KUCHING: The state government fully supports and encourages the designing of a master plan for the conservation and the management programme of crocodiles in the state.
Sarawak Forestry Corporation general manager (protected species and biodiversity conservation),Wilfred Landong, told reporters that the state government encouraged them (SFC) to go ahead and would not want to see their plan shelved.
The International Crocodile Convention (ICC) being held here for the first time was the first step to ensure the success of a crocodile conservation management programme in the state, he said at a press conference yesterday.
He said that SFC had a master plan for wildlife in general in Sarawak which was implemented in 1998, but not for crocodiles.
“We would revisit the (wild life) master plan and we would propose the (financial) allocation for that very soon to include the master plan for crocodile conservation. At lot of work has been put into the crocodile master plan and it is for us (SFC) to reconsolidate all the work that has been done,” Landong said.
He, however, stressed that SFC still needed further input for the plan before putting up the proposal to CITES meeting.
“This is to ensure that they are not left out of any issues like the baseline assessment of the number of crocodiles in the wild,” he said, adding that they hoped to complete the proposal within six months and forward the proposal to the state government.
He added: “The master plan will include the recommendation and resolution which we will take out from what is best from the convention. The master plan will have to take a look at all angles and from the stakeholders’ point of views. It will also include the number of crocodiles in the wild.
“The state will also have to amend the Wildlife Protection Ordinance to ensure everything is in place.”
Landong also said that SFC hoped to put the master plan and the proposal to the state cabinet and the State Legislative Assembly meeting in next year’s session before the CITES meeting in Korea in October.
According to the chairman of Crocodile Specialist Group, Dr Grahame Webb, any proposal would be decided by CITES; whether the proposal would be down listed from Appendix I to Appendix II.
Webb explained that it needed a two thirds vote majority from the 176 members, which must also include 26 votes from the European Union.
“The management programme from Sarawak does not have to be complex but it must be clear in the objectivity as to what they want for their crocodile conve rsation and management programme,” he said.
WWF-Malaysia executive director Dato Dr Dionysius Sharma said that it was good that ICC was held in Sarawak.
“It is a good agenda as SFC will have the blue prints to conserve crocodiles in the wild. WFF supports SFC and the state government on the management policies of wild life in the state and its crocodile conservation programme.”