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| MoU signing ceremony - (From left to right) Administration and Finance Manager Josephine Maluda, Head of Conservation and Research, Borneo Conservation Trust Raymond Alfred, Director of Sabah Wildlife Department Datuk Dr. Laurentius Ambu, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Masidi Manjun, Managing Director of Myne Resort, Ouh Mee Lan, Director of Myne Resort, Tan Kum Peng and Senior Manager of Myne Resort Rosemawaty Adil Embun |
“It makes sense to conserve. Nature is Sabah’s biggest asset. We are
very lucky. Show the future generations that we are looking after it,”
said Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun who
witnessed the MoU Signing Ceremony on Creation and Management of
Orangutan and Borneon Elephant Conservation Corridor in Kinabatangan
Mega Biodiversity Corridor. The MoU was signed between Borneo
Conservation Trust (BCT) and Myne Resort at the Palace Hotel recently.
Speaking at the ceremony, BCT Honorary Secretary and Director of Sabah
Wildlife Department (SWD) Datuk Dr Laurentius Ambu said, “Looking into
Lower Kinabatangan Sanctuary, the biggest problem that we face is
fragmentation of the area. We worked with WWF (World Wildlife Fund for
Nature) to come up with a master plan to deal with this problem. One of
the recommendations at that time was to work with the land owners, NGOs,
resorts and oil planters.”
“That vision is being realized through this MoU today. We are embarking
on the first model with this partnership whereby 100 acres of Myne
Resort land will be managed together with BCT and Sabah Wildlife
Department. Instead of developing it for agriculture, the land will be
used for tourism purposes.”
200 acres of Myne Resort’s forest land is located along the fringes of
Kinabatangan River in Kampung Bilit. 100 acres have been utilized to
build the resort. The 100 acres of forest land is an important component
that reconnects isolated forest habitats with the larger forest
landscape by re-establishing the biodiversity corridor between Lot 4 and
Lot 5 of Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary.
"This will be a big highway for the elephants to move from the northern
to the southern part of Sabah,” said Ambu. Besides linking key habitats
for the elephants, the habitats for orangutans and rhinoceros will also
be re-established in Lower Kinabatangan. This will decrease isolation
of animal population that will expose species to genetic drift and
inbreeding. Habitat fragmentation will also increase the incidence of
human-wildlife conflict.
“The biggest challenge in forest conservation is to convince landowners
to defer their profit,” said Masidi. “I think Myne Resort has
conservation at heart, and it makes economic sense.”
Masidi also said that the partnership established will draw in more
tourists to Sabah. “We can only find the orangutan in Sumatra and
Borneo. You might find them in other places but that is not their
natural habitat,” added the Minister. “Even the Proboscis monkey is
endemic to Borneo.”
“Birds are now more valuable alive than dead,” said Masidi. “This is
because interest in bird watching is increasing. Sabah has about 500
local bird varieties. In fact, the whole of Borneo has about 624 bird
varieties and 14 are endemic to Kinabalu. Besides that 998 varieties of
wild orchids have been identified in Sabah.”
The Minister added that Sabah is known not for skyscrapers. Tourists
seek a unique experience and what they find in Sabah will set Sabah
apart from other places in the world.
Myne Managing Director, Ouh Mee Lan, said, “Honestly speaking, thinking
of the long term, the conservation of forest is for my grandchildren.
It is done for our future generation."
There are 16 chalets and a longhouse in Myne Resort. The resort also
plans on building 40 solar powered chalets in 2013. It also intends to
plant trees and clean up the rivers in collaboration with BCT and SWD.
Source: Insight Sabah
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