Sarawak Forestry Corporation out to protect wetlands for waterbirds

The Star 24 Jan 11;

THE Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) is expected to identify and protect important waterbird wintering sites in the state once a field survey project is completed by March this year, says managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Len Talif Salleh.

He said teams of volunteers and waterbird experts as well as institutions of higher learning, schools and members of the public were welcome to join in the coastal wetland conservation effort and learn more about Sarawak’s ecosystem.

“Based on previous studies and records within the last 20 years, the number of waterbirds in Malaysia has decreased as much as 23% and this fact, therefore, becomes the purpose of the survey as the results will provide a definite account of the state of waterbird population and wetland habitats in Sarawak,” he said in a statement yesterday.

He said the survey, supported by the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), was vital to the whole ecosystem, especially as waterbirds were now under threat everywhere from habitat loss, pollution, hunting and other threats.

He said it also acted as a comprehensive and systematic community awareness platform for locals as community awareness programmes and training workshops would be conducted on coastal wetlands and waterbird preservation besides other useful and relevant skills, including identification and monitoring techniques.

Len said Sarawak had more coastal Important Bird Areas (IBAs), along the Tanjung Datu-Samunsam Protected Area, Talang-Satang National Park, Bako-Buntal Bay, Sadong-Saribas Coast, Pulau Bruit, Simalajau National Park and Brunei Bay, compared to other states.

Apart from that, he said, Sarawak’s west coast had recorded some of the country’s highest concentrations of migratory waterbirds during the Annual Asian Waterbird Census.

“Over 50 million waterbirds migrate along the East Asia-Australia Flyway each year. Some weigh as little as 25 gms, yet they travel 25,000km every year,” he said, adding that these waterbirds needed the wetlands to feed and rest on their epic journeys.

He said SFC had already started similar surveys since 2006 to save the habitat of the waterbirds in Sarawak.

For further information on how to participate in the survey, the public can visit http://mnsmiri.blogspot.com/2010/12/waterbirds-and-wetland-habitats-survey.html - Bernama