Avila Geraldine New Straits Times 9 Oct 11;
KOTA KINABALU: Efforts to rehabilitate the wildlife habitat at the degraded area in the northern part of the Ulu Segama-Malua forest reserves in Lahad Datu have begun to yield results.
Several images of orang utans building nests in replanted trees were captured by WWF-Malaysia in the newly-restored degraded forest.
It was a positive indication that the wildlife population in the degraded forest, where a mixture of native tree species were planted with the aim of enhancing the quality of wildlife habitat and food sources, especially for the orang utan, would increase before long.
A delighted Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) director Datuk Sam Mannan said the survival of the orang utans depended on well-managed forests.
"The restoration efforts in the Ulu Segama-Malua Forest Reserve since 2006 will help the largest endangered population of the Bornean orang utan, subspecies Pongo pygmaeus morio, in Sabah."
The Ulu Segama-Malua sustainable forest management, covering an area of 241,098 ha, was initiated by the state government and jointly managed by SFD and Sabah Foundation.
SFD has partnered WWF-Malaysia in reforestation efforts of 2,400 ha there since 2008.
The orang utan is the largest arboreal (tree-living) animal in the world. They spend most of their time in trees; feeding, sheltering and travelling through the forest canopy, from one tree to another.
"Without trees, it would be difficult for orang utans to survive," said Dr Rahimatsah Amat, the chief technical officer (Borneo programme) of WWF-Malaysia.
Dr Rahimatsah hoped to see more orang utans utilising the restored forest area, which has more replanted trees for food, shelter and also travel.
"We are already seeing some really exciting results, with our research and monitoring team reporting evidence of more wildlife starting to return to the restored areas of the degraded forest.
"This is not just orang utans, but also other wildlife, such as clouded leopard, sun bears and many more endangered species.
"A herd of wild Borneo pygmy elephants passed through our reforestation site early this year.
"Fortunately, they didn't cause any major damage to the replanted trees.
"On the other hand, the elephants left behind their dung, which is a tremendous natural fertiliser, at the replanted site," she said.
Funding for the reforestation in the Ulu Segama-Malua forest reserve comes from WWF-Germany, WWF-United Kingdom, WWF-Netherlands and WWF-Japan, as well as from the private sector, such as Adessium Foundation, Itochu Group, Marks & Spencer, Seng Heng and Aeon Jusco.
To date, 1,096ha of degraded forest in the forest reserve have been replanted out of the total 2,400ha allocated to WWF-Malaysia for reforestation by SFD.
In recognition of the efforts contributed by SFD towards managing the forest reserves under the sustainable forest management model, the Ulu Segama-Malua forest reserve was awarded the forest stewardship council (FSC) certificate at the FSC General Assembly held in Kota Kinabalu in June.
The certification ensures that the home for orang utans is better conserved.
