Sarawak steps up hornbill conservation efforts
MIRI: Sarawak is serious in conserving the hornbills, which is a totally protected species of birds. It envisions to forever hold true to the tag “Sarawak, Land of the Hornbills”.
Minister of Resource Planning and Environment II Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said to achieve such vision, the state, since 2012, has been stepping up its hornbill conservation programme in tandem with other wildlife conservation programmes.
“In addition to the Western Sarawak Hornbill Project, other hornbill conservation activities have also been conducted such as population status studies, ecological studies, habitat enrichment and activities that involve local communities,” he said in a speech at the opening of the first ever National Hornbill Conference in Miri yesterday.
His speech was read by Datuk Len Talif Salleh, Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office and Assistant Minister for Environment.
Among those present were permanent secretary to Ministry of Resource Planning and Environment Datuk Sudarsono Osman and Sarawak Forestry’s chief executive officer Wong Ting Chung
AwangTengahsaidamongother note-worthy efforts of the State Government is the establishment of more Totally Protected Areas ( TPA) to meet the target of 10 per cent of Sarawak’s land mass which is approximately 1 million hectares. It is envisaged that this goal will be achieved before the target date of 2020.
“When we talk about TPA and forest reserve, it is all about green. With 1 million under TPA and 6 million forest reserves, Sarawak would thus have 7 million hectares of green forest and this is not including 1.2 million hectares of oil palm and millions of hectares under native customary rights. That can mean over 90 percent of land mass in Sarawak is green,” he pointed out.
Touching on the eco-tourism potential of the hornbill, the minister also said that a wildlife conservation project would not be truly meaningful without the active involvement of local communities.
Awang Tengah disclosed that Sarawak is exploring the ecotourism potentials of hornbills as Community-Based Ecotourism (CBET) products which have been very successful in Thailand by providing alternative sources of income. He commended Sarawak Forestry and the conference’s coorganisers Univiersity Malaysia Sarawak ( UNIMAS), Sarawak Convention Bureau, and Cat City Holidays for organising the conference that is a run up to 7th International Hornbill Conference 2017 in Sarawak.
He urged them to make the best out of the conference by learning from one another on how best to protect the majestic birds for the future generation.
Earlier, Wong who also spoke said ‘ Hornbill Survival in Fragmented Landscape’ was selected as the theme to stimulate constructive discussions, debate and resolutions among conference participants.
“We have been given to understand that forest fragmentation is one of the biggest threats to hornbills as it disrupts their habitat and contribute to the loss of the species due to their inability to adapt and survive in the fragmented forest condition,” he said.
He said the conference would thus serve as a platform for participants to present or share their views, studies, information, or any conservation techniques they know.
The keynote speaker for the conference was Prof Emeritus Dr Pillai Poonswad from the Hornbill Research Foundation Faculty of Science Mahidol University Bangkok, Thailand.
Dr Pillai was the winner for the 2006 Rolex Awards for Enterprise and 2006 Chevron Conservation Awards
Other speakers included Professor Andrew Alek Tuen from Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Oswald Braken Tisen from Protected Areas and Biodiversity Cooperation of Sarawak Forestry Corporation.