REDD-plus action in Sabah

PARTICIPANTS at the two-day Heart of Borneo (H0B) international conference on green economy in Kota Kinabalu (Nov 15-16) witnessed the signing of a Note of Cooperation between the Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) and the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency (ARSM) to map Sabah’s forest cover for the purpose of implementing REDD-plus programmes in the state.

Under this cooperation, ARSM would help to assess the forest cover in Sabah using satellite images captured in 1990, 2000 and 2010 which would be based on four classes of forest areas – dry inland, peat swamp, mangrove and plantation.

REDD stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation and REDD-Plus also covers carbon enhancement activities such as sustainable forest management (SFM), reduced impact logging (RIL), and forest restoration.

The SFD was represented at the signing ceremony by its director Datuk Sam Mannan while ARSM director Datuk Darus Ahmad signed on behalf of the agency.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Mannan said the HoB series of conference started in 2009 with the topic on “Connectivity and Corridors,” building up to the second one in 2010 focusing on ‘REDD-plus”, and  one this year is entitled, “Sabah Heart of Borneo (HoB) Green Economy & Development: Engaging Business for Environment’.

The HoB international conference last year, also held in Kota Kinabalu, paid particular attention to,‘Forests and Climate Change: Decoding and Realizing REDD-plus in the Heart of Borneo, with Specific Focus on Sabah’.

“We hold these conferences for good reason and one such important advance made arising from them are the realization of the Sabah REDD-plus and Road Map,” said Mannan.

In March 2010 Vincent Piket, the ambassador and head of the European Union’s Delegation to Malaysia confirmed that member states of the EU would finance a three-year programme in Sabah related to reducing of emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), starting this year.

Piket (left), who is on the panel of speakers at this year’s conference, said the project, costing four million Euros (about RM17m) would also cover carbon enhancement activities like sustainable forest management, reduced impact logging (RIL), and forest restoration etc, often referred to as REDD+.

This year’s HoB conference also saw the launching by the Malaysian Chapter of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) its Heart of Borneo Green Business Network, a new initiative for rallying the private sector towards conserving and protecting the environment.

WWF-Malaysia Executive Director and CEO, Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma, said the Green Business Network (GBN) was part of their effort to encourage business entities to assume the leading role towards creating greener economic growth.

“We know that we cannot save the valuable Heart of Borneo forests without the support of the private sector. We’re reconfirming our commitment to work together with business towards green growth,” he said.

The GBN is aimed at raising awareness and to act as a catalyst in sustainability within the private sector in the context of a green economy in the HoB, providing tools and support to those companies willing to lead towards a future in which people and nature thrive.

Speaking at the launch at the close of the conference on Nov 16, Sabah forestry director Datuk Sam Mannan said it was fitting to close two days of intense conference discussion on green economy with an equally intense and more importantly practical initiative, which aims to support the participation of businesses.

A report entitled ‘Green Business Solutions – Delivering the Heart of Borneo Declaration’, is the result of six months of intensive research and interviews of nearly 200 businesses.The report found that only 54 per-cent of the respondents had heard of the trilateral government-led Heart of Borneo Declaration, many were willing to be involved and felt that business would have an important role to play once they had more information on the HoB and the opportunities offered by a green economic approach.

 

Over 40 per cent of the Heart of Borneo’s area is currently managed by the forestry, palm oil and mining sectors.

According to WWF’s HoB Initiative team leader, Adam Tomasek, it was necessary to create practical economic arguments for conservation and develop solutions that show how the biodiversity, forests and ecosystems of the HoB can become the engines for green growth and sustainability into the future.

The HoB Declaration was signed by the governments of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia in February 2007 to protect an area of more than 220,000 square kilometres in the centre of the island of Borneo and bordering all three of the countries.

These tropical rainforests have strategic, global, national and local functions, not only for citizens of the three countries but for the human race throughout the world.

It is supported under important regional and international agreements such as Association of East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asia Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC), and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD).

Source: http://borneopedia.com/2011/11/19/redd-plus-action-in-sabah/ 

Green Sabah says: The HoB bio-diversities, ecosystem and forestry can be the driving point of green growth and sustainability in Sabah's future, if only there is cooperation and support from all.