New Straits Times 29 Oct 12;
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Wildlife Department will present to the state cabinet a paper to propose the setting up of Sabah Orang Utan Conservation Alliance (SOCA).
This was a conclusion derived from an orang utan conservation dialogue held here recently, said the department director Datuk Dr Laurentius Ambu.
The dialogue drew more than 80 stakeholders who discussed implementation of strategies and objectives highlighted in the Orang Utan Action Plan 2012-2016 launched early this year.
"SOCA will coordinate orang utan conservation and research efforts in Sabah, implement and monitor the Orang Utan Action Plan and advise the government on conservation issues.
"The alliance's functions include sharing information on orang utans and promoting the orang utan conservation works in Sabah by raising awareness nationally and globally.
"We will prepare a cabinet paper on it and bring it to the attention of the state cabinet.
"We hope that SOCA can be rapidly established," said Laurentius in a statement.
During the dialogue, he said they also identified approaches to maintain viable wildlife populations in Kinabatangan area.
These include urging the government to impose a moratorium on forest conversion in Kinabatangan and to create forest corridors in areas where riparian forests have been converted.
"It is high time that the oil palm industry acknowledged that there are problems and take the necessary measures to address the issues of forest fragmentation and clearings of riparian forests in Sabah as well as orang utan killings happening in oil palm estates in Kalimantan.
"We also addressed the problems in Kinabatangan, where orang utans are also found outside protected forests in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplain.
"Our recent analysis of satellite images have shown that 25,000 hectares of such forests still remain and if we want to secure the orang utan population in Kinabatangan, we cannot afford to lose another hectare of forest."
State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, when closing the two-day dialogue, said some plantation owners might not realise riparian rivers were reserved and are strictly not to be used for any plantation development.
"These reserves must be rehabilitated and if they had been encroached on, action will be taken.
"I would also like to urge plantation owners to sign an agreement adopting a zero tolerance of wildlife (especially orang utans) killings in their respective estates.
"Orang utan are totally protected in Sabah and anyone killing one must be prosecuted," he said, adding that such a move would paint a good image of the plantation industry.
