KOTA KINABALU: Conservationists believe that there is still time to improve the proposed Kalabakan-Maliau road alignment to better protect wildlife and local communities, as planning and budget decisions for the Phase 3 stretch have yet to be finalised.
The issue emerged during a workshop attended by government agencies, researchers and civil society groups discussing how scientific evidence can be incorporated early into Sabah's infrastructure planning to prevent environmental concerns only after road designs and budgets have been set.
Danau Girang Field Centre executive director Prof Benoit Goossens said environmental lessons from the Pan Borneo Highway's impact on the Tawai Forest Reserve should be applied to future projects, particularly the Kalabakan-Maliau stretch.
"It is not too late for the Kalabakan-Maliau stretch for Phase 3. We were informed that the alignment and budget have not yet been finalised, so there is still time to engage with planners, contractors and consultants to explore how the road can better respect both nature and people," he said.
He said this during a one-day workshop jointly organised by the Institute for Development Studies (Sabah) and 10 civil society organisations under the Humans, Habitats and Highways (3H) Coalition, attended by about 60 participants from government agencies, research institutions and non-governmental organisations.
The participants agreed that road infrastructure was important for Sabah’s economic growth and connectivity but felt that Sabah had the opportunity to show that socio-economic development and biodiversity conservation can be considered together from the start.
The workshop focused on identifying gaps in the existing planning and decision-making processes and exploring how available data and knowledge can reach the right people — relevant stakeholders — before alignments, designs and budgets are finalised.
IDS chief executive officer Datuk Dr. Ramzah Dambul said bringing different sectors together could strengthen scientific evidence used in infrastructure planning.
Forever Sabah chief executive facilitator officer Cynthia Ong said civil society organisations were keen to better understand how their evidence can contribute more effectively.
“We want to understand how the information and evidence that we have rigorously collected can contribute during the planning stage, not only when the budget and design have already been set,” she said.
Ong said years of engagement around the Pan Borneo Highway, including efforts to prevent Tawai Forest Reserve in Sabah’s central Telupid district from being affected by highway development.
“Those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful”, Prof Goossens said, adding that lessons from Tawai could still be applied elsewhere, including the Kalabakayn-Maliuas stretch.
Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) senior lecturer Prof Dr Nurzhafarina Othman, who is director of Seratu Aatai, said a project commissioned to Seratu Aatai and DGFCe, with support from Yayasan Hasanah and the Ministry of Finance, provided an opportunity to study elephant movement and habitat use before and during highway construction in Tawai.
“Movement data showed that the three elephants we were monitoring — one male and two females — moved out of the area during the early stages of construction. We also identified several areas of concentrated elephant activity that overlap with the highway alignment,” Nurzhafarina said.
The findings are already providing practical information that can be shared with those involved in the highway.
“For example, we have advised that guardrails should not be installed at certain locations where they could impede elephant movement, particularly for calves. This is exactly why information needs to reach planners and engineers while there is still an opportunity to act on it,” she added.
WWF Malaysia’s Dr Cheryl Cheah of WWF-Malaysia said that knowledge, scientific research, and guidance already exist to inform the construction of wildlife-friendly road infrastructure in Sabah.
This includes the “Handbook to Mitigate the Impacts of Roads and Railways on Asian Elephants”, developed by the IUCN WCPA/SSC Asian Elephant Transport Working Group.
The workshop aims to provide practical recommendations on when, where, and how to incorporate scientific evidence into linear infrastructure planning in Sabah, with a particular focus on ensuring evidence is introduced early enough to inform and influence critical decisions.
Key Sabah government agencies, including the State Economic Planning Unit (UPEN), Sabah Maju Jaya Secretariat (SSMJ), Environment Protection Department (EPD), Lands and Surveys Department (JTU), and Sabah Forestry Department (SFD), contributed their respective visions, perspectives, experiences, and challenges during the workshop.
The exchange allowed the participants to better understand the practical realities and constraints at different stages of infrastructure planning, and where information could contribute more effectively.
Nurzhafarina said the discussion ultimately goes beyond individual roads and speaks to Sabah’s broader development direction.
“If Sabah wants to advance a greener development agenda, we need policies and strategies that bring development and biodiversity together from the beginning. We cannot continue to consider biodiversity only after the alignment, design and budget have been decided,” she said.
