Bernama 13 Sep 11;
SANDAKAN, Sept 13 (Bernama) -- About 326,000 hectares of the 340,000 hectares of mangroves in Sabah have been designated Mangrove Forest Reserves, according to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.
This represents 59 per cent of the nation's total. Although not very large in terms of the world's mangrove coverage, Sabah has one of the best natural mangrove ecosystems in the world, Musa said.
"Most importantly, the state is also actively promoting sustainable development, particularly in forest management, through such programmes as Sustainable Forest Management, which now covers mangrove forest reserves," he said in his speech at the General Assembly of International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems (ISME), at the Rainforest Discovery Centre, here Tuesday.
His text of speech was delivered by Minister of Youth and Sports, Datuk Peter Pang En Yin.
The ISME was established in 1990 to promote research, conservation, rational management and sustainable use of mangrove ecosystems.
Headquartered at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan, the ISME now has more than 1,000 members from 90 countries.
With funding from the federal government, the Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) has formulated a Strategic Guidelines and Framework for Sabah's Mangrove Master Plan, and devised a model for the Management of the Mangroves Forest.
In addition, SFD has rehabilitated a total of 736 hectares of Mangroves Forest Reserve, through separate funding for the restoration of coastline under the Ninth Malaysian Plan and the Sabah Development Corridor initiative.
"Our mangrove restoration efforts also include a joint collaborative effort established last year between SFD and ISME, with generous funding and support from Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Insurance Co Ltd Japan.
"It is pledged that 50 hectares of mangrove areas will be rehabilitated annually for three years, between April 2011 and March 2014," he added.
-- BERNAMA
