Source : Daily Express, Sabah, 18 Sep '06
By : Daily Express
  

Protem chairman Tan Sri Richard Lind said at present many plantations plant oil palm right up the riverbanks, which inevitably isolate natural forests in the process.

"Even the remaining undisturbed natural forests are sold as soon as land application is accepted. Thus, it is urgent to negotiate the land which has remaining natural forest," he said after a meeting with Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat.

He said the current issues and problems relating to biodiversity and wildlife conservation in Sabah are mainly isolation of protected areas as well as intensive use by oil palm plantations without considering the integrity and continuity of wildlife habitat and ecosystems.

Lind said the plantations blocked the migration route of Borneo Pygmy elephant and also isolated the orang-utan into small habitats.

Back in 1955, when he travelled by boat along the Kinabatangan River, he said he saw hundreds of orang-utans eating berries.

However, as the years passed by, the wildlife became isolated and their migration routes were damaged, resulting in them turning to agriculture and villages of local communities for food, he said.

Because of the situation, a number of conservation-oriented groups worried about the situation started working for conservation.

However, Lind said their works are always confined within fragmented protected areas since they do not have legal right to do conservation work in alienated land.

"But then, more than 60 per cent of the orang-utans are found outside the protected areas, while Borneo elephants have a habit of seasonal migration," he said.

The centuries-old routes located at the riparian reserves, he said, have been intentionally or unintentionally encroached, common among oil palm planters.

And this is where BCT comes in to tackle the issue of the conservation of integrity and continuity of wildlife habitats and their ecosystems.

President of Japan-based Saraya Co Ltd, Yusuke Saraya, one of the partners in the BCT, said around 70 per cent of timber produced in Sabah are exported to Japan to help the development of the Japanese economy.

In addition, he said 95 per cent of palm oil produced in Malaysia are exported to other countries, also to help their economic development.

"However, the resources exploited in Sabah had not contributed to its conservation effort and because of that Sabah is left alone to tackle the conservation issue," he said.

Saraya, he said, came into the picture because it is keen to help in the conservation effort.

Nevertheless, the BCT effort would be requiring huge funds to enable it to operate efficiently and effectively.

Among the expected obstacles is gaining cooperation from the owners of private or State-owned lands.

He said if they could get these owners to part with land that fringes on the riparian reserve, it would greatly help the wildlife as well as create "elephant corridors" to enable the huge mammals to migrate.

"What we need is only a small part of their land which are mostly situated near the riverbanks.

"Moreover, these areas that I have mentioned are always submerged underwaterÉ oil palm cannot survive there. So, why not just give them to us so that we can help create passage for the wildlife," he said.

As for funds, Lind said the organisation would be receiving funds from abroad such as Japan, Australia, Europe and US, among others.

So far, he said donors from countries such as Japan and the United States have pledged to send funds to BCT in its conservation efforts. He said funds are important because some would go towards compensating the landowners who agree to part with their land.

On land title matters, Lind said donors might not be comfortable with BCT holding the land title.

In this respect, he said the HSBC bank has Trustees Incorporation unit, which can hold land titles.

"This mechanism assures the donors that the land negotiated or donated to BCT is to be guaranteed for conservation even after the Board of Trustees change or die," he said.

Cynthia Ong of US-based Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP) said there are quite a number of organisations and people who are interested in tackling the land issues in Sabah. So far, she said US$100,000 (about RM370,000) has been pledged to LEAP to help the organisation get things started.

In addition, Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives (ZERI Japan) is also helping out to acquire funds to assist BCT achieve its noble objectives.

Meanwhile, Lind said that everyone would have a role to play in the organisation's conservation work that includes people living in the wildlife areas.