LOKKAWI: Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) has gazetted 20 species of insects to be protected under the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997.
Its deputy director, Augustine Tuuga, said the move had to be made as foreign tourists were bringing the state’s insects out of Sabah as they fancied.
“And we don’t have an enactment that disallowed them from doing so,” he said.
He added that with the inclusion of the new lists of insects in the enactment, individuals caught bringing out the insects from Sabah can be fined up to RM30,000 or jailed three years.
The amendment to the enactment would be enforced in the nearest future, he told reporters during the 50th anniversary celebration in the protection of wildlife in Sabah at Lokkawi Wildlife Park near here, yesterday.
Earlier, Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, who was represented by Assistant Minister Datuk Kamarlin Ombi, explained that the listing of the insects in the protected list was geared to stop irresponsible individuals from exploiting the natural resources in Sabah and bringing them out of the state easily.
In his speech, he also mentioned that the state government was aware that wildlife were natural assets that had high potential in the development of the tourism industry in Sabah.
He said after 50 years in conserving wildlife, Sabah was still proud as her natural resources continued to be looked after.
He added that the natural resources had attracted tourists to continuously visit the state and expressed that it was the vision of his ministry to turn Sabah into an esteemed destination in nature tourism.
“Sabah is home to various wildlife species … but the natural habitats of these must be managed well in order to continue being attractive,” he said.
Masidi also said many changes had occurred in the last 50 years and cited that among them had been the clearing of more forest areas for agriculture.
“Such activities have impacted on the wildlife and their habitats. They have also resulted in human-animal conflicts … nevertheless, my ministry has tried to ensure the impacts are minimised,” he said, further adding that Sabah has 20 per cent of its area gazetted as protected areas.
He said although certain parties had criticised the state, Sabah had continued to be a strong fortress for the orang utan population.
“Conservation efforts since 50 years ago have ensured that there are still 13,000 orang utans living in the wild in Sabah and we will ensure they will continue to thrive here forever,” he said.
Meanwhile, a collaboration was yesterday signed between Pulau Pom-Pom and Pulau Mataking with SWD for the protection of turtles and their habitats.
The collaboration is to boost the population of turtles in Sabah.