Sabah Forestry, Japan's ISME extend collaboration on mangrove rehabilitation

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to implement phase three of the rehabilitation of degraded mangroves in Sabah was signed yesterday.

Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) in a statement here said the MoU signed by its deputy chief conservator Fadzil Yahya and International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems (ISME) executive director Prof Shigeyuki Baba is a five-year project.

The project funded by Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co Ltd (TMN), Japan will be undertaken by SFD with technical guidance from ISME, an international non-profit and non-governmental scientific society based in Okinawa, Japan.

For the third phase of the project from 2019−2024, the annual planting target is set at 35 hectares per year with a total of 5.5 million yen to be remitted to SFD by ISME to support the expenditures of the rehabilitation programme in Sabah.

"To monitor the progress of the rehabilitation project, a project steering committee co-chaired by SFD's chief conservator and ISME's executive director will meet twice a year," said SFD.

For the record, SFD has adopted the Look East Policy since 2011 in the sustainable management of mangroves in Sabah through the SFD-ISME collaboration.

The first phase of the project (2011-2014) with annual planting target of 50 hectares per year and second phase (2014-2019) with annual planting target of 40 hectares per year have successfully planted a total of 444,133 planting materials covering 351 hectares in eight forestry districts involving 23 planting sites of degraded mangrove forest reserves.

Sabah is the first state in Malaysia to have such a collaboration with ISME, which carries out environmental training and educational activities through collaborations and links with organisations, universities, research institutes and local communities.

Currently, the membership of ISME includes 44 institutions and over 1,200 individuals from 94 countries.

In conjunction with the signing of the MoU, Japanese volunteers from TMN led by its senior vice president Makoto Okada flew to Sabah to plant mangroves in Sulaman Wetlands in Tuaran and Pulau ISME in Weston, Beaufort as part of their green fingers project.

The insurance company regarded the mangrove ecosystems as insurance of the earth and has pledged to support mangrove rehabilitation since 1999 for the duration of 100 years. - Bernama