Building capacity for Kinabalu Park caretakers
KOTA KINABALU: HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad (HSBC) in partnership with Sabah Environmental Trust (SET) entered into a one-year agreement on January 15 this year to organise and carry out a programme on environmental awareness in Sabah, and to contribute to the long-term environmental protection in Sabah.
It is part of the corporate sustainability focus by HSBC on providing innovative initiatives to enhance and strengthen the capacity for caretakers of Kinabalu Park (that is, mountain guides, porters and rangers of Kinabalu Park).
Dr Rahimatsah Amat of SET highlighted that the immediate objectives of the programme were to instill the importance of the natural environment and to increase environmental awareness among target groups; to engage with target groups to increase their knowledge on biodiversity, conservation and environmental protection; and to open more income opportunities for caretakers of Kinabalu Park (that is, mountain guides, porters, etc.) by engaging them as future trainers of environmental awareness programmes.
Nature Ecology and People Consult (NEPCon), a non-profit organisation that works for sustainable land use and climate-friendly solutions, provided assistance on subject related to water catchment and its conservation.
There were three events on training, and a study trip for selected caretakers to Maliau Basin Conservation Area (MBCA).
To kick start the programme, the first training was conducted on May 2-4 this year at Celyn Resort, Kundasang.
The three-day-two-night event was attended by 32 participants comprising 25 members of the Kinabalu Park Mountain Guide Association, five participants from the Kinabalu Park Porters Association and two participants from Kinabalu Park.
Two modules, covering 23 hours of lectures, workshops, practical and presentations were shared among participants, that is, Environmental awareness and education (comprising of an introduction to the state of environment in Sabah and natural resources management), plus Communication and public relations (comprising of introduction to communication, basic presentation skills and basic photography skills).
Participants participated actively during the workshop, exchanged experiences in group presentations and different practical sessions.
Much of the feedback gathered from participants revealed that the lesson they valued the most was how to communicate effectively with others and the workshop has also provided foundation of photography skills to them.
Thirty-four per cent of the responded stated photography skills as the course they wanted to learn in the next 12 months.
The others mentioned rope climbing, paramedic, presentation skill and how to link environmental education to business opportunities.
“This workshop, as part of the community outreach program, needs continuous support from relevant stakeholders. We hope this project increases the capacity and knowledge of caretakers, connecting the mountain guides and porters, and preserving the environment and will eventually cumulated into a train-the-trainers programme in the coming years”, said Dr Rahimatsah.