State Government Ensures Forest Sustainability

"Sabah will continue to strive to excel in the governance of best practices in forest management and conservation." - New Straits Times

Forest conservation and environmental protection are important. This is to minimize the damaging effects of deforestation activities. Sustainable forest management helps ensure adequate natural forests to maintain the quality and stability of the environment. Thus all forms of forest exploration and development of other infrastructure, both in the ground state, should be fully monitored and controlled in accordance with a predetermined management plan to ensure the sustainability of natural resources while preserving environmental quality and ecological stability. 

The government should prioritize forest conservation because people have the right to enjoy a clean environment besides protecting the habitat of flora and fauna. In this regard, the government should use existing authority to gazette the forest reserve. Through this, forest security and sustainability will be assured. Among the other measures that can help forest conservation is to create a national park, controlling illegal logging, replanting trees in forests that have been logged, and environmental education.

Concern over the matter, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman has led Sabah a step further when it emerged as the first state in Asian region to establish Wildlife Habitat Conservation Bank or known as Malua Biobank. This initiative is to protect the interests of nature in the long run in the Malua Forest Reserve. The state government is confident that efforts to protect forests could be offset by the establishment of the bank with the rapid development in the state.
 

Apart from that, Sabah has one of the largest conservation areas in the country. This area includes the Danum Valley, Maliau Basin and Imbak Canyon with an area of ​​more than 400,000 hectares, almost 15 times the size of Penang.

Hopefully, the approach taken to protect forests in Sabah will be effective in ensuring that there is a rainforest in the state to be inherited by future generations. The law needs to be enforced. The private sector and the public should also play a role in alleviating the burden of the government and not expect the government alone to address the environmental issues that arise because it is a responsibility of co.

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Sabah State Government Committed to Reserve Its Forest

Sabah's Tourism, Environment and Culture Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the state government is committed to reserving 55 per cent of state land as forest area.

He said Sabah  has thousands of destinations since it has a huge area that is still covered with greenery and more revenue will flow in for the nature tourism industry if  less we disturb the nature.

Masidi agreed that development needed to take place but it should be balanced to prevent an irreversible and negative impact to the environment.

He told that the ministry will work with non-governmental organisations to realise state goverment's vision to make Sabah a leader in conservation.

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Special team to check forest destruction in Malaysia

A special team will be set up by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry with the respective state governments to look into the destruction of forests and hill slopes in the country.

Its Minister Datuk Seri G. Palanivel said there was rampant and careless destruction (involving virgin forests and land clearing) in the Cameron Highlands, and other areas including Sabah and Sarawak.

An English daily report has highlighted rampant land clearing in the Cameron Highlands, which began less than a month ago.

According to the report, this included the felling of 40ha of virgin forests, with the bulk of the ravaging at Pos Terisu spanning at least four valleys and hills flattened for farmers to plant vegetables.

Palanivel said the destuction need to be stopped immediately because many people's lives are affected due to the damage to hill slopes such as water quality deterioration.

Therefore, the ministry has arranged several plans to save forests and hill slopes from destruction, he added.

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10-year plan for forest reserve

Forest reserve (example)

The Sabah Forestry Department will formulate a 10-year forest management plan for the Gunung Rara forest reserve, located on Sabah’s east coast.

In a statement to announce the department’s assuming the direct management of the 51,245ha reserve, the department said it was part of an effort to place the area under Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) based on the Natural Forest Management (NFM) regime.

The first meeting of the project’s management committee for the area, chaired by department director Datuk Sam Mannan, was held in Sandakan recently.

“The management committee of the Gunung Rara SFM project will be headed by the department’s deputy director (development) Fidelis Edwin Bajau, with Sabah Foundation as a key member in the committee.

“This area is also part of the larger 261,264ha of United Nations Development Programme-Global Environment Facility (UNDP-GEF) project on ‘Biodiversity Conservation in Multiple-Use Forest Landscapes in Sabah’, and is a crucial wildlife corridor of global significance linking the world-renowned Danum Valley and the Maliau Basin Conservation Areas.”

The department added that appropriate forest management practices would be drawn up for the area to create a connectivity which was crucial for the viability of the wildlife corridor at the landscape level.

Source : New Straits Times

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