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Kota Kinabalu: Yayasan Sabah and the Forestry Department will
continue to identify "new" areas for legislative protection against
future logging, alienation or development, in addition to those already
gazetted.
This is part of the intergenerational contract that both organistions adhere to.
Yayasan Sabah (YS), to date, has about one million hectares under its
management (excluding alienated lands) mainly under Forest Reserves.
As of today, the totally protected areas (TPAS) within its management
area cover over 420,000 hectares or 40 per cent of its concession.
These include the crown jewels such as Imbak Canyon, Danum Valley and
Maliau Basin. For added security, the State Government has also
gazetted approximately 300,000ha of "Buffer Zone Forests" in the last
six months, near or surrounding the three-core conservation zones.
All in all, nearly 600,000ha of the existing and past management area, are under TPAs.
They include both pristine and logged-over forests of high biological
diversity, which arguably are the richest eco-zones on the entire island
of Borneo.
It is also apt to note that Yayasan Sabah, had in the recent past,
handed back vast tracts of lowland forests to the State Government for
wildlife conservation such as Tabin Wildlife Reserve and Mount Hatton
Forest Reserve of 120,000ha and Kulamba Wildlife Reserve of 21,000ha,
Environmental Protection such as Gunung Tinkar Forest Reserve of
10,150ha, Nurod-Urod (1,700ha) and Silabukan Forest Reserve (11,000ha)
and the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified Tangkulap Forest
Reserve (27,258ha) in the upper Kinabatangan.
Not only are these areas protected by legislation, they are also managed
on the ground through a wide stakeholder network involving the NGOs,
environmental philanthropists and research organisations, to name a few.
"We are of the opinion that Yayasan Sabah is the leading concessionaire
in the country in the establishment of totally protected areas, within
its jurisdiction and in varied conservation endeavours," it said.
The Forestry Department also expressed its gratitude to Chief Minister
Datuk Seri Musa Aman and his Cabinet colleagues for providing the
much-needed leadership that has allowed the "TPA" policy to progress
further.
Source: Daily Express
2 comments:
Danum Valley Conservation Area is a 438 square kilometres tract of relatively undisturbed lowland dipterocarp forest in Sabah
Danum Valley area holds unique status in the sense that before it became a conservation area there were no human settlements within the area, meaning that hunting, logging and other human interference was non existent making the area almost unique.
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