Sunday, December 04, 2011

Sabah rehabilitates degraded forests to conserve orang utan

KOTA KINABALU: The forestry department is stepping up efforts to rehabilitate degraded forests in Sabah's east coast Ulu-Segama Malua Forest reserve in efforts to conserve the orang utan.

Sabah Forestry Department has awarded reforestation contracts to four contractors to rehabilitate some 800ha of degraded forest in north Ulu Segama.

The area would be replanted with indigenous tree species and wild fruit trees within the next 12 months, Sabah Forestry director Datuk Sam Mannan said Sunday.

He said the area was part of the 2,400 hectares to be restored jointly by WWF-Malaysia and Sabah Forestry Department.

The northern Ulu Segama area was discovered in 2007 to have a large population of orang utan, which were surrounded by palm oil plantation to the north and the Segama River to the south.

He said the orang utan population was entrapped in a poor secondary logged forest environment, with limited source of food and shelter.

Mannan said the objective of the programme was to improve the forest condition through replanting of indigenous tree and wild fruit tree seedlings.

He said this would ensure, in years to come, that the forest will regenerate rapidly to provide fruits and nesting sites for the orang utan population and ensure their survival in such a small and isolated forest area.

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