‘Reconsider Pan Borneo Highway passing through forest reserve’

KOTA KINABALU (Oct 18): The just concluded 12th Asian Bird Fair (ABF) has called on the government to reconsider the Pan Borneo Highway passing through Tawai Forest Reserve in Telupid district.

Held at the Sabah International Convention Centre here on October 14 and 15, ABF aimed to highlight bird fairs in Asia and to gather all birdwatchers and birding enthusiasts, promoters and suppliers on a platform where networking is fostered for future collaborations.

It was also a chance for meaningful conversations around bird conservation, ecotourism and developments in the birdwatching world.

In one of the forums discussing ‘Conservation’, attention was raised on the need to protect the Tawai Forest Reserve not just for the recently rediscovered Bornean peacock-pheasant (Polyplectron schleiermacheri) – once thought to be extinct in Sabah – but also for the other wildlife found in the forest reserve.

This was discussed by panelists Prof Dr Benoit Goossens, director of the Danau Girang Field Centre; Datuk Dr John Payne, Executive Director of the Borneo Rhino Alliance; and Gary Albert, member of the Sandakan Borneo Bird Club. The session was moderated by Andrew Sebastian, President of the Ecotourism & Conservation Society Malaysia (ECOMY) and Executive Committee of the Asian Bird Fair.

Dr Goossens highlighted an existing statement by Coalition Humans Habitats Highways (3H) titled “Optimal Routing Options for the Telupid Section of the Pan Borneo Highway” dated 2nd March 2020.

“The current alignment of the Telupid section of the Pan Borneo Highway would run through 30 km of Bornean elephant range including their usual path through Tawai Forest Reserve, resulting in an endless stream of high-profile harrowing incidents in which people and elephants are harmed on the road, generating public criticism and impacting tourism,” the statement begins.

The statement continues by highlighting the Tawai Forest Reserve as a “high biodiversity and high El Niño fire risk area due to its ultramafic geology so a road would greatly increase risk of fire, smoke and haze as happened here in 1983”.

“There is therefore an urgent need to identify alternative routes which can deliver socio-economic benefits without major environmental costs or engineering and financial challenges. The Sabah NGOs and research institutions associated with Coalition Humans Habitats and Highways (3H) suggest for Cabinet deliberation of two alternative routes that meet these criteria”.

A map of the current and proposed realignment of the Pan Borneo Highway packages that would cut through the Tawai Forest Reserve triggered an extensive discussion between the panelists and the ABF delegates.

An international delegate went as far as asking if a legal action against the government would elicit a positive action on the realignment of the highway, stating the severity of non-action from the government, leading to massive biodiversity loss and subsequent wildlife extinction.

According to the statement by 3H, “the current alignment (Red Route 1), dangerously runs through 30 kms of elephant range, with a long section of this being on a migration route along a steep-sided valley in Tawai Forest Reserve”.

Apart from elephants – the main concern for the 3H statement – “the Telupid Forest Complex is an important mosaic of Forest Reserves host to endemic plants and Sabah’s iconic species such as elephants, orangutans, sun bears, gibbons and clouded leopards”.

And now an additionally important habitat for the Bornean peacock-pheasant, which was once thought to have been extinct but was rediscovered in Telupid, as captured in a camera trap photo of the pheasant found in Telupid.

A consensus among all the 150 delegates and exhibitors from various international organisations of 18 countries, was reached in support of the 3H statement.

The local host organiser, Sabah Birdwatchers Association, will now be joining the coalition in their fight to protect important habitats and foster a sustainable environment for both human and wildlife.

Andrew Sebastian, an Executive Committee of the Asian Bird Fair (ABF), stated that the ABF members are in full support of 3H and urges the Sabah government to seriously consider an alternative route to the current planned one of the Pan Borneo Highway.

The survival of the other wildlife and mammals in Telupid could be a deciding factor in the Bornean peacock-pheasant’s escape out of the trenches of extinction, as there is almost always a co-dependency between wild birds and mammals in the rainforest. This was discussed with a camera trap photo of the
Bornean banteng (Bos javanicus lowi) – also an endangered endemic species of Borneo – and the Bornean ground-cuckoo, caught on camera walking together through the rainforest.

Dr Payne responded to the questions on whether the government will listen to the increasingly loud call for rerouting of the Pan Borneo Highway, “we do not want more species going down the way of the extinct Bornean rhinoceros, which suffered from habitat loss causing a trickle-down negative impact on consistently available food of the right type for the rhinos. It is easier to pander to the calls of business owners, politicians and communities contending the need for development, economic opportunities and other human needs.

The wildlife voices are not heard and it is up to us to fight for them, to find a solution for a more sustainable future for both our survival and theirs. It is quite an irony because our survival will inadvertently be tied to their existence, sooner or later. Some people just can’t see it yet”.

The Asian Bird Fair 2023 ended on a high note with the agreement of all participants to continue their passionate protection of their beloved bird species in their respective countries, and in the countries where the ABF is held.

It may seem like a downhill battle sometimes, but Dr Payne summed it up nicely by quoting Thomas Edison
who said, “It’s always worth trying one more time”.