Malua Biobank as orangutan conservation

KOTA KINABALU: Results from recent ground and aerial surveys of 34,000 ha of lowland rainforest known as the Malua Biobank in Sabah, reveal the area will be one of the most important refuges for orang-utan in Borneo. 

   Sabah Forestry Department’s Malua Wildlife Unit leader Hadrin Lias led the surveys, and says the orangutan population is benefiting from current conservation activities in Malua Biobank.

  Logging in Malua ceased in 2007 and since then the habitat for orang-utan has remained undisturbed and the area is regularly patrolled.

    Dr Marc Ancrenaz, an international expert on orang-utan, assisted and trained the Malua Wildlife Unit to undertake the surveys and believes that the Malua Biobank supports one of the highest, if not the highest, density of this sub-species (Pongo pygmaeus morio) of orang-utan anywhere in the world.

    “Malua Biobank is critically important for the survival of this subspecies, though all three sub-species of orang-utan in Borneo are endangered due to extensive habitat loss,” Dr Ancrenaz said.

    “For orang-utan to survive in Borneo, it is vitally important to preserve large contiguous blocks of lowland rainforest such as Malua Biobank and the nearby Danum Valley Conservation Area.

      Orang-utan density was shown to be particularly high in eastern Malua. The individuals in this part of the reserve are physically and genetically isolated from the rest of the population due to the presence of the Malua River which cuts across the reserve, which orang-utans are unable to cross.

   In an effort to connect populations, the second of two suspended orang-utan bridges across the Malua River has now been constructed and remote cameras will be installed to record any wildlife movements across the bridges.

       The new orang-utan bridge consists of a lattice of chains that provides the orang-utan hand and footholds to cross the river, mimicking the function of overhanging tree branches in areas where large trees are now absent.

     The orang-utan projects have been possible with financial assistance from the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, which has been very supportive of a number of conservation projects in Malua Biobank.

     Malua Biobank is a pioneering public-private partnership to deploy private sector capital for the restoration and protection of endangered lowland rainforest. The Malua Biobank is a unique joint venture between the Sabah Forestry Department, the Sabah Foundation and the EcoProducts Fund.

   Darius Sarshar, director of New Forests Asia, the company that manages the Malua Biobank, says the recent orang-utan survey results reinforce the significance of the Biobank for threatened species preservation, making it all the more important to secure its future.

    “The purchase of Malua Biodiversity Conservation Certificates by companies or individuals assists the conservation and the restoration of suitable habitat within the Malua Forest for species like the orangutan,” he said.

     The Malua Biobank is currently offering certificates to business, industry and individuals interested in saving the endangered orang-utan as well as other threatened species such as the banteng, pygmy elephants and sun bears that call the Malua Biobank home.

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2011/08/25/malua-biobank-key-area-for-orang-utan-conservation-latest/

Green Sabah Says: Hopefully with the Malua Biodiversity Conservation Certificates that can be purchased will be able to help improve the conservation and restorations of the habitat for the endangered animal species.

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Foreign marauders pillage Sabah mangroves – Sam Mannan

KOTA KINABALU: There are syndicates in a neighboring country which send illegal loggers in small boats to fell and strip mangroves in the remote swamp forests of northern Sabah and smuggle them out to their home country, according to State Forestry Department Director Datuk Sam Mannan.

“These marauders can be armed and dangerous,” Sam said, adding that wildlife poaching continues to be a menace despite constant surveillance by the department and other enforcement bodies.

“But poaching activities are perceived to be less so than before and also not forgetting, the constant threat of illegal logging which, despite being under control, can flare up again the minute our guards are down,” he said during the handover of firearms to forestry enforcement officers at the department’s headquarters here yesterday.

Sam, who handed over the shotguns and handguns to the selected enforcement officers, said they have been given the weapons to protect themselves and act as a deterrent in the course of discharging their duties.

He said the selected officers have been granted licenses by the police to carry and use firearms under strict terms and conditions.

“The necessary permits and licenses were subsequently approved by the Inspector General of Police, hence the purchase of appropriate weapons for protection,” he said.

Sam said forestry field officers had on numerous occasions while carrying out their duties came under physical attack, including buildings and vehicles belonging to the department.

He cited the brazen raid on the Ulu Segama-Malua District Forestry Office Base Camp in 2009 by a group of poachers, during which time the District Forestry Officer, Indra P. Sunjoto was lucky to come out alive.

In early 2010, forestry workers involved in forest restoration and the destruction of illegal oil palm at Ulu Kalumpang Forest Reserve were shot at, he said, adding that in both cases the departmental staff were like sitting ducks as they were not in a position to defend themselves against the marauders who were armed with weapons.

Sam reminded his enforcement officers that the weapons are strictly used for protection and serves as a deterrent.

“The firearms are to be used only as a last resort and being lethal instruments they are to be handled with care and respect, strictly on the basis of the license/permit conditions.”

Source: http://www.theborneopost.com/2011/08/11/foreign-marauders-pillage-sabah-mangroves-%E2%80%93-sam/

Green Sabah Says: Its a shame that companies from some of our neighboring countries would send their people to illegally strip our mangroves, poaching our wildlife and smuggle them back to their home countries. We hoped that our enforcement officers will do their best to stop these marauders from destroying our mangroves and harm the natural habitats of wildlife species in our states.

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Musa Aman, conservationist par excellence

Musa Aman, conservationist par excellence

A heart for conservation: Sabah chief minister Musa Aman and Lorna Casselton, foreign secretary of the Royal Society.

Sabah’s forests, gold and minerals would have disappeared if not for Musa

The message to Sabahans is clear: Musa Aman is the only man who can protect Sabah’s last virgin forests, wildlife and bio-diversity and keep global warming in check. He is the chief minister who has stopped logging in the Ulu Segama Malua and Maliau basin and created a forest buffer three times the size of Singapore to protect Danum valley from logging, mining and opening up land for agriculture. Without him, the forests and minerals such as gold there in the east coast of Sabah would have disappeared. Oil palms would have replaced the rainforest.

“We have to congratulate Sabah under Musa Aman for preserving the forests,” said Lorna Casselton, the foreign secretary of Britain’s Royal Society. “If they cut the forests, they can make billions of dollars; but they aren’t and that is so important.”

On July 27 in Kota Kinabalu, Musa witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Royal Society and the Danum Valley management committee for five more years of rainforest research and training. The event marked the 25th year of the South-East Asia Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP) which began in Danum in 1985, making it the longest-running research project in the society’s 350-year history.

The research has evolved from the mere description of Sabah’s pristine forests to the effects of logging, rehabilitation of logged forests and climate change as forests are turned into plantations. The next five years will focus on the changing rainforest landscape and its effects on climate.

Helped by Canadians, the 43,800-hectare Danum Valley, about twice the size of Penang island, was identified for conservation in 1969 when the forestry department carried out its first forest inventory. It formed part of the Sabah Foundation forest concession the next year and ironically was marked out as part of a commercial forest reserve of Ulu Segama although it was to be conserved, according to Sam Mannan, director of Sabah forestry.

The Foundation was set up to help Sabah’s socio-economic and educational development by providing social and educational aid such as free school uniforms, scholarships and study loans to the people.

But no governments ever saw the need to give Danum protection against logging until Musa became the Sabah Foundation’s director in 1995. Musa stopped logging in Danum after creating a 250,000-hectare forest buffer around it a year earlier and adopted sustainable forest management.

Sam Mannan: Musa makes decisions for the good of Sabahans.

However, damage to the Ulu Segama forest reserves was already done by Musa’s predecessors who “hacked off” about 4,000 hectares there, according to Mannan who referred to that period as the “Dark Ages”.

 

That robbed Danum of a big northern buffer. The result was that acid rain fell on Danum two years ago at the height of a haze over Borneo. Scientists are trying to assess the long term effect of chemical fertilizers used on plantations around Danum.

Mannan regretted that those who could have protected Danum and Ulu Segama Malua at that time refused to do so “for reasons only known to them” and allowed “bad logging”. Forests were turned into oil palm plantations.

The task thus fell on Musa’s shoulder. His strong leadership amid stable politics has allowed him to make unpopular decisions that are critical in conserving about 300,000 hectares of virgin forests, gold, coal and minerals in the Danum Valley and Ulu Segama Malua forest complex.

Under Musa, according to Mannan, “professionals are finally allowed to practise their profession for good governance that allows good sense to prevail,” adding that he has allowed innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship in managing Sabah’s scarce natural resources.

He cited an example when he stopped an attempt to log 20,000 hectares of the Danum’s buffer forests that would have fetched 4 billion ringgit ($1.2 billion).

“The only reason we have been able to do this is because of Musa’s strong political leadership,” Mannan said. “I don’t mind to tell you that I have carte blanche from the chief minister to reject directly and forcefully any attempt to re-introduce the policy of random madness.”

Mannan made an impassioned plea to Musa: “Don’t retire yet. We need many more years of your leadership to achieve excellence.”

To the Royal Society, he said: “Never fear. Musa Aman is here to keep the wolves from swallowing Little Red Riding Hood.”

Speaking later, Musa noted with pride that Danum has become one of the world’s top three rainforest research centres. The others are La Selva in Costa Rica and Panama. About 50 Malaysians, mostly Sabahans, have obtained their doctorate and master’s degrees for their research on Danum. They have produced 330 studies. Many of them hold senior posts in state and federal agencies and NGOs. – Insight Sabah

(With reporting by Oliver Majaham. Pictures by Flanegan Bainon)
 

Sources:http://insightsabah.gov.my/article/read/503

Green Sabah says: Luckily for Chief Minister Musa Aman for stopping the logging activities in Maliau Basin, Ulu Segama and Danum Valley in order to help conserving our forests. We are grateful that our leaders have the foresight to forgo profits in order to preserve nature and it is hoped that Musa Aman will continue his efforts in achieving excellence in his leadership and environmental conservation.

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8 things you should know about the Borneo Sumatran rhino

The smallest of all
The Borneo Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrison) is a sub-species of the Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis). It is the smallest of five living species, standing at about 145cm (4 feet 9 inches) and measuring 3m and 17cm (10 feet 5 inches) in length. It weighs between 500kg and 1,000kg. It can live up to about 30 years.

 Puntung, a young female Borneo Sumatran rhino which is thought to be between 20 and 30 years old.

Unique to Borneo

The Sumatran rhinos are found in Indonesia's Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, southern Thailand and on Borneo island. But the Borneon sub-species lives only on Borneo island. It is one of three species with two horns and is the only one in Asia. Two other Asian rhino species, the Indian and the Javan, have one horn. The White and Black African rhinos have two horns. The Sumatran rhino and its Borneon cousin have a front horn of between 25cm and 79cm long and a smaller one which is shorter than 10cm.

They have reddish brown hair which gives them the nickname of "hairy rhino".

Facing extinction

Puntung, the female rhino, waiting to mate with Tam.

Man is their greatest enemy

Rhino horns can fetch up to half a million dollars each.

Rhinos are herbivores, eating plants and fruits. They have few predators: big cats, crocodiles, wild dogs and hyena prey on young rhinos. But man is their biggest enemy and is blamed for the drastic drop in their numbers. They are poached relentlessly for their horns which are wrongly thought to be an aphrodisiac and life-saving medicine in traditional Chinese herbal remedies. They are often used to treat fever and convulsion. But scientists say that rhino horns, which contain keratin, a protein found in human skin, hair and nails, do not have any such medicinal cures. Britain's Independent newspaper reported in August that the price of a single rhino horn reached half a million dollars, with its value per kilo exceeding that of cocaine. Poaching of the mammals has reached new peaks.
Logging and turning forest into oil palms are also blamed for the destruction of rhinos.
Rhinos can no longer breed in the wild

Finding a mate in the wild is tough.

Because of their dwindling numbers, the Borneo Sumatran rhinos have little chance of breeding in the wild. Many of them are also too old to mate.

Tam, the male rhino, has been waiting

Tam, ever ready to mate.

Tam is said to be a middle-aged Borneo Sumatran rhino. His exact age is not known but wildlife officials say he may be older than 20 years, about the same age of Puntung or older. It is the right age to mate, they say. His first mate was too old to reproduce. She was among another female and eight male rhinos which were caught between 1984 and 1994 for a captive breeding programme in Sabah that was scuttled by non-government groups. She is the only survivor. The rest have died.

Failed captive breeding programme

Sumatran rhinos in the Cincinnati zoo in Cincinnati, Ohio.

An attempt in 1984 to breed the Borneo Sumatran rhinos in captivity under a scheme brokered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) failed. The Sabah government abandoned the programme after Malaysian NGOs said they feared the rhinos would end up in American zoos.

An offshoot of the programme was that the Sabah government created the 1,225-sq-km Tabin Wildlife Reserve which now houses a 20-hectare fenced Borneo Rhino Sanctuary which is making a last ditch attempt to breed rhinos in captivity.

A 438-sq-km Danum Valley Conservation Area adjacent to Tabin was also created.

The Borneo Rhino Sanctuary

In 2009 the Sabah government and the Sime Darby Foundation announced the setting up of a sanctuary to protect the few remaining Borneo Sumatran rhinos and other wild animals such as the pygmy elephants, proboscis monkeys, clouded leopards, wild cattles and hornbills. It occupies 4,500 hectares in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, with Sime Darby pledging to fund it to the tune of 7.3m ringgit ($2.3m). About 20 hectares of the fenced up area is now known as the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary and attempt is now made to breed rhinos there. Oil palm companies, the WWF in Malaysia and Germany and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have pledged to save the Borneo rhinos. The sanctuary is seen as a last ditch attempt to breed rhinos in captivity to save them from extinction.

Source: http://insightsabah.gov.my/article/read/1649

Green Sabah says: This is a good information from Insight Sabah regarding the 8 things we should know about Sumatran Rhinos and why we should conserve them. 

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WWF on marine conservation

WWF- Malaysia is assessing turtles in northeast Semporna within the Priority Conservation Area (PCA) to establish a marine conservation plan in the coral triangle of the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion (SSME).

WWF is working with the tourism and fishery industries to establish a mechanism on managing the ecosystem and this includes the conservation of sea turtles.

“We are gearing towards efforts to protect the sea turtles. The first step we took was to provide training and appoint honorary wildlife wardens among people working in the tourism industry and from the local community,” said Robecca Jumin, manager of the SSME.

At the state-level, she said WWF is working closely with the fish dealers to urge them to form a trader group so that they can promote good practices to ensure the sustainability of the industry.

“We are hoping to work with the government agencies to establish a concerted management mechanism for the whole of Semporna because at the moment, all the different agencies work by themselves,” said Robecca when speaking to New Sabah Times.

It is estimated that the Semporna PCA is capable of generating over RM123 million a year as the seas there support livelihoods through fisheries; collection of sea cucumber, abalone and giant clams; cultivation of seaweed; and is the backbone of a major tourism industry, estimated to have a net value of RM34.3 million a year.

Robecca said the SSME project was initiated by WWF in late 1999, and adopted by Malaysian, Philippines and Indonesia governments in 2004 before becoming a full-fledged tri-national programme in 2006.

The coral triangle has been identified as one of the 500 important marine ecologies in the world and the three governments have been working together to facilitate the establishment of a conservation programme, she said.

Robecca, who is in charge of all marine works in Sabah said in Malaysia, the Fisheries Department was appointed as the lead agency while WWF-Malaysia assumed the role as an implementer to carry out the conservation plan.

“We began by setting up our office in Kudat in 2006, to work with the government to establish the Tun Mustapha Park, and in late 2007, our office in Semporna was set up where we worked on the conservation of the coral reefs, mangrove, sea grass, seaweed and the marine species including the sea turtles to facilitate sustainable development and resource exportation such as fish,” stated Robecca.

According to her, the first phase of the project since they started in 2007 was to establish the status of the eco-system before they could really engage and establish actual collaboration on the ground. Each phase consists of three years.

“Firstly, we need to establish collaboration with the tourism industry and local community to conserve the turtles. Secondly, to work with the tourism industry on anti-fish bombing and carry out patrolling in the northeast islands off Semporna because this is where all the turtle nesting beaches are found,” said Robecca.

WWF also works with the local community in the town area and the islanders to raise awareness on the importance of resource management especially on how their lifestyle can affect the environment such as throwing plastic bags indiscriminately into the sea.

It is also working with tour operators and the locals to establish a collaborative environment monitoring team to look at changes in the climate and ecosystem so that remedial measures can be taken to minimise the impact.

Meanwhile, Robecca believes that the community here doesn’t hunt for sea turtles as most of the people are Muslims and therefore do not consume the meat for religious reasons. However, they do collect the eggs.

“I think we are lucky in that sense as they only consume the eggs but that still affects the turtle population because out of 1,000 eggs only one will be lucky enough to survive and reach adulthood,” she stated.

“In fact poaching turtle eggs is threatening the turtle population not only here but throughout the region,” she said.

Based on their studies, most of the turtles’ nesting activities happen on the northeast islands of Semporna such as Mataking, Pom-Pom and Pandanan as these areas have less human population unlike in Mabul, which is densely populated due to the presence of resort operators there.

She said the sea turtles will only return to the islands when they are sexually matured, which is usually when they reach 30 years old, and when they need to lay eggs.

“We don’t have documentation on where the turtles go during the time from juvenile to adulthood and we describe this as the ‘lost years’ because when they go into the sea they go into a ‘swimming frenzy’, during which they swim as fast as they can, and even go around the world when they reach adulthood,” said Robecca adding that the sea turtle is a solitary animal.

Source: http://www.newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/54787http://www.newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/54787

Green Sabah says:Sea turtles are also slowly going extinct,  we can do our part by refusing to purchase turtle eggs and report turtle egg sales to the authorities. Cases where turtle eggs are stolen, sold and consumed has greatly reduce the amount of turtles that hatches. Awareness to conserve our sea turtles are also much needed and we hoped WWF will continue to help out in this effort. Keep up the good job.

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