Sabah drawing up 10-year action plan to fight illegal wildlife trade

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) has teamed up with WWF-Malaysia and various agencies in Sabah to draw up a 10-year action plan aimed at fighting the illegal wildlife trade.

Other partners in this effort include government departments, the police, General Operations Force (GOF), private firms and other NGOs, they said in a joint statement here following an initial workshop on Friday (Oct 20) to kick-start development of the action plan.

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“Transboundary illegal wildlife trade is a big concern for us in Sabah," said SWD director Augustine Tuuga.

"As wildlife traffickers become more sophisticated in their methods, we too must develop quickly and collectively to ensure that... our efforts to combat them (are effective).

"As a start, we need to develop this action plan, which is an overarching outlook on how to manage the illegal wildlife trade in Sabah.

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"It will provide robust support and add value to existing action plans here," he said.

Sabah has five species action plans for some of its most threatened wildlife, namely the Bornean elephant, the Bornean orangutan, the Bornean banteng, the Sunda clouded leopard and the proboscis monkey.

However, it does not have plans for other species including pangolins and sun bears that are targets for illegal wildlife traders.

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WWF-Malaysia head of conservation for Sabah, Dr Robecca Jumin, added: "This action plan will... address this gap as well as provide a clear direction on how to manage invasive, alien or other species not listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

“It will support the overall protection of wildlife in Sabah."