The Star 17 Aug 10;
KOTA KINABALU: A team of 150 local scientists and researchers, including a team from the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, will be spending 10 days in October to further document the plants and wildlife in relatively unexplored pristine and remote Imbak Canyon in central Sabah.
The Oct 10 to 24 expedition hopes to identify new flora and fauna species in the 30,000 Yayasan Sabah conservation area where earlier teams had discovered new species of the keruing tropical hardwood.
More than 69 species of medicinal plants have also been recorded to date in the Canyon that may well be dubbed a living pharmacy, Yayasan Sabah group corporate communications manager Linah Robert said Tuesday.
Previous scientific expeditions in 2000 and 2004 had also identified the Imbak Canyon as key habitat for Sabahs iconic wildlife such as the Borneo pygmy elephant and proboscis monkey.
She said the third scientific expedition was being organised by the foundation, the academy in collaboration with the Sabah Forestry Department, Sabah Parks, Sabah Wildlife Department, University Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, WWF-Malaysia and the Sabah Museum.
She said the expedition will converge at the foot Mt. Kuli on the South West of the Canyon. The Expedition will carry out research of its flora, fauna, physical landscape, water, aquatic life and eco-tourism potentials.
As there are villages surrounding the Imbak Canyon, a community study will also be carried out.
Recognising its biodiversity importance, Imbak Canyon was designated as a Conservation Area by Yayasan Sabah in 2003.
In August 2009, the Area was gazetted as a Class I (Protection) Forest Reserve by the Sabah State Government.
She said, Imbak Canyon Conservation Area was the third designated Conservation Area. The second was the 58,840 ha Maliau Basin Conservation Area and the first was the 43,800 ha Danum Valley Conservation Area.
Further details of the October 2010 Scientific Expedition can be obtained from Ms. Rita Stuel of Yayasan Sabah Group at Tel. 088-326563 and Mr. Hafiz Ambar, Academy of Sciences Malaysia at Tel. 03-26949898.
