Sabah’s restoration deal raises questions

KOTA KINABALU: Less than 15,000ha of forest were restored over a span of 30 years in one of the largest restoration projects in South-East Asia, thus raising questions on the ability of the controversial Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA) to deliver its legal minimum target of monetising 50,000ha within two years.

Environmental experts said there were major technical and logistic impediments to carry out restoration work on this scale, with the largest area ever restored in a single year by a Yayasan Sabah project only hitting about 2,000ha.