Sabah seeks heritage status for three sites

A committee has been set up to collect inputs and statistics on all the identified sites.

TUARAN: After years of logging and clearing the land for massive oil palm plantations in ecologically sensitive areas around Sabah, the state government is aiming to reverse the trend by seeking World Heritage Site status for several areas around the state.

The plan comes barely a few months after a controversial proposal to build a pollution-causing coal-fired power plant in a pristine area in Sabah was scrapped.

Besides the Meliau Basin, also known as the “Lost World” and the Danum Valley, the Sabah government also wants the Imbak Canyon to be listed as an Unesco World Heritage Site.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun said yesterday the plan to add Imbak Canyon on the Unesco list was finalised at a recent state cabinet meeting.

Speaking after launching Part II of the “First Borneo Carnivore Symposium: Developing conservation strategies for Bornean carnivores” here, Masidi said: “We have agreed to submit the three areas of pristine forests in Sabah to be considered as World Heritage Sites.”

He added that a committee tasked with collecting inputs and statistics on all the identified sites have been established and is chaired by Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Bolkiah Ismail.

He hoped to compile all the data within a year for submission to Unesco for its consideration.

He added that Unesco will send its team to evaluate the information.

Under threat

Masidi said that it took Unesco two and a half years to ratify Mount Kinabalu as a World Heritage Site, adding that he expected the world body to evaluate the three other sites in the same time frame.

Among the advantages of having the areas listed as World Heritage Sites is that it ensures protection and world attention for the sites.

“We are not going to last forever in the government, but we want to ensure that whoever takes over from us will continue to take care of the sites,” he said.

It is also to ensure that no corrupted politician(s) will apply to log the area in the future, he added.

Earlier, Masidi spoke about the various challenges faced by those involved in wildlife and environmental conservation.

He said that Sabah has the highest number of carnivores’ species which are under threat due to various factors including the opening of forested land for economic development and activities.

“We have to make sure they continue to survive,” he said. “I know it is not easy… humans have a tendency to become greedy and take everything for the present and leave nothing for the future.”

“But as men of integrity, we must make it a point to contribute to conservation because it adds value… some may say I am being idealistic, but I think we should be in order to save our wildlife. We must have the moral courage to do this and sometimes, you may even put yourself in a politically bad spot,” he said.

Masidi also said that Sabah is aiming to turn 55% of its land area into forest reserves, parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

At present, only 52% are forest reserves, while the other 3% is being rehabilitated.

He also said that better road networks from Tawau to Kalabakan are facilitating hunting activities.

Thus, he said that enforcement agencies such as the Sabah Wildlife Department will have more challenges to deal with.

“The department now has a bigger role to eradicate hunting and poaching,” he said.

Masidi said that bears are hunted for their bile, because locals believe it is good for them and pangolins and porcupines are killed for their body parts.