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Despite extensive landscape changes in the past, including the introduction of agriculture to reverse the over-dependence on timber, some 60 per cent of Sabah still remains under forest cover, State Forestry Department Director Datuk Sam Mannan said.
The rate of deforestation between 1970 and 2010 was about 0.5 per cent a year, with its height being between 1990 and 2000 during the oil palm cultivation boom, which unfortunately also saw a direct correlation between the number of Orang Utans being sent to the rehabilitation centre in Sepilok, he said.
"Fortunately, what is most important is the fact that we did not discard the forest reserve system that we inherited. If anything, we expanded it.
"About four million hectares of Sabah remain under forest reserves, parks and wildlife sanctuaries," he said when briefing the Sultan of Brunei, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who visited the department's Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC) in Sepilok, Saturday.
Mannan said despite "acts of random madness of the past," rainforests have managed to recover, with biological assets largely intact, and no record of any species going extinct so far.
"The closest to extinction is the Sabah Rhino which we are trying to save through captive breeding," he added.
He also said the RDC, launched in 2007, is developed to meet objective of creating awareness on conservation and the environment as well as to promote ecotourism and recreation, education and research and development.
Mannan said the total development cost for the centre has exceeded RM25 million and approximately RM10 million spent under the 10th Malaysia Plan to further develop its facilities.
Green Sabah says: It is vital that all remaining forest areas are protected. In this way, this valuable natural habitat can be managed on a sustainable basis and prevent any species from extinction.
7 comments:
Hope that our forest are protected from any more exploitation so that the wildlife's natural habitats can be maintained.
We need to put in efforts to recover our rainforest that has been damaged in the past.
Sabah still rich with forest environment ..hehe :)
Kudos to the Sabah state govt and State Forest Department!
that is a good news.. even though the state and federal government struggled to meet the demands of development in this state, they never ignore the importance of forest..
Syabas kepada kerajaan Sabah kerana mampu mencapai pembangunan tetapi masih mampu melindungi hutan kita. Semoga Jabatan Perhutanan Sabah akan mendapat sokongan dan kerjasama daripada orang ramai untuk meneruskan usaha melindungi hutan kita.
Saya yakin jika usaha berterusan diberikan terhadap memulihara dan memelihara hutan tropika kita, sudah pasti hutan kita akan dikembalikan kepada asal.
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