Almost half of Sabah's mangroves degraded

Daily Express 10 Oct 09;

Kota Kinabalu: About 40pc of the 320,000 hectares of forest mangroves in Sabah need to be rehabilitated, said Sabah Wetlands Conservation Society (SWCS) President Haji Zainie Abdul Aucasa.

He said these mangrove trees fell victim to development and irresponsible cutting by people for other purposes such as fuel and liquor-making.

"Based on Sabah Forestry Department 2008 statistics, a total of 320,521 hectares are covered by forest mangroves and estimates are that about 40 per cent have been degraded.

"The trees were uprooted because of development projects and some ignorant people cut down the tree bark to be used for liquor-making.

There was also a case where some villagers cut the mangrove trees to be sold to a factory a fuel to generate power," he said.

Hence, Zainie said it is imperative for all quarters to work hand-in-hand to rehabilitate the degraded mangrove swamps that is the habitat for wildlife, protecting coastlines and as breeding grounds for fish and prawns.

He said this during the signing ceremony of a new partnership between SWCS and a Japanese real estate company, Mullion Co. Incorporated, to restore degraded mangrove areas around Sabah. It was witnessed by Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.

Zainie representing SWCS signed the partnership document while the Japanese company was represented by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Keiji Fukuda.

The company made a commitment to support SWCS efforts for mangrove restoration in identified degraded areas by pledging to donate a minimum sum of RM150,000 to SWCS over a period of five years.

The two main objectives under the project are to replant a total of 25,000 mangrove seedlings within five years and to raise awareness on the importance of mangrove conservation and management for the local community and public.

According to Zainie, SWCS is targeting to plant 200,000 mangrove seedlings over the next two years in identified destruction areas that need to be rehabilitated like from Kuala Penyu to Sulaman and Tuaran, and in the East Coast of Sabah, especially in Lahad Datu.

"We have expanded our nurseries at the Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre to plant more mangrove seedlings and hope to achieve our target of planting 200,000 seedlings in selected areas throughout Sabah.

"Initially, we are looking at Sulaman to plant 5,000 mangrove seedlings in the next few months as the area is in a sorry state where many of the mangrove trees were gone.

"At the moment, we have almost 10,000 seedlings by end of October and will use the seedling for such purpose including selling or supplying them to other tree planting projects, either carried out by government and NGOs," he said.

Hopefully, Zainie said the targeted 200,000 new mangrove trees to be planted on those degraded areas, will to certain extent, compensate for the loss of those mangroves cut in the name of development.

Thus, he said SWCS would never give up its effort to protect Sabah's mangrove swamps and forests.

On the new partnership with the Japan-based company, Zainie welcomed such support that must be encouraged to ensure sustainability of mangroves in the State, which brings much benefit to society.

Following this, Masidi said also called on big and rich corporate in private sector to emulate the Japanese company that is willing to donate a minimum RM150,000 to SWCS for reviving degraded mangrove areas in Sabah.

"I am very pleased that a company from Japan is coming all the way to Sabah to help us in restoring the degraded areas of mangrove swamps.

"Such noble move should open the eyes and mind of those huge companies and bodies in private sector to do the same," he said.

According to Masidi, 60 per cent of mangrove swamps in Malaysia is in Sabah and it should have been better. Nonetheless, he said, such situation is not hopeless as those degraded areas can still be rehabilitated provided there is support by concerned quarters.

Masidi said people can still make money out of mangroves as there is a new trend in tourism where people like to stay in resorts built within nature.

"Actually we have a choiceÉWe can still make money out of the mangrove forests by setting up resorts which can exist in harmony with the mangrove swamps.

"In fact, mangrove trees actually can be a very good money making project. Instead of cutting, we can look after them. Development per say is not wrong but I think it should be sustainable and add on the quality of life of the people and not degrade some people lives," he said.