KOTA KINABALU: A
special River Keeper Unit has been established in Sabah's Lower
Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (LKWS), an initiative aimed at
protecting Borneo pygmy elephants and other wildlife.
"Honorary wildlife wardens" from local
communities will be tasked with checking for illegal activities such as
encroachment on reserves, illegal logging and hunting along the river.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Datuk Dr Laurentius Ambu said the unit will complement efforts of his department as their resources were insufficient to cover the whole state.
He said the River Keeper Unit would assist in monitoring wildlife as well as threats to wildlife along the river and within the LKWS.
The unit is headed by community members Mohd Syafendy Yajit and Sudirman Sawang, who are well suited for the job as both have years of experience working with the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Programme under HUTAN, a French NGO involved in conservation activities.
HUTAN's scientific director Dr Marc Ancrenaz said that the local wardens also had a lot of field experience with elephants.
"The unit will conduct day and night patrols to monitor and prevent illegal activities such as encroachment in riparian reserves, illegal logging and hunting along the 260 kms of river within the LKWS, from Lokan to Abai villages," Dr Acrenaz added.
The River Keeper Unit was established jointly by the Wildlife department, HUTAN and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) and is being funded by Elephant Family and the Kinabatangan-Corridor of Life Tourism Operators Association (KiTA).
The River Keeper Unit will be based at the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) in Kinabatangan and will also monitor tourism activities along the Kinabatangan river, stopping any boats getting too close to the elephants.
DGFC director Dr Benoit Goossens said although tourism can boost economic development, ill-managed activities could also be a nuisance to elephants and their habitat.
"With this in mind, one of the major roles of the River Keeper Unit will be to investigate elephant responses to tourism activities along the Kinabatangan and to come up with wildlife-watching guidelines that will be provided to the different tour operators in the Kinabatangan with the goal of minimizing tourism disturbance for wildlife," he said.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Datuk Dr Laurentius Ambu said the unit will complement efforts of his department as their resources were insufficient to cover the whole state.
He said the River Keeper Unit would assist in monitoring wildlife as well as threats to wildlife along the river and within the LKWS.
The unit is headed by community members Mohd Syafendy Yajit and Sudirman Sawang, who are well suited for the job as both have years of experience working with the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Programme under HUTAN, a French NGO involved in conservation activities.
HUTAN's scientific director Dr Marc Ancrenaz said that the local wardens also had a lot of field experience with elephants.
"The unit will conduct day and night patrols to monitor and prevent illegal activities such as encroachment in riparian reserves, illegal logging and hunting along the 260 kms of river within the LKWS, from Lokan to Abai villages," Dr Acrenaz added.
The River Keeper Unit was established jointly by the Wildlife department, HUTAN and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) and is being funded by Elephant Family and the Kinabatangan-Corridor of Life Tourism Operators Association (KiTA).
The River Keeper Unit will be based at the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) in Kinabatangan and will also monitor tourism activities along the Kinabatangan river, stopping any boats getting too close to the elephants.
DGFC director Dr Benoit Goossens said although tourism can boost economic development, ill-managed activities could also be a nuisance to elephants and their habitat.
"With this in mind, one of the major roles of the River Keeper Unit will be to investigate elephant responses to tourism activities along the Kinabatangan and to come up with wildlife-watching guidelines that will be provided to the different tour operators in the Kinabatangan with the goal of minimizing tourism disturbance for wildlife," he said.
Several conservation measures have been recommended to enable the future viability of Borneoan elephants in Sabah.
ReplyDeleteIssues such as human-elephant conflict, elephant management, habitat management, research and education, fund raising and tourism were discussed and priority actions were set.
ReplyDeleteFirst, the conference identified four major elephant areas and urged their declaration as "managed elephant ranges" - Lower Kinabatangan, Tabin, Deramakot-Sebuku, Ulu Kalumpang.
ReplyDeleteThese four elephant ranges should ideally be maintained under natural forest management and all necessary measures to re-establish connectivity within and between these ranges need to be investigated.
ReplyDeleteOther major recommendations included the establishment of a Borneo Elephant Conservation Alliance (BECA) to encourage collaboration and communication between all stakeholders involved in elephant management in Sabah.
ReplyDeleteThis alliance will help coordinate fund-raising, conservation, research, education and information sharing; the urgent need to produce basic biological information on the Bornean elephant to better understand the dynamics and the ecology of this species in Sabah; decide for and implement a moratorium on new oil palm development within 500 metres on both sides of the Kinabatangan River and include all state lands covered with forest and adjacent to the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (LKWS) into the LKWS.
ReplyDeleteThere will be more attention to be given to the problem of elephant crop raiding and conflict mitigation; and create a management committee for Responsible Elephant Tourism (RET), chaired by the State Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment.
ReplyDeleteAccording to its minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, "Time is running out fast and there are not many animals left in the wild. If we do not do something urgently I think we are going to lose these animals. This wildlife, as part of the state natural heritage, is the very reason why people come to Sabah. We need to protect wildlife and its natural habitat!"
ReplyDeleteThe objectives were to provide a forum for presenting and discussing the results of on-going studies about the Bornean elephant ecology, its distribution, movement and habitat use, the population genetics and human-elephant conflicts.
ReplyDeleteIt is also to provide sound management recommendations for securing elephants long-term survival in Sabah; and to produce a resolution endorsed by all workshop participants and to be tabled before the state government in the near future.
ReplyDelete