Danum Valley survey a huge success
KOTA KINABALU: With a bulging backpack weighing more than 11 kilos tugging behind her back, Natalia Nadia Yahya struggled to keep pace with the rest of her teammates trekking deep inside the rugged, leech infested jungle of Danum Valley Conservation (DVCA) in Lahad Datu district.
After more than five hours of adventurous and energy sapping journey, Nadia and her entourage of 11 people finally arrived at a structured and sheltered camping site that sits just meters away from a beautiful waterfall on the upper reaches of the Purut River.
From there onward, Natalia, who hails from Kota Kinabalu, and her team spent the next 12 days doing wildlife surveying, as well as assessing potential threat such as encroachment and poaching activities and tourism potentials within the assigned location.
Natalia, 24, a Sabah Wildlife Officer, was among the 132 researchers and participants of the recent 14-day DVCA Resource and Wildlife Survey, jointly organized by Yayasan Sabah and Sabah Wildlife Department.
Researchers from Sabah Forestry Department, Sabah Wildlife Department, Yayasan Sabah, Sabah Parks, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), University College Sabah Foundation (UCSF), UKM, UiTM, WWF Malaysia, Sabah Biodiversity Centre, University Terengganu Malaysia (UMT), Sabah Environmental Trust, FRIM, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (Malaysia), Johor Parks, University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, SEARRP, Institute for Development Studies Sabah (IDS) and Kyoto University, Japan, also took part in the survey which started on August 15.
The manager of Danum Valley Field Centre, Jikos Gidiman, as well as his colleagues, Dr Hamzah Tangki and Jadda Suhaimi from Imbak Canyon Studies Centre and Maliau Basin Studies Centre, respectively, were also involved.
During the entire operation, participants were divided into 11 groups in 11 locations within and at the perimeter of DVCA, each covering more than 3.5km radius.
The survey’s main objectives were to acquire latest information on the wildlife diversity and richness in DVCA, as well as to determine the presence of rare, threatened and endangered species.
Datuk Sapawi bin Hj Ahmad, director of Yayasan Sabah, had earlier mentioned that information obtained from the survey will provide input for the mid-term review of the Danum Valley Strategic Management Plan 2010-2020.
The Strategic Management Plan provides the framework of activities to be implemented over ten years, as well as addressing all issues identified by stakeholders.
Dr Yap Sau Wai, Acting Group Manager of Conservation and Environmental Division of Yayasan Sabah, was extremely pleased with the outcome of the survey.
She said through this operation they were able to obtain updated information on wildlife diversity, especially for those rare, endangered and vulnerable species, since the last DVCA Resource and Wildlife was done in 2005.
“The survey also enabled us to identify parts of DVCA that are vulnerable to human threats, and this will facilitate our surveillance and monitoring activities.
“On the whole, the Wildlife and Resources survey was a huge success as it enabled researchers to explore parts of DVCA which was have never been explored before, including Mt Nicola (917m) and Mt Tribulation (867m). Mt Danum (1093m) is the highest mountain in DVCA.
“The survey enhanced our collaboration with our partners with the active support from all relevant government departments, agencies and institutions involved,” she said.
Activities done during the survey include camera trapping, mist netting and line transect (to illustrate a particular linear pattern along which communities of plant or animals’ activities change).
Overall, the survey’s finding on wildlife showed significant presence of the ‘flagship species’ such as Orang Utan, Proboscis Monkey, Clouded leopard and Borneo Pygmy elephants.
Camera traps also showed images of Bulwer’s Pheasants and Flat headed cat which are the rare and endemic species.
For the past 31 years, Danum Valley has attracted world class research projects. More than 330 Post-Doctoral, Doctorate and Master’s theses have been successfully completed, about half by Malaysians and Southeast Asians and other half by Britons/Europeans.
According to Yayasan Sabah record, since 1984, a multinational core of scientists have been involved in research at Danum Valley Field Centre, and over 200 collaborative research projects have been completed.
Preparation for research at Danum Valley began in 1982 when the Danum Valley Management Committee (DVMC) was established as an inter-departmental committee of the State Government to develop an international collaborative research programme at the then proposed Danum Valley Field Centre (DVFC).
DVFC opened in 1986 as a facility dedicated to research and environmental education, while activities at the centre and within the conservation area are overseen and guided by the Danum Valley Management Committee (DVMC).
DVMC comprises many relevant State and Federal government agencies, institutions, academia, and NGOs.
The Southeast Asia Rainforest Research and Training Programme (SEARRP), between The Royal Society, United Kingdom and the DVMC has generated over 432 graduate studies by local and foreign students, and generated over 450 refereed publications.
This makes Danum Valley one of the three leading rainforest research centres in the world besides La Selva in Costa Rica and Barro Colorado Island (BCI) in Panama.
For Natalia, the 2016 DVCA resource and wildlife survey was a resourceful experience as it was her first major assignment since joining the Sabah Wildlife Department barely eight months ago.
“Now I have learned how to place camera traps by identifying areas with signs of animal footprints, marking on trees or more preferable wallows.
“I am also able to identify a few mammals and bird species with the help of my more experienced team member,” she said.
Natalia’s entry into Sabah’s wildlife monitoring body, the Sabah Wildlife Department, is indeed very welcoming, especially as an encouragement to young people to become wildlife rehabilitators in the country.
After taking part in several research activities in and around Sabah’s primary forest conservation areas, including Danum Valley and Maliau Basin, this reporter observed that the people involved in the field operation are mostly among those who probably grew up with the process.
Dr Rahimatsah Amat, Chief Executive Officer of Sabah Environmental Trust, said environmental and wildlife researchers in Sabah is a closeknit community, who are very dedicated and passionate about their works.
He said financial resources and human capacity are the main challenges in managing biodiversity.
“You might have the money and the good intention (in conserving natural environment) but what’s the point of protecting a (forest conservation) area if you don’t have the capacity and manpower to manage it,” said Rahimatsah.
Indeed, getting the job done for a challenging task like the resource and wildlife survey is not just about biodiversity inventories and environmental monitoring, because it is fundamentally connected with conservation, education, tourism and public awareness.
In carrying out their tough and demanding assignment, researchers not only have to overcome the steep and rugged terrain of DVCA, endure leech, gnat and mosquito attack, but also faces potential threat from poachers and gaharu collectors.
As in the case of the just completed DVCA resource and wildlife survey, researchers have stumbled upon evidences of encroachment and poaching activities in and around DVCA, which definitely requires frequent surveillance not only around the DVCA core area but also in the buffer zone.
Hence, the overall strategy for managing DVCA, or for that matter, Imbak Canyon and Maliau Basin Conservation Areas as well, is to save, study, teach about and use sustainably the components of biodiversity that occur within it, with the aim of preserving in perpetuity the natural conditions prevailing there.