A herd of wild pygmy elephants wandering near the entrance gate to the Maliau Basin Conservation Area.
KOTA KINABALU (June 18): The recent 2024 resource and wildlife survey at Maliau Basin Conservation Area (MBCA) has discovered an increase in herds of elephants and frequencies in the area.
Sabah Environmental Trust (SET) Chief Executive Officer Dr Rahimatsah Amat said the presence of these herds of elephants will be a great attraction for visitors to MBCA.
However, there is potentially a prospect of human-wildlife conflict in the future and must be addressed (in MBCA’s new management plan), he said.
“Also, future planning needs to take into account in the area towards to the ridge (south of the Security Gate) as there were signs of illegal entries used by poachers and gaharu seekers.
“A ranger post must be established with supporting facilities, such as dormitory for researchers to conduct long-term studies on permanent plots and explore the ridge further for its biodiversity,” he said.
He said generally, the preliminary result from the survey shows that the strategies and actions listed in the old MBCA management plan has addressed issues obtained from the 2013 survey.
He said the 2024 survey was timely as the data obtained from the nine teams would be collated for the purpose of formulating the new strategic management plan of MBCA.
Dr Rahimatsah said preliminary results from the nine groups (of survey participants) show that most of the illegal activities were found in buffer zone 2 with small records in the core conservation areas, such as old marks on trees left by gaharu seekers.
“Some of the findings in buffer zone 2 include abandoned camps, bullet casings, rubbish left by encroachers.
“It must be noted that there are only a few protected areas (PAs) that incorporate buffer zone (s) in its management plan and this is a well thought design by the management.
“In addition, the discoveries of several hotspots used by encroachers to gain access into buffer zone 2 were recorded,” said Dr Rahimatsah who also participated in the survey.
He said there were also new and interesting discoveries recorded during the survey, including new records for birds’ distribution plus added species to the old record.
Among the most interesting findings were the discoveries of mud volcanoes and new distribution records for bantengs and elephants, he said.
“The area south of the core conservation area requires further exploration to monitor the high number of biodiversity and hotspots for wildlife, possibly due to the soil and its mineral,” he said.
The SET CEO said the area designated for tourism development that was endorsed in the MBCA Strategic Management Plan 2003-2012 shows great potential as it is along the Tawau-Sapulut main road, where it will be linked to the Customs, Immigration Quarantines (CIQs) of Serudong and Pagalungan (the future entry points from Kalimantan).
This tourism zone will take away the pressure of further developing tourism facilities at or around the Maliau Basin Studies Centre that is located in buffer zone 1.
“Nevertheless, there is a need to conduct further studies as the particular zone is also the habitat for elephants,” he said.
More than 100 participants took part in the 13-day survey which ended on May 26. They were from Yayasan Sabah, University Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah Parks, Sabah Environmental Trust (SET), WWF-Malaysia, HUTAN, Sabah Tourist Guide Association and Australia.
