The participants of the awareness programme.
KOTA KINABALU (June 9): Yayasan Sabah Group’s ongoing efforts to empower local communities with knowledge and understanding of conservation activities in the state are providing impetus for the DaMaI rainforest landscape’s potential nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
DaMaI comprises the Danum Valley, Maliau Basin and Imbak Canyon Conservation Areas, with a combined area of more than 130,000 hectares.
Recently, over 40 members of the local community leaders from Kalabakan, Sook, Nabawan and Tawau participated in an awareness programme at the Maliau Basin Studies Centre, within the Maliau Basin Conservation Area (MBCA).
The programme aimed to foster local understanding of Sabah’s conservation efforts, namely the DaMaI rainforest landscape.
Many participants believe that the proposed World Heritage Site designation for DaMaI has the potential to bring millions of visitors in the coming decade, which could provide strong financial model for long-term protection and sustainability.
Sabah Assistant Minister of Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Datuk Andi Muhammad Suryady Bandy, who officiated the two-day event, expressed his full support for efforts to nominate DaMaI as a World Heritage Site.
Suryady, who is also the Kalabakan Member of Parliament, stated that global recognition for DaMaI could spur economic activities and job opportunities for the local community, as well as benefit the nation’s tourism sector.
MBCA is located within the Tongod District, which is part of the Kalabakan district. DaMaI area protects some 20 per cent of Borneo’s rainforest biodiversity and is home to more than 15,000 plant species.
Prof Dr Coswald Stephen Sipaut @ Mohd Nasri from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), who attended the event, emphasised that local community support is vital in preserving the DaMaI landscape.
“It is also equally important for the local community to have good knowledge of the conservation area, including the regulations and laws of the areas concerned,” he said.
“But most important of all, there must be efforts to bring the community to the DaMaI area, which can later help spread information about the conservation area more widely.
“Make an effort to introduce DaMaI to the community, and also educate them about the economic opportunities that can be explored from the conservation area itself,” he added.
Franklin Ombokou from the Forestry Department Tibow, emphasised that the DaMaI rainforest landscape is not only important as a centre for rainforest studies, but also has high eco-tourism potential.
“More importantly, DaMaI is a corridor for wildlife,” he said.
Tony Talasoy, 56, a community development leader from the Sook district, was amazed to see so much wildlife around the Maliau Basin Studies Centre during a night drive organised by the centre.
He said that visiting the conservation area for the second time gave him the rare opportunity of encountering several wildlife species, such as muntjacs, flying squirrels, otters and Malayan civets.
“Maliau Basin is truly a wonderful, undisturbed rainforest and I fully support the idea of making DaMaI a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is very important for future generations,” he said.
“I must say that protecting this beautiful heritage is not the responsibility of one particular organisation but of all parties,” he added.
Tony also hopes that Yayasan Sabah could organise more community engagement programmes, especially in promoting DaMaI to the local communities.
Sairul Azlan, a former forest ranger who is now chairman of Kampung Luasong Village Development and Security Committee, said it was high time to introduce ways to make it easier for the public to visit Maliau Basin, as well as the other conservation areas.
“I think when more people visit this place, it would encourage many more people to come here,” he said.
Representatives from Sabah Parks, Sabah Wildlife Department, the District Officers of Sook, Nabawan and Kalabakan, Sabah Tourism Board, and RBJ Tawau were also present.
The programme was organised through a strategic collaboration under a Memorandum of Understanding between the Yayasan Sabah Group and the Sabah Environmental Trust.
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