Nashir Mansor, Bernama 22 Mar 10;
TAWAU, March 22 (Bernama) -- These days, it is common to hear about wild elephants foraging and rampaging into villages, destroying crops including rubber and oil palm trees.
There were also reports about tiger attacks on villagers in their rubber orchards and incidences of flash floods and landslips that damaged properties apart from causing fatalities.
These phenomena are actually consequences of the conflict between mankind and mother nature that have created debates particularly at the international level when it is linked to the economy of a certain nation.
Entry of tropical wood or its products and derivatives are facing stricter conditions in Europe, United States and Japan as it is linked to the non-environmental friendly logging of timber and other forest resources.
The campaign against palm oil and its products are being aggressively carried out in Europe and Japan as the exporting countries are believed to have cleared forests for the creation of oil palm estates, endangering the wildlife habitat.
CO-EXISTENCE
Can the conflict between man and nature be halted? Can they co-exist?
Maybe it is easier said than done, but Sabah Softwoods Berhad (SSB), a Sabah government investment agency involved in rapid-growing wood (softwood) plantation since 1973, has taken steps to find a solution to this conflict.
SSB, one of the subsidiaries of Sabah Foundation's Innoprise Corporation Sdn Bhd that ventured into planting fast-growing trees such as Acacia mangium, Albizia falcataria and Gmelina arborea, has been trying to create the harmonious co-existence between man and wildlife.
For this matter, SSB had set aside 2,680 hectares of the agency's more than 60,000 hectares of land in Tawau (of which 27,533 hectares are planted with wood for commercial purposes) for the High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF) that must be left untouched.
The move is to conserve the flora and fauna ecology in that area apart from protecting the water catchment and wildlife sanctuary.
With the existence of the HCVF, SSB has created the wildlife corridor that enables wildlife like elephants and Orang Utan to move freely in and out of the wood estate.
MAN AND NATURE
According to SSB general manager (Timber Operations) Dominic Rusman Dambul, HCVF represents some 10 per cent of the whole wood estate and its presence is an attempt to create a balance between man and nature.
The SSB officers that carried out an inventory of flora and fauna in that area found more than 60 species of reptiles and birds there.
There are also various wood of value such as 'kayu bulian', 'seraya' and 'kayu selangan batu' growing well in that particular area.
The softwoods plantation is itself a forest as the trees take nine to 10 years to be fully grown before harvesting, the area also benefits wildlife such as the elephants and Orang Utan that make the plantation their habitat apart from the HCVF.
THREAT BY JUMBOS
"So far we have detected the presence of three herds of wild pygmy elephants that frequent the plantation. The elephants, that number no less than 40, have their own route.
"We do not disturb their paths in order to prevent them from following new tracks. We also do not disturb these elephants if we see them. So far they have not threaten people in the estate and did not damage the properties," he said.
According to Dominic, one of the wild elephant herds that frequent the plantation had earlier numbered only two but now there are three including a calf.
"This means the number of elephants is increasing," he said.
"We have also came across the Orang Utan on the acacia trees while others also carry their young. It appears that the wildlife is getting used to the estate workers," said Dominic.
He said even though the wild animals were fequently seen in the plantation, they did little or insignificant damage to the SSB trees.
Dominic said in 2006, the SSB with the assistance from Sabah Wildlife Protection Department had relocated seven pygmy elephants to Kuamut Forset Reserve at the cost of RM200,000.
However, even after the relocation the pygmy elephants still frequented the estate with the possible inclusion of the jumbos moved earlier.
Taking into account that the mammals did little damage to the estate nor did they threaten the safety of workers there, the SSB management decided to leave alone the elephants.
NATURE COMES FIRST
The compliance on environmental conservation apart from the commercialisation of estate resources are among the factors that enabled the SSB to be accorded the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificate by the United State's-based Scientific Certification System (SCS) on Set 25, 2007.
With this certificate, SSB's wood and wood products such as sawn wood and woodchips are accepted and free to enter the market in Europe, United States and Japan without the imposition of any ban related to environmental destruction issue.
Dominic said there are 10 principles that need to be adhered by the SSB before being accorded the certificate and among them are the preservation of the natives' rights, community relations and the workers' rights, benefit from the forest, environmental impact, estate management plan, monitoring and maintenance of the HCVF.
He said it took four years before the SSB was awarded the certificate. The effort was initiated in 2003 and since then officers of the accrediting body had visited the plantation regularly to observe, monitor and analyse whether the agency had adhered to the conditions required.
"In Malaysia, maybe the SSB is the only agency that receives this international recognition," said Dominic.
FACILITIES
The SSB estate is located between Tawau and Kalabakan, some one hour journey from Tawau town. The estate employs 1,257 workers including eight who are disabled.
Apart from being compliant to environmental conservation requirements, the agency also places importance on the welfare of its workers by providing the basic facilities such as free housing, power and treated water supply for their comfort.
Among the other facilities available are school, kindergarten, field and playground, place of worship for different religions, nine-hole golf course, rest house for guests and a stadium which is under construction.
The first harvest was made in 1982 and up to last year, SSB had harvested 6.65 million cubic metres of wood and retains its sustainable wood production of 360,000 cubic metres of wood a month.
SSB was awarded the Caring Employer Award by the Sabah Manpower Department and the national-level 'Ladang Bahagia' Award from the Human Resources Ministry presented by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on May 2, 2009 at Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur.
-- BERNAMA
