had discussions on it, and it had been more than 10 years the Sabah Forestry Department raised and brought the matter to the State Government to resolve it.

Sabah Environmental Trust (SET) has been collaborating with the State Government since October 2017 on DaMaI Initiative – Patrolling (Enforcement and Monitoring) in a million hectare DaMaI Rainforest Complex.

The Initiative was established under the MoU between the Sabah Government (through Sabah Forestry Department) and Yayasan Sabah Group to focus on strengthening the protection and management of three large conservation areas (Danum Valley, Maliau Basin and Imbak Canyon).

Part of the objectives of the MoU are to establish the Global Park Defence (GPD) deployment by building the capacity of rangers to perform the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (Smart) patrol, equipping them with essential equipment and establishing proper technological support (via establishment of surveillance cameras) as advance alerting system.

Surveillance cameras (real time) sent images to command centre when triggered by movements, be it day or night, and the command centre will notify nearest enforcement teams to the identified areas within the shortest time.

These cameras are installed inside forest reserves and images captured include wildlife and illegal activities. Rangers had successfully apprehended most of the intruders in forest reserves, but there were on many occasions cases either inadmissible or dismissed for lack of evidence.

Hence, in order to prosecute the case in court, it was impossible without the evidence, plus the entry to these forest reserves cannot be treated as an offence under the Forest Enactment 1968 since none of the forest reserves in Sabah have been declared as “closed” forest before an offence is seen to have been committed under Section 20(1)(c)(i).

Without declaring these forest reserves as “closed” forests, Section 20(1)(c)(i) is rendered ineffective in addressing illegal entries into forest reserves, unless one is caught with forest produce.

There are two alternatives to resolve the matter. First is to delete the wordings “…which has been closed by or under the rules” from Section 20(1)(c)(i).

However, this would need to be tabled at the State Assembly for approval.

Second is simply by declaring all forest reserves as “closed” forests by the Minister responsible, using the Rules, i.e. Section 42(1)(a)(ii).

While there has been progress on this, it is still taking so much time by the State Government to make that decision, and meantime matters related to illegal entries into forest reserves and removing natural resources such as plants (and wildlife too) are rampant, further accelerated by the pandemic since March 2020.

It is crucial for the State Government to immediately place all forest reserves in Sabah as “closed” forest under Section 42(1)(a)(ii), as legitimate access to these forest reserves can be done with proper permits issued by the Sabah Forestry Department.

- Dr Rahimatsah is Chief Executive Officer of Sabah Environment Trust