Boost for Sarawak conservation

KUCHING: The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is helping the Sarawak government expand totally protected areas from the present 830,000ha to a target of one million hectares.

WWF’s new programme leader Dr Jason Hon said the present totally protected area (TPA) was only around 600,000ha – far from the intended size. About 229,000ha of TPA currently covers water bodies.

“The one-million-hectare target has been around for some time. There is of course a revised target of 1.5 million hectares, but for now we’re still focusing on one million,” Hon said.

He was referring to the state government’s announcement last month on adding 500,000ha to the target.

The original one-million-hectare target was first talked about in the 1990s.

That target has not been achieved because of inter-related challenges, starting with land acquisition, said Hon, who was previously WWF’s Sarawak policy manager.

“The state government acknowledges there are people and claims over many areas,” he said.

“Negotiations take time. Otherwise, you’ll have national parks with a lot of disputes (by indigenous tribes) laying claim to the areas.”

Hon said WWF was drafting new TPA proposals, which would include national parks and expanding existing ones.

He revealed one of the proposed TPAs would be Paya Maga, at Ulu Trusan, bordering Sabah.

Other proposals are near hydroelectric plants. WWF aims for the first draft map to be ready in two months and act as a guiding document for the state government.

“Conservation requires special planning. It’s not just plucking areas out for conservation. We have to defend why a certain area is selected; whether it can be preserved as a corridor for connectivity, as an expansion of a current habitat, or because it preserves a unique ecosystem. It’s a systematic process,” said Hon.

Since last year, state government officials have been saying that as many as 20 new national parks and wildlife sanctuaries could be created, including extending current ones, like the Kubah National Park.

Today, the state has 30 national parks, six wildlife sanctuaries and eight nature reserves, according to the Sarawak Forestry Corporation.