Sukau highway, bridge will further isolate wildlife
KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife conservationists already struggling with the negative impacts of forests being fragmented in Sabah’s east coast will be facing a new predicament that will further isolate the already alienated wildlife population and pose another challenge to wildlife conservation efforts in Kinabatangan -- the construction of the Sukau highway and bridge.
“Of course roads are necessary as it will link the communities,” said Hutan-KOCP founder and primatologist, Dr Isabelle Lackman at the International Conference on the Heart of Borneo “Bridging HoB Landscapes and Beyond through Healthy Watershed Corridors” held at the Magellan Sutera Habour here yesterday.
However, she felt strongly that the construction of the Sukau highway and bridge, scheduled to start sometime next year, will jeopardise all the efforts that have been taken to connect fragmented forests and link wildlife habitats in Kinabatangan.
Dr Isabelle said this when presenting her paper entitled “Orangutans on the edge: Fragmented Sanctuary and Wildlife Corridors in the Lower Kinabatangan”.
She pointed out that the new development would be in conflict with wildlife conservation efforts that had been taking place in the area, and expressed her worries that the new highway would further escalate the problems associated with the fragmented situations of forests in the Kinabatangan area, which includes wildlife isolation from their larger population.
Presently, the Kinabatangan is home to a variety of animal species, the most renowned being the orangutans, the Borneo pygmy elephants and the proboscis monkeys. Hutan-KOCP has carried out 18 years of wildlife research and conservation in the area, in particular on the orangutan population.
Dr Isabelle said the orangutan population in Kinabatangan had been declining, from 20,000 in the 1900s to 4,000 in 1960s. By 2001, there were only 1,100 orangutans left, and by 2008, the number further dwindled to 800.
She blamed logging activities for the dwindling population in the 1960s right up to 2001, but said after that, the further decrease in the orangutan population was largely due to habitat fragmentation.
Among the alleged main culprits behind forest fragmentation are the oil palm industry (plantations), as well as villages, roads, electric fences, trenches and drains.
“Orangutans cannot swim, so the existence of drains isolates them from other populations,” she said.
Dr Isabelle also mentioned that aerial surveys conducted at the Lower Kinabatangan in 2008 and in 2012 found that orangutans were present in isolated forest patches throughout the entire oil palm matrix and that a survey carried out involving 560 oil palm plantation workers had indicated that 90.2 per cent of the respondents had seen orangutans within their plantation.
She cited that the reasons the orangutans had ventured into the plantations were to get to another forested area; to eat fruits picked from bunches; and to eat shoots of young palms.
She added that orangutans seldom built their nests and spent the night at plantations.
Dr Isabelle mentioned that efforts were made to restore riparian reserves and connect the fragmented forests.
However, she warned that the endeavour was not only expensive but also required several years before restoration could take place.