Encroached riparian reserve under restoration
KINABATANGAN: Nine months after Datuk Pang Yuk Ming, the Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, personally took action and excavated an oil palm tree from the riparian area encroached by Ladang Kinabatangan near Batu Putih, and planted a young native tree, more than 400 palm oil trees have been excavated by the Batu Puteh Community Ecotourism Co-operative (KOPEL) and 20,000 native trees have been planted in the area.
While in the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) for a two-day visit, Joseph Yun, the US ambassador in Malaysia, visited the restoration site together with Pang, Dr Benoit Goossens (DGFC director), Jimli Perijin (senior wildlife officer for Kinabatangan District) and Rosli Jukrana (executive manager at KOPEL).
Rosli congratulated the forest restoration team for their hard work.
“The total area that was restored was about ten hectares, and we are still planting the last trees. The hard maintenance work is ongoing, and it will take about two to three years to monitor the forest recovery,” he said.
“Some trees are already taller than us and we hope to have a canopy within the next two years. The next step is to set up bridges over the drain that was dug by the oil palm estate, and to remove the fence that is encroaching the sanctuary, so that wildlife can start using the riparian reserve,” Rosli added.
Pang said he was extremely impressed to see the progress made by KOPEL’s team to restore the riparian reserve that had been encroached for more than 25 years by Ladang Kinabatangan.
“Seeing native trees replacing the oil palm trees that were once right next to the river gave me hope in our goal to reclaim encroached riparian reserves,” said the assistant minister.
“Datuk Sam Mannan, director of Sabah Forestry Department, last July appealed to plantations that had violated the riparian reserves to voluntarily start work on clearing the traditional one chain (20 m) width land title condition stipulated in old title documents,” added Pang.
“I believe that 20 m are not enough (but it is a good start), and that it should be at least 50 to 100 m to allow free movements of wildlife along rivers in Sabah. I sincerely hope that Datuk Sam will follow up on his statement and I will personally monitor the situation along the Kinabatangan River, one of Sabah’s best ecotourism destinations for tourists,” he added.
Benoit was also happy to see the growth of the trees that were planted last year by KOPEL in place of oil palm trees, every time he passed along the Ladang riparian.
“I can easily imagine elephants using the area in less than two years, and I believe that if we can reproduce this along the whole river, the Kinabatangan elephants will be able, once again, to roam from the coastal mangroves to the central forests of the state,” he explained.
“We have to thank Sime Darby Foundation and Nestle Project RiLeaf for partly funding the seedlings and the maintenance costs,” he said.
Ambassador Yun said it was inspiring to view first hand the wildlife conservation efforts along the Kinabatangan River.
“These efforts are key to help preserve and protect this important part of Sabah’s natural ecosystem,” he said.