Orang-utan conservation effort receives shot-in-the-arm

Kota Kinabalu: The State's orang-utan conservation effort received a shot-in-the-arm with the signing of a contract agreement between WWF-Malaysia and AEON Co. (M) Berhad here Monday.

The five-year agreement is to provide for reforestation and rehabilitation of the orang-utan's natural habitat in North Ulu Segama, Lahad Datu.

The forest in this area was severely degraded due to several cycles of logging operations in the past and the frequent occurrence of forest fire, but miraculously the orang-utan which inhabit the area survived despite the ordeal they have had to endure.

The reforestation and rehabilitation effort will involve planting saplings of high trees, middle high trees, low trees and shrubs in approximately 80 hectares of the area over the next five years, with a RM500,000 investment by AEON.

The fast growing tree species to be planted will help restore the connectivity of the forest canopy so that the orang-utan will be free to roam in search of food in all the areas within the area and places to build their nests. The wild fruit trees will be source of food for the orang-utan.

Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun witnessed the contract agreement signing and exchanging of documents between AEON Managing Director Nagahisa Oyama and WWF-Malaysia CEO Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma in a ceremony held at Le Meridien Kota Kinabalu here.

Thanking AEON for choosing Sabah as a place for it to carry out its corporate social responsibility, Masidi said the project is a recognition to WWF-Malaysia's good work in Sabah apart from being a kind of vote of confidence in the State Government's effort through the Forestry Department to rehabilitate and conserve the forest.

"It is my sincere hope that there will be more corporate organisations like AEON to come over to Sabah and assist us in our effort to not only save the orang-utan but also other species which are in danger of extinction like the rhinoceros and sun bear," he said.

He said the reason is simple, that is, because the forest is being fragmented by the opening up of land that affected their reproduction process, which in turn, contributed to the decline of the animal populations.

"Such an assistance from various quarters there is now light at the end of the tunnelÉin Sabah we are doing the right thing, at the right track, to help these animals to continue surviving for the future generations to appreciate," he said.

For AEON, this is not its first because it has actually been involved in tree-planting activities since 1991 at the JUSCO Malacca branch in Ayer Keroh.

It was called "AEON Hometown Forest Programme" where 50,000 saplings were planted.

AEON Co. Ltd in Japan is the pioneer of AEON Environment Foundation that has been contributing towards greening areas in Sudan and several sites surrounding the Great Wall of China.

"It has always been the company's aspiration to preserve the environment and the orang-utan's habitat in North Ulu SegamaÉwe see the growing importance of conservation measures to protect and nurture a green environment," said Oyama. The project will help foster closer ties between AEON and the local residents, not only as a business venture but also in the hope of educating the locals on the importance of preserving the environment, he said.

AEON in collaboration with WWF-Malaysia hopes to spread the significance and value of rehabilitating the orang-utan's population and looks forward to sustain this project for a long time.

Tree-planting has always been AEON's commitment towards reviving nature, to create a more natural and pleasant environment for the sake of future generations. To date, AEON has planted more than 400,000 saplings throughout Malaysia.

Oyama also said that the need for combined effort between all quarters to conserve nature will become more important within the next 10 years with the anticipated increase in economic development activities in Southeast Asia, which may also have a great impact on the environment.

Dr Dionysius said this restoration effort acknowledges the need to improve the quality of this forest, which will be by putting back the structure of the forest.

WWF-Malaysia feels very encouraged to be able to work with the State Government very closely, he said, adding it is important to conserve nature not only because for the animal and other wildlife but also for humanity itself, because humans also need the forest for survival.

The State Government has gazetted 40,000hectare of land in North Ulu Segama as a Permanent Forest Reserve for habitat conservation and the orang-utan.

http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/print.cfm?NewsID=76804

Green Sabah says: Good that WWF will work closely together with the Sabah State Government to conserve Sabah's nature and wildlife. Hope that the Orang Utan Conservation will be continued as it can help protect our wildlife species. 

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Produce registry of Sabah's historical landmarks: CM

Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Society has been urged to produce a registry of Sabah's historical landmarks, both cultural and natural.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said the registry could become a standard reference on socio-cultural aspects.

"The Sabah Society has conducted numerous programmes to create awareness on Sabah's history, natural wonders and cultural heritage.

You have organised many talks over the years, featuring both local and international experts who have all openly shared their knowledge and experiences with the people of Sabah," he said.

"I commend you for this, and I would like to encourage the Society to reach out to younger people, in particular school and university students.

"Perhaps members of the Society can think of innovative ways to share with young people all the knowledge that you have collected for the last 50 years," he said at the Sabah Society's Golden Jubilee celebration here, Saturday. Musa said the State Government was constantly taking measures to balance development needs with conservation requirements, in addition to protecting Sabah's cultural heritage.

He said Sabah draws its strength and inspiration from the beauty of our natural environment, our diverse cultures and rich heritage.

"The Sabah Government, on its part, is aware of how sensitive our environment is, and we are constantly taking measures to balance development needs with conservation requirements, in addition to protecting our cultural heritage," he said.

Musa, who is also Finance Minister, said the world was currently facing numerous environmental issues that have far-reaching implications for the survival of human kind.

Among them, biodiversity loss, air and water pollution, indiscriminate dumping of toxic waste, wildlife extinction and climate change have caught the attention of the world, policy makers, academia and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

"We have to come together to act and make necessary changes before we end up losing our biodiversity resources," he said.

Highlighting several pertinent issues in creating a good environment, Musa suggested improvements in the way housing projects is designed in order to strengthen community living, which is almost missing in this day and age.

He said population growth and urbanisation were depriving societies the right to live in decent surroundings and it is crucial for us to carefully plan suburbs, preserve historical buildings while infusing elements of beauty into every aspect of growth.

To get a beautiful and clean Sabah, he said, required the effort of the public sector, businesses, NGOs and dedication of citizens who genuinely want to see the State prosper in a sustainable way.

There must also be creativity when it comes to conservation of resources by injecting elements of innovations in the way things were being done, he said.

According to him, NGOs are important partners in the Government's efforts to improve governance, to protect the environment, and generally, to respond to the needs, wishes and priorities of our people.

NGOs could provide an impetus to universities and professional groups to conduct research and development to leverage on our natural resources, culture, heritage and indigenous knowledge, turning them into value added assets, he said.

"One way of doing this is by designing conservation solutions through integrated planning, and another is to encourage all quarters to become better stewards of Sabah's lands and seas.

"By focusing on research, we could collectively build and share a strong knowledge base on natural resources. This will allow us to formulate economic decisions that factor in the value of the environment and culture," he said.

"We must forge the best way to work together in addressing our desire for development in tandem with the need to conserve our environment, history and heritage," he said.

He commended Sabah Society for initiating efforts to trace and document nature trails in Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan, which were now referred to by tourist guides.

"The State Government appreciates your efforts and I am pleased to give an initial grant of RM10,000 for the Society to continue with its nature documentation programme. I am confident that you will put this funding to good use, and I look forward to hearing about the progress of the programme in the near future," he said.

The Chief Minister also hoped the Sabah Society would continue to shine in championing biodiversity issues and in coming up with publications that list Sabah's rich natural and cultural icons.

http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=77422

GreensSabah says:Hope that the Sabah Society will come up with the registry of Sabah's natural and cultural landmarks so that it can be used as a guide on socio-cultural reference. Keep up the good work on championing the biodiversity issues. 

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Young faces (largely from LD) in the new Sepa line-up

Kota Kinabalu: A crop of young professionals has been roped in to helm the Sabah Environment Protection Association (Sepa) which has set a target of bringing about a greener environment within the next 10 years.

At its annual general meeting held here Saturday, incumbent President Wong Tack was returned unopposed as expected but his line-up saw the inclusion of new faces, largely from Lahad Datu.

They are Vice President Vincent Ng, Secretary General Yvonne Chew, Treasurer General Nelson Wan, Research Officer (urban) Susan Chong and (rural) Nasari Sabiah, Legal Counsel Lanesh Thanda and six committee members.

The six are Alice Chai Jia Mee, Daniel Doughty, Chong Tuek Yuen, Lim Kon Hiung, Ng Kean Kee and Julia Huang.

Wong, after adjourning the meeting, said he is happy that most of the new members are young professionals and hoped they would be able to bring about changes to the association and the environment as a whole.

"I am happy that there are so many young people coming out to show their care for the environment. And I hope the new team would bring about new vision, new approach and new energy to make Sabah a greener place to live in, and to achieve a green economy, green tourism and green technology," he said.

To make this goal a reality, he said they would start off by having more awareness programmes in rural areas.

He also promised to have frequent collaborations with the Environment, Culture and Tourism Ministry and others in their work to achieve an environmentally sustained developed nation.

"There were a small amount of people in Sepa who held pro-coal programmes - how could this be when we are supposed to protect the environment?" Wong asked.

Towards this end, he said discussions would be held to decide whether any actions should be taken against them.

"We have our exco meeting once every three months and in these meetings, we'll decide the best approach to handle this group of people," he said.

"Apart from that, we'll be bringing with us more people from the rural areas during our programmes around the State, to create more awareness in them on the importance of conserving the environment."

http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/print.cfm?NewsID=76778

GreenSabah says: I'm glad to see more youths in the state is getting more committed to environmental protection in Sabah, hope that Sepa will help improve the awareness on conserving the environment for the local society whether the rural or urban folks. 

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7,024 hectares of forest reserves reclassified for natives

March 29, 2012

THOUSANDS of hectares of forest reserves will be reclassified to allow them to be used for agricultural and residential purposes by the natives.

This was made possible after the State Assembly yesterday unanimously approved a bill to amend the Forest (Constitution of Forest and Amendment) Enacment 1984 to exclude a total of 7,024 hectares from several forest reserves.

Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Radin Malleh in tabling the bill said it includes 1,048 hectares in the Ulu Telupid Class I (Protection) Reserve, which will pave the way for future issuance of communal title to the local people residing in the area.

“This area has to be excluded from the reserve as it has been used by the locals for agricultural and residential purposes, badly degraded and no longer suitable for forest reserve,” he said.

Also to be opened are 260 hectares in Lipaso Class I Forest Reserve and 2,900 hectares in Kuala Tomani Class II (Commercial) Forest Reserve, where at least 10 native villages are located.

The amendment will also see an area of 1,012 hectares in Sook Class IV (Amenity) Forest Reserve cleared for the construction of the proposed new UiTM Campus.

Radin said that for this purpose the state government would have to provide a compensation of RM2.96 billion and a replacement land of 2,000 hectares to Hybrid Plantation Sdn Bhd, the long-term license holder for the land involved.

“This will also include 796 hectares within the Tawau Class V (Mangrove) Forest Reserve, involving lands that had been given title before the reserve was gazetted, such as villages and timber processing factories.

“The exclusion of these lands is expected to resolve the land disputes that have been going on for a very long time in the area.

“An area of 1,008 hectares in Mengalong Class VI (VJR) Reserve will also be excluded, for the implementation of the Petrochemical Gas Complex project under the Sabah Oil and Gas Industrial Park (SOGIP),” he added.

Radin also informed that the government has identified 15 pieces of state land with a combined area of over 9,544 hectares to replace the converted forest reserves.

In addition, five areas in several other existing Class II forest reserves would also be reclassified to Class I (Protection), to better suit their significant roles and functions.

“An area of 54,760 hectares within the Lahad Datu part of Ulu Segama Reserve will be reclassified to Class I and renamed as Mount Louisa Reserve.

“Also to be reclassified to Class I is an area of 6,688 hectares within the Sepulut and Kalabakan reserves, which will be known as Mengilan Reserve,” he said.

Other reserves that have been identified were Maliau Buffer Zone I in the Tibow district where 46,603 hectares will be upgraded into Class I, as well as two other areas in Ulu Segama with a total area of 21,158 hectares.

Radin said the land swap and reclassification exercise would be carried out in stages, and at the end of it the total area of permanent forest reserves would be increased from 3.606 million hectares to 3.609 million hectares

http://www.sabahtoday.com/?p=8476

Green Sabah says: I'm confident that the forest reserve can be increased significantly as planned if the land swap and reclassification exercise are carried out in stages, all the best to the Forestry Department. 

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Harvesting of shark fins continues...

Harvesting of shark fins continues...

Kota Kinabalu: Sabah is in the forefront of the move in this country to impose a ban on shark hunting and finning with State Culture, Tourism and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun announcing the same last October. But fishermen and marine products traders near the Filipino market in Sinsuran either do not know or simply choose to ignore it.
A reader called up the Daily Express when he saw several hundred freshly-harvested sharks' fins being sun-dried on the traffic island along Lorong Gomantong, behind a marine products import and export business.
Masidi had said he would ask the Federal Attorney General to make the necessary amendments to the national Fisheries Act to enforce the law to protect Sabah's world class diving industry where tourists pay millions to see them off Sipadan and Mabul. Up to 100 million sharks are reportedly killed each year, compared to about five humans killed by shark attacks each year, marine scientists say.
Such a high annual kill rate has practically eliminated 80pc of all sharks from the oceans.
The campaign to end shark hunting and dropping shark fin soup from the menu is also observed by many nations today. There have recently been calls to substitute it with bird's nest soup which is more sustainable.

http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=80826

Green Sabah says: It sucks that fishermen and marine traders refuses to cooperate with the Sabah government's efforts to protect our sharks, I suggest the government to impose a strict law on the ban of shark hunting so that more people will pay attention to it, a heavy fine and jail term should be a good enough 'incentive' to discourage them to continue shark hunting. 

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