KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Parks has been honoured with the prestigious Chief Minister’s Award for its commitment to protecting and conserving the state’s natural treasures and empowering local communities.
According to the award citation, this honour follows a significant achievement on May 24 last year when the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) designated the Kinabalu Geopark as one of 18 new Unesco Global Geoparks.
The Kinabalu Geopark spans 4,750sq km across Kota Belud, Kota Marudu, and parts of Ranau.
This milestone elevated Sabah to the exclusive list of Unesco Triple Crown sites, alongside Jeju Island (South Korea) and Shennongjia (China).
Sabah Parks manages three Unesco-recognised sites, one of which is the Kinabalu Park, renowned for its rich biodiversity.
The others are the Crocker Range Biosphere Reserve and Kinabalu Global Geopark.
Recognised as “A Global Champion in Conservation, Sustainability, and Community Empowerment”, the Chief Minister’s Award was presented to Sabah Parks director Dr Maklarin Lakim by state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Christina Liew, who represented Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, at the Sabah Tourism Appreciation Night on Saturday.
Hajiji, in his speech read out by Liew, expressed confidence that Sabah would meet its three-million visitor target by year-end, with 2.42 million domestic and international arrivals recorded by the third quarter.
“This is commendable and speaks volumes about the efforts made to ensure our tourism sector thrives,” he said.
