40% of Heart of Borneo's conservation forests can be managed by firms

ALMOST 40 per cent of land in the 22-million hectare Heart of Borneo (HoB) conservation area can be managed by the private sector, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) has estimated based on a report it launched recently.

This figure was based on an estimate on current concession allocations, which make up 8.6 million hectares or 39 per cent of HoB, and thus stressed the importance of the private sector's role in realising the goals of the tri-nation initiative.

"Many of the key threats to the HoB are perceived to arise from private sector activity, but equally, the private sector has the opportunity to be the source and implementer of solutions to environmental and social challenges, and can continue to be a driver of economic and social development," said the WWF report, called "Business Solutions: Delivering the Heart of Borneo Declaration".

The 82-page report, which was launched on November 16, highlighted options for businesses within and around the HoB area, particularly those in the mining, forestry and palm oil industries, to pursue more sustainable operations.

Growth in both Borneo island's population and international demand in products from these three sectors have resulted in increasing pressure on Borneo's forests, the document noted.

"To date, the exploitation of Borneo's natural resources for short term financial returns has not given sufficient consideration to the broader environmental, economic and social implications of this activity," the report said.

It was the recognition of this growing pressure on the forests and the need to resolve it which gave rise to the signing of the HoB declaration in Bali, Indonesia in 2007 by the governments of Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Brunei pledged 58 per cent of the country to make up 1.6 per cent of the 22 million hectare conservation initiative.

Apart from placing emphasis on the sustainable use and protection of the HoB area, the declaration also considered the socio-economic welfare of the people of the three signatory nations.

The report recognised that the past exploitation of Borneo's forests have led to reduced poverty rates in the participating countries, with the private sector expected to continue to play an important role towards further reducing poverty across the island.

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Teaching Orang Utan The Ropes To Evade Isolation

KINABATANGAN -- Wild orang utan in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplain in Sabah are being taught the ropes, literally, to evade isolation owing to the logging of the tall trees which have served as their natural bridges across small rivers and large drains.

Rope bridges built by the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), in collaboration with French grassroots non-profit organisation HUTAN and the Kinabatangan Orang Utan Conservation Project (KOCP), are now enabling the orang utan to get cross these waterways.

HUTAN-KOCP co-director Dr Marc Ancrenaz said oil palm companies are being asked to help by not planting oil palm all the way down to the river but to set aside at least 500 metres along the banks as wildlife corridors.

"In May 2010, at the conclusion of the State Action Plan workshop, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Masidi Manjun stated that he would like to see plantations, particularly those located in the Kinabatangan, to set aside at least 500 metres along riverbanks as wildlife corridors," Ancrenaz said in a statement here today.

With support from various partners, such as Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Borneo Conservation Trust, Shining Hope Foundation and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), more rope bridges with different designs have been built over the years, including by using old fire hoses from Japan.

"This was to see if different designs would be used by the orang utan, and what we found is they seem to prefer to use the simple two-line rope bridges," said Ancrenaz, who has been working on wildlife issues in Sabah from 1998.

During a visit to Chester Zoo in the United Kingdom, Ancrenaz found that rope bridges used at the zoo's orang utan enclosure were of much lighter material and yet able to withstand ultraviolet rays.

"Our partners from Chester Zoo have come to Sabah, bringing with them these rope material so that we can pull down the old bridges and put up new bridges along the sites we know where the orang utan are using the rope bridges, as well as at new identified areas," he said.

With assistance from Ropeskills Rigging Sdn Bhd (RRSB), a team of professional tree climbers based in Sabah, the new rope bridges are being built and the old bridges pulled down or repaired.

In all, seven rope bridges have been put up and/or repaired with the collaboration of the SWD, RRSB, Chester Zoo, DGFC, HUTAN-KOCP and Barefoot Sukau Lodge.

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Corridor of hope for Borneo elephants at Sukau

KOTA KINABALU: A re-established forest corridor measuring 1km by 50m at Bukit Melapi at Sukau in the east coast Kinabatangan district will offer hope for the area's Borneo elephants.

The move became a reality recently with the support of two companies Syarikat Yu Kwang Development Sdn Bhd and Proboscis Lodge Bukit Melapi.

The re-establishment of the corridor will allow for the smooth movement of around 200 elephants through Lots 1, 3 and 4 of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary.

The corridor is part of the animals' ancestral migration route which has been disrupted in recent years due to deforestation, said Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) director Dr Laurentius Ambu.

He also commended the two companies for their contributions to elephant conservation at the Lower Kinabatangan.

The efforts, aimed at addressing the impact of large-scale oil palm plantation development and logging practices to wildlife species particularly the orang utan and the Borneo elephants was coordinated by the Borneo Conservation Trust (BCT) and SWD.

BCT conservation and research division head Raymond Alfred said habitat fragmentation was the main threat to elephant conservation in Sabah.

He said linking habitats via forest corridors would prevent the fragmentation and isolation of the elephant population.

“Population isolation makes the species more prone to genetic drift and inbreeding. It also increases the threat of human-elephant conflict within the area,” he said.

Another species facing decline at the Lower Kinabatangan is the orang utan due to the conversion of degraded forests into large-scale plantations.

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A Battle Is Under Way For The Forests Of Borneo

A spry 80-year-old cruises through the thick vegetation of western Borneo, or western Kalimantan, as it's known to Indonesians. Dressed in faded pinstripe slacks and a polo shirt, Layan Lujum carries a large knife in his hand. The chief of the island's Sekendal village is making his morning rounds.



Layan is a member of an indigenous ethnic group called the Dayaks, who once had a reputation as fierce headhunters. As on most mornings, his first job on a recent day is to tend to his rubber trees.



He uses a blade to cut a few grooves in each tree, allowing its white latex sap to trickle into a cup. Then he plucks a handful of fern leaves and snaps off the tops of a dozen or so bamboo shoots and puts them in a bucket. In a few minutes, he has enough for lunch. He goes to the river to wash and chop the shoots.



Environmentalists say Layan's lifestyle is a form of "indigenous knowledge" that has allowed the Dayaks to both use and protect Borneo's forests. But those same forests are now a staging ground for a complicated clash. It involves economic growth, land rights and environmental concerns, development and traditional cultures, as well as a broader fight in Indonesia against entrenched corruption.



'This Is Our Sacred Grove'



Back near Sekendal, Layan explains how the Dayaks in his community view ownership of the surrounding land.



"These stands of bamboo don't belong to anyone in particular. Anyone can take some," he says. "The rubber trees belong to me. The bamboo here is very abundant. If you go upstream, there's even more."



This is not virgin forest, Layan says. It's owned by the community, and it's been cleared and replanted with useful flora such as cocoa and rambutan trees. There is one stand of virgin forest left in the area, but it's used for something very different.



"This is our padagi, or sacred grove," Layan says in a hushed voice. "It's been here since the time of our ancestors, and we come here to pray."



Birdsongs resonate through the forest canopy towering overhead. Down below, moss grows on an altar for making sacrifices. The spirits of the Dayak ancestors inhabit this hallowed glade, Layan says, and it is forbidden to take any plants or animals out of it.



"We come here to ask for help in times of trouble, for example in times of war, and then we are victorious," he says. "We ask for bountiful rice harvests. We ask for the sick to heal. We make offerings to the spirits, even though we can't see them."



Conservation Efforts Under Way



Indonesia remains Asia's most-forested nation, but it has suffered serious deforestation in recent decades, contributing to Indonesia's status as the third-largest emitter of carbon after the U.S. and China.



And perhaps there is no starker example than Borneo — roughly three-quarters of which belongs to Indonesia, the rest to Malaysia and Brunei.



Conservationists are urging Indonesia's government to respect the Dayak's rights to their traditional lands and to affirm their stewardship of the forests based on their animist religion. But in much of Borneo, it appears too late.



Where forests once stood, towns now hum with traffic and commerce. According to Indonesian government statistics, 60 percent of Borneo's rainforests have been cut down. Only 8 percent of its virgin forests remain, mostly in national parks. Western Borneo is the most denuded.



Efforts to combat deforestation are under way. In May, the Indonesian government announced a two-year moratorium on cutting down virgin forests. As well, a U.N.-backed scheme will see developed countries paying Indonesia to protect its rainforests.



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Symposium reveals Borneo carnivore conservation needs urgent

TUARAN: Very little is known of Bornean carnivores.

According to Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu at the closing of the first Borneo Carnivore Symposium at a resort near here yesterday, this fact had surprised even experts in the field.

“It was only in 2002 that the first photograph ever taken of a free-ranging Borneo Bay Cat, a species exclusive to this island,” he told the conference participants.

And while a lot has been achieved since then, the seven-day conference also revealed that there was still so much to do and to find out, Ambu said.

“In particular, research with a focus on conservation management is more necessary than ever. But the conservation needs of Bornean carnivores are urgent and cannot wait until we know everything that we need to know of,” he stressed.

Therefore, practical consideration of conservation issues and evaluation of key landscapes and areas for carnivore conservation were at the centre of the discussion during the conference, he said.

“I believe that these discussions have been very helpful in that they are a first, huge step on the road towards co-ordinated action in implementing carnivore conservation.

“This is important for our stated aim to achieve the conservation of carnivores and other flagship animals whilst at the same time following the path of sustainable development in each of our three countries (which are Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia),” he said.

Commenting on the symposium, Ambu said carnivores have neither been at the forefront of interest nor of conservation concern in Borneo.

Nevertheless, the time came that carnivores became the centre of attention and a whole week was spent by the participants and delegates to assess their distribution, habitat requirements and their conservation status and priorities.

He also expressed pleasure that Sabah could host the symposium as a tri-nation event involving Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia.

“Like other animals, carnivores do not know when they cross borders or trans-national boundaries,” he said.

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1.1 mln hectares for nature conservation in Sarawak

KUCHING: The state will not neglect nature conservation in the quest to sustain physical development, said Assistant Minister of Planning and Resource Management Mohd Naroden Majais.

He said this is because the state acknowledges the importance of providing ample land for conservation of wild life habitats.

According to him, the state is targeting to gazette a total land area of 1.1 million hectares by the year 2020 as national parks, nature reserves and wild life sanctuaries known also as totally protected areas (TPA).

Naroden disclosed that to date, the state already has about 780,000 hectares of TPAs with more than half trans-boundary in nature.

Among them are Batang Ai National Park and Lanjak Entimau Wild Life Sanctuary with a total area of about 1,927 square kilometres, which are adjacent to Indonesia’s Bentung Kerihun National Park in Kalimantan.

“It becomes a policy tool for us (state government) and helps in improving state laws in protecting wildlife,” he said at the opening of ‘Heart of Borneo: Wild life crime buster’ course for investigators and prosecutors, at Pullman Hotel, here yesterday.

Naroden, who is also Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office, pointed out that the state already has laws to protect wildlife, among them the Wild Life Protection Ordinance, 1998 and National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance, 1998, which were being enhanced from their 1958 and 1990 editions.

He explained that the enhancement was carried out following the state’s acceptance of the Sarawak Wild Life Master Plan, a report prepared for the state in collaboration with Wildlife Ordinance Society in 1998.

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Sabah contributing fair share in tackling climate change

Kota Kinabalu: State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the State Government has contributed substantially in tackling the climate change issues in Sabah.

He said this is proven with activities it has conducted that are in line with the REDD-plus in sustainable forest biodiversity conservation, protection, restoration and rehabilitation.

Much of this, he said, was showcased in the two-day forest and climate change international conference and exhibition at Magellan Sutera.

"However, the work does not and must not stop there.

What transpired further from the conference should be put into practice.

"Besides, the awareness and dissemination of information, the realisation of implementing REDD-plus should be given priority," he said at the close of the conference.

He assured that the State Government would ensure that the close cooperation among all the relevant agencies would continue to prevail in achieving the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD-plus) that was formulated in the Bali Action Plan (COP13), in 2007.

He expressed delight with the outcome and recommendations from the conference.

He said the Government would take note of it for appropriate actions adding that he believed in a pragmatic approach that benefits the people of Sabah and at the same time, not disrupt the State's development agenda.

REDD-plus, he said, is relatively a new acronym to many but the State Forestry Department is taking proactive action and a leading role towards a better understanding of this mechanism and to study the potential of its implementation in Sabah.

He cited research carried out by Professor Kanehiro Kitayama of Kyoto University, Japan in Sabah for many years.

He said it highlighted that sustainable forest management in Deramakot Forest Reserve, with strict compliance to international principles and standards has proven to be a good mitigation option to alleviate the current rate of carbon emission and biodiversity loss in production forests, while maintaining sustainable timber production.

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Brunei explores bio-prospecting potential for Heart of Borneo

By Waleed PD Mahdini

His Majesty's government is currently exploring the potential for 'bio-prospecting' its rich forest and biological genetic resources in partnership with the Japanese National Institute of Technology and Evaluation. According to a report from the World Wildlife Fund that was published yesterday, Hj Saidin Salleh from the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources explained that the report is the first of its kind, which demonstrates that protecting forest ecosystems in the Heart of Borneo (HoB) makes economic and social sense.

"Brunei recognises the tremendous value that the Heart of Borneo represents to the world, in terms of eco-system services and as yet undiscovered chemical compounds.

"The will to protect the area for future generations is very strong, but we need to generate additional financial support to achieve this vision. This report is our first steps to identifying where that support may come from," Hj Saidin was quoted as saying.

The trilateral report was issued by the governments of Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia and has been praised as a leading example of how the economic value of forests is being recognised and secured through innovative finance.

Entitled: 'Financing the Heart of Borneo - a partnership approach to economic sustainability', the report outlines three main sources of finance for conservation and sustainable development activities within the 22 million hectares of trans-boundary tropical rainforest on the island of Borneo - known as the Heart of Borneo.

Two of these sources have been calculated for its long-term sustainability, which are in country government-based (royalties, incentives and tax breaks) and market-based (payments for watershed services, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and bio-prospecting). Meanwhile, the more conventional donor funding, which makes up the third source is seen as an interim form of funding to help build the enabling conditions for the first two.

"The new trilateral report sets out a pathway to understand the economic value of HoB's natural capital in terms of the ecosystem services it provides, such as carbon storage, regulating water flow and providing new genetic resources for medicines," the WWF highlighted.

Indonesia's HoB representative, Dr Andi Novianto from the coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs, pointed out that a crucial next step in securing sustainable sources of finance is to mainstream forest and watershed services into its national and local development plans.

Citing a conservation example in the district of Kapuas Hulu in Kalimantan, which is an ongoing initiative supported by WWF, the non-governmental poverty charity organisation CARE and the International Institute for Environment and Development, the watershed protection payment seeks to reward upstream communities for their stewardship of crucial watershed areas that provide a valuable 'service' to users downstream.

"The Kapuas Hulu project is our first 'district level' pilot programme. The long term aim is to encourage all 10 districts in Kalimantan to maintain their forests, in return for which, they would receive financial compensation for the carbon stored, biodiversity protection and ecosystem services that these forests provide the island, country, region and ultimately the world," Dr Novianto said.

Malaysia's contribution was the development of innovative financial arrangements, with the Malua BioBank in the federal state of Sabah, where the local government has licensed conservation rights for 50 years to the Malua BioBank, with a private investor committing up to US$10 million for the rehabilitation of the Malua forest reserve.

During the launch of the report, Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), underscored the need for multinational and multilateral agencies to continue efforts to finance conservation and sustainable development.

"The HoB is proving to be a sound investment. This is important for the negotiators of this Convention as it shows how the ecosystems of HoB can be a part of a sustainable future. It is a call to stop talking, and start acting," said Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf.

Jim Leape, Director General of the WWF commended the financial report as progress since the signing of the HoB Declaration three years ago.

"All three Bornean countries should be congratulated for their commitment towards this trans-boundary conservation programme and the progress made so far. Finding appropriate sources of sustainable finance will be vital to tri-government conservation and development efforts for the HoB. We need to capitalise on the value of nature and mainstream it within economic development plans. It is obvious that protecting ecosystems and biodiversity makes long-term economic sense."

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
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