The Star 11 Mar 12;
KOTA KINABALU: A 50m-forest corridor strip known as the Melapi Elephant Corridor in Sukau is making a difference in the survival of the Bornean pygmy elephants.
The corridor project to connect fragmented forests in Sabah is helping in the survival of the elephants, said Borneo Conservation Trust and Research head and project leader Raymond Alfred.
“Even a strip of land 50m wide makes a difference in allowing the migration of the Bornean elephant herds in Lower Kinabatangan,” he said.
Alfred said the Melapi corridor was established in August through a joint collaboration between the Sabah Wildlife Department and Borneo Conservation Trust together with their partners Syarikat Yu Kwang Development Sdn Bhd and Proboscis Lodge Bukit Melapi.
“We are very happy to know that the elephants are now able to pass through the land using this corridor to migrate from one key habitat to another, when previously it was a very narrow bottleneck,” he said.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu said the collaborative effort was a great example where the private sector worked with the Government and non-governmental organisations.
“We welcome the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with companies and organisations, which are keen to play an active role in supporting and contributing to Sabah’s wildlife conservation initiatives,” he added.
He said with the corridor, potential human-and-elephant conflict in the villages and plantation was also reduced.
Earlier this week, students from Nihon University Japan, coordinated by Borneo Conservation Trust Japan, planted more than 100 trees within the corridor to facilitate the movement of the orang utan within the fragmented habitat in the future.
