By RUBEN SARIO
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has decided to save the endangered orang utan by phasing out logging in the big apes' heartland, which means forgoing RM1bil in timber revenue.
Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said that from December 2007 the state government would stop logging activities in the Ulu Segama and Malua forest reserves, which cover a total area of 237,777ha, to preserve the area's biodiversity.
He described the decision as a “tough” one but “in the best interest of present and future generations, as we believe in the concept of the greatest good for the greatest number in the long run.”
Initially, natural forest practices would be imposed on both forest reserves surrounding the 43,800ha Danum Valley conservation area near the east coast of Lahad Datu district until logging there ceased in 21 months.
Musa said both forest reserves were also the heartland of Sabah’s orang utan population.
A state Wildlife Department study showed that there were some 1,100 of the primates in Malua and a further 3,300 in Ulu Segama.
A similar sustainable forest management programme would also be imposed on the 51,118ha Ulu Kalumpang forest reserve near Tawau district, Musa said after the Cabinet meeting here yesterday.
He said the management of these areas would involve input from interested parties and stakeholders, including WWF, HUTAN (a French NGO), the Sabah Society, local community representatives and other NGOs.
He said Sabah would eventually have a total of nearly one million hectares of conservation areas, which would include Kinabalu Park, Danum Valley and Maliau Basin apart from various Class 1 protected forest reserves.
WWF Malaysia executive director Datuk Dr Mikaail Kavanagh, who was present when Musa announced the Sabah government’s decision, said the move would be “major news” for Malaysia to report at the upcoming eighth conference of the parties of the convention for biological diversity in Brazil next week.
Source: The Star
No comments:
Post a Comment