KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is on track to expand the size of its Totally Protected Areas (TPAs) to 30 percent of the state’s land mass by 2025.
Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Haji Aman said that for the terrestrial ecosystem, about 26 per cent of the State’s land area was now gazetted as TPAs and tthis figure represented the largest network of TPAs in the country.
He added that the expansion of the TPAs to 30 per cent must progress beyond mere paper protection and must be managed to protect biological areas, especially wildlife species from threats, such as poaching and illegal felling.
Musa was speaking at the International Conference on the Heart of Borneo yesterday.
He also said that the conservation of the forests was significant and important as they were of critical value to the people as a natural heritage and for the goods and services they provide.
On the Heart of Borneo or HoB, Musa said that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment had allocated RM65 million under the Ninth Malaysia Plan to 11th Malaysia Plan to support the HoB implementation in Sabah.
“This is used to support capacity building, security enhancement in forest reserves through the establishment of field outposts and wildlife patrol units, reestablishment of forest corridors through forest restoration, identification of high conservation value forests through scientific expeditions and other crucial activities, including education programmes,” he said.
He added that one of the significant achievements of the HoB Initiative was the State Government’s policy in conserving its natural ecosystems through protected areas.
Musa also stressed that the HoB was not only for forest biodiversity and wildlife, but also for the wellbeing of communities.
“The ongoing rationalisation of land use for socio economic well-being of local communities, especially those living within or adjacent to protected areas should be in tandem with the increase in TPAs. To address this, the government has excised up to about 21,400 hectares of forest reserves for community purposes, since 2010,” he said.
Additionally, Sabah also added new forest reserve land from time to time, he said.
Aside from that, HoB also engaged with the local community through various initiatives such as ecotourism and most importantly, they must be consulted in order to ensure that any programme introduced would benefit the community, he said.
“One such example is the ongoing collaboration between Koperasi Pelancongan Mukim Batu Puteh Kinabatangan Berhad, or KOPEL Berhad, with the Sabah Forestry Department on ecotourism as well as the management and protection of forest reserves. This is the sort of engagement that the State Government is looking for and is keen to expand this concept to other local communities with similar interests,” he said.
Musa also stressed that as of to date, over 30 scientific expeditions had been organised under the HoB Initiative, providing Sabah with valuable information to enhance biodiversity conservation as well as to investigate threats and issues.
“The data procured is also used in the formulation of Forest Management Plans which are crucial to effectively manage forests and a necessity in having forest reserves certified under internationally recognised certification schemes. Over 700,000 hectares of Sabah’s forests have been certified either under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the MTCS system, which is affiliated to the European Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).
“Today, Sabah has one of the largest areas of certified forests in South East Asia,” he said.
He added that aside from good forest management and governance, emphasis was also given to forest restoration, in terms of its productive and functional capacity.
Present at the event were Sabah Forestry Department Chief Conservator of Forests, Datuk Sam Mannan and Natural Resources and Environment Ministry secretary general, Dato Seri Azizan Ahmad.