ASTONISHED: Jennifer Walkowich, a researcher from St Alligator Farm Zoological Park Florida in the United States, is astounded by a giant poster of a crocodile displayed at the International Crocodile Conference being held in Kuching. — Bernama photo
KUCHING: A balanced and extensive research on crocodile species in Sarawak, including crocodile-human conflict, with consideration on state government’s policy is required to design the master plan for crocodile management before convincing CITES to down-list the appendix.
Minister of Special Functions Tan Sri Datuk Adenan Satem, in his speech when officiating at the opening of the International Crocodile Conference here yesterday, assured his full support to Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) in carrying out the task and completing a comprehensive master plan.
Noting the importance of conservation as the fate of crocodiles was in the hands of humans, he said there was an urgent need to deal with the existing issues and problems.
「Unfortunately, the lives of our reptile friends depend on what we do. I, therefore hope that experts, scientists, management authorities and other stakeholders from across the world gathered here today could provide us with the recommendations, advice and assistance to come up with a long term management programme and resolution for human-crocodile co-existence,」 he said.
Adenan also mentioned the government’s concerns on wildlife and nature conservation, the reason why he had been given the task under the special functions to look after national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and nature reserves
「And the first decision I made when assigned this responsibility was to increase the number of national parks, conservation areas and wildlife sanctuaries,」 he said.
He said that according to the United Nations (UN) guideline which the government had adopted during the Rio Summit in 1992, at least 10 per cent of land mass or water bodies of the total area must be devoted to nature.
「Sarawak has 24 national parks, five nature reserves and four wildlife sanctuaries, covering over 7,000 hectares of totally protected areas or about 7 – 8 per cent of the total area of Sarawak,」 he elaborated.
As such, Adenan hoped to satisfy the UN requirements or even increase the number of protected areas or extend areas of national parks.
「Some proposals to create new areas and to extend several existing totally protected areas have been submitted to the authorities, which are being considered.
「It is our greatest interest to constantly improve our current approaches and innovatively transform our assets into legacies that will continue to provide beauties, wonders and other services for generations to come.」
In view of the increasing crocodile population in Sarawak which would pose dangers to human lives, Adenan said there was a need for controlled culling.
「We support the move to down list the salt water crocodiles to Appendix II of CITES, provided that it is controlled under the licence,」 he said.
Adenan also said that a thorough scientific research was needed to come out with an accurate and comprehensive data before convincing CITES on down listing the appendix.
「This is probably our drawback as we might not have sufficient resources and expertise to carry out the research. But, I must congratulate Sarawak Forestry Corporation for their hard work and efforts,」 he said.
On research and design of the master plan, Adenan said it must include all rivers in Sarawak and the need to strike a balance between the requirement of men and other creatures.
「We must ensure that both sides can benefit from the master plan. I hope the experts, based on their experience, can help and tell us what to do,」 he added.
In conclusion, Adenan hoped that the conference would bring forth the strategic recommendations on mitigating critical issues related to the management of human-crocodile conflicts in order to build a better future for the crocodiles, the last remaining representative of the dinosaurs alive today.