Forestry director praises KTS Plantation for well managed FMUs

KOTA KINABALU: KTS Plantation Sdn Bhd’s work on its Forest Management Units (FMUs) in Sabah has won accolades from Sabah Forestry Department director Datuk Sam Mannan.

Speaking to reporters after the launching of the International Conference on Bridging Heart of Borneo (HoB) Landscapes and Beyond through Healthy Watershed Corridors by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman here, Sam said that KTS had turned around an area which was a‘no-hoper’some years ago.

“If you go there now it is well managed, it is sustainable and biodiversity there is very rich. This is a shining example of the commitment from the private sector,” he said.

Sam also said that KTS Plantation is a FMU licensee which has been in Sabah since 1993 and was the first licensee to be certified in 2005.

Managing director of KTS Plantation Sdn Bhd, Datuk Henry Lau Lee Kong, told the press conference that the company has been enjoying the most credible support from the SFD.

“The department has been very supportive of us in implementing the FMUs. Looking forward what I saw today was more impressive than what I thought and we will try to follow up. We were the pioneers but now we have to catch up on the new initiatives that have been established,” Lau said.

Meanwhile, Sam, in his welcoming speech at the opening of the event, said that the two conferences have brought together a record number of participants, specialists and speakers from all over the world.

According to him, the HoB concept emerged to ensure the survival of the world’s most important old world tropics forests on the island of Borneo, adding, “one percent of the world but six per cent of its bio-diversity. We must keep them alive.”

He pointed out that the forests on Borneo Island are under threat of disappearing and it is therefore appropriate to acknowledge the role of WWF that first thought of the HoB concept. He also disclosed that when HoB was launched in 2007, the totally protected areas (TPAs) of Sabah were 864,182 hectares (11 per cent of the state).

“It is 1.56 million hectares (21 per cent of Sabah) today, rising further to 1.78 million hectares (24 per cent) by the year end with the creation of some 220,000 hectares of newly protected areas largely in the lowlands. The final journey is 30 per cent of Sabah or 2.2 million hectares, which I believe is achievable. There is no HoB without legally protected forests,”he said, adding that the IUCN guideline is 10 per cent which the state intends to exceed by 200 per cent.

Sam added that 75 percent of Sabah’s Orang Utan population of 11,000 or so are protected in FSC certified forests or totally protected areas and that short-term licences that do great harm have been phased out.

Soon, the remaining three to four licences not exceeding 5,000 hectares in the forest reserves will be extinct, he said, and pointed out that forest restoration and tree planting have exceeded 55,000 hectares and plantation timber is about to exceed natural forest production for the first time.

Sam also said that not less than 30,000 hectares of natural forests are treated or restored or tended each year.

Corridors and connectivity, he said, have been addressed with the most vital forests, namely, Danum, Imbak and Maliau connected through a 500,000-hectare ecological corridor, the biggest eco-zone in one contiguous area in Malaysia.

“And the industry has responded to the conservation efforts, as today we see Mr Liew Pin Cheong, the owner of a highly valuable piece of forested land, donating about 460 hectares to connect Tabin with Kulamba Wildlife Forest Reserves,” he said, adding that the land is worth about RM20 million.

“Secondly, TSH Resources Bhd is carving out 28,375 hectares of largely virgin forests from the FMU concession to be re-classified as a totally protected forest Class One. They have taken the cue from the Sabah Foundation and Sapulut Forest Development,” he said.

Sam stressed that conservation comes with sacrifices at great costs, such as political expediency, the opportunity lost of not liquidating a ready-made resource, the restructuring of industries, losses and gains in employment, reduced revenue, costs of forest restoration and making unpopular decisions among others.

Assistance must therefore, he stressed, promote good behavior and not reward juvenile delinquents.

Touching on the Ramsar Project, Sam disclosed that Sabah has the biggest wetlands in the country with over 340,000 hectares of mangroves alone used in a conservative manner, largely protected and preserved.

“We now have to move to the next level and tap into their environmental services potential translated into dollars and cents,”he said.

On the subject of water, Sam said that its importance and capacity as a vital life support system will remain as long as the HoB concept does not fail in Sabah.

“I believe despite the threats of climate change, we will be able to mitigate against the worst effects of threats against our watersheds and wetlands if we continue with our present trajectory,” he opined.

“On the outlook for conservation and forest management in Sabah, I predict that in 10 years time Sabah will not only be rich in the green capital stored in protected forests but also the cash flow from a timber industry, and the value of environmental services to be generated in the future and translated into real money in a sustainable manner,”he said.