KOTA KINABALU: It is believed that dandelions first arrived on the soil of Mount Kinabalu through a climber’s pair of shoes which accidentally tagged the seeds from a foreign region.
Sabah Parks director Paul Basintal said currently the flora and fauna in Kinabalu Park, including that of the mountain, are under threat from this flower specie.
“Dandelion is a good looking flower but apparently very dominant and is not native. The flower has started to dominate the Kinabalu Park and at the same time killing off the native species.
“We have spread the awareness to eradicate this specie from Kinabalu Park and to destroy them in a proper manner. We welcome the fourth series of participants from Peninsular Malaysia to continue with this mission,” he said.
About 70 students and teachers, headed by Malaysia’s first Mount Everest conquerer M. Magendran together with several librarians and park rangers, will weed out dandelions in the Mesilau area.
According to Magendran, the group will also climb the mountain and only the expert group will weed out the flowers on the way down from the summit.
“We will not allow students and teachers who do not have the expertise to pluck this foreign flower because we do not want any minor plants from Mount Kinabalu to be affected.
“I have been working with Sabah Parks since 1999 on this project and we want more people to be aware of the importance of eradicating dandelions from Kinabalu Park,” he said.
Basintal and Magendran were at the launching of the project ‘Dandelion dan Gunung Kinabalu- Warisan Dunia’, before departing for Kundasang from the State Library.
The event was launched by Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun.