MIRI: World Heritage site – Gunung Mulu National Park (GMNP) can expect an enhanced management planning and implementation under the Asean Heritage Parks (AHP) Programme.
The programme initiated last year is managed and implemented by the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) under the auspice of the Asean Member States (AMS).
ACB’s programme specialist for capacity development and coordinator Norman Emmanuel C. Ramirez said this year ACB and the Government of Japan, through the Japan-Asean Integration Fund (JAIF) has embarked on a partnership to implement a project “Asean Heritage Parks Development through Capacity Enhancement and Information Development”.
“The project focuses on enhancing the capacity of staff from four selected AHPs in the Philippines (Mts Iglit Baco National Park), Lao PDR (Nam Ha National Protected Area), Thailand (Tarutao National Park), and Malaysia (Gunung Mluu National Park),” he said
Norman was speaking to The Borneo Post in Miri yesterday after presenting a paper on the overview of ACB and AHP during the Orientation-Meeting on Management Planning for Stakeholders of Gunung Mulu National Park, Malaysia.
He added that the programme deals with project activities that would effectively manage and develop the parks of which eleven priority forms of interventions to assist AHPs have been identified. They are Capacity Development, Information Sharing Network, Technical Exchange Programme, Public Awareness and Education, Promotion of Recreation, Tourism and Ecotourism, Participation in Joint Research Programme, Management Improvement Programme, Partnership and Collaboration, Involvement of IPLCs and Other Stakeholders, Development/Review/Updating of Management Plans and Sustainable Financing
Norman said GMNP is the last of the four AHPs to have held such orientation meeting while all three others had theirs last year.
Some thirty people including speakers attended the one and half day meeting. The participants included members of Special Park Committee (SPC) of GMNP, technical staff of GMNP Office, and representatives from other primary stakeholders of GMNP such as Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC), Borsamulu Park Management Sdn Bhd, Ministry of Resource Planning and Environment (MRPE), Ministry of Tourism (MOT), Sarawak Forest and Agriculture Departments, Sarawak Tourism Federation (STF), Sarawak Tourism Board (STB), Ministry of Tourism and Culture (MOTC), Tourism Malaysia, Resident and District Offices Miri, Sarawak River Board Miri, Mulu Airport, and community leaders.
Among the project objectives are to capacitate AHP management staff in implementing the Regional Action Plan for AHPs and Protected Areas in Southeast Asia that will contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity resources in the Asean Region
Another aim is to increase public awareness of the relevance and importance of AHPs in biodiversity conservation, food security, health, and poverty alleviation besides updating the AHPs’ management and conservation plans.