PRESERVING MANGROVES PROTECTOR OF OUR COASTLINES

Conservation of Malaysia’s natural resources including those wetlands along the long
coastlines of the state of Sabah is vital. This is to ensure that the natural habitat for wildlife
such as thousands of these heatmaps remain intact and are not in any way threatening.
The ecosystem of wetlands is dynamic and highly productive. It plays a multiple function
role, that is essential to its surrounding habitats and it is an important resource for
communities living in coastal ranges of the nation. Given the wide range of benefits of
Whitman’s ethics for the proper management and conservation of these areas are absolutely
essential positive actions to preserve them are indeed crucial. Failure on discount shall
result in the disruption of the fishery supply chain and the very livelihood of local of local
communities could be in jeopardy. The threats and challenges facing this daunting task of
conservation both globally and locally are real.

Sara’t Babu Gidda, Programme Officer Convention on Biological Diversity stated says,“But
unfortunately these ecosystem and the biodiversity is really degrading or losing at a very
alarming rate and wetlands are one of the ecosystems which is really facing the major threat
more than ⅓ of the existing ecosystems including wetlands either degraded are not in a
position to really provide the services what they meant for.”

States in Peninsular Malaysia have lost about ⅓ of mangrove lands. The state of Sabah too
has not been spared of such loss and degradation. The expansion of human settlements
within the coastal areas has had a negative impact on wetlands in the state. In this regard,
the Sabah Forestry Department believes that the influx of the foreigners in the last few
decades has been a contributing to the degradation of wetlands Although mangrove soil are
generally considered only marginally suitable for agriculture, yet there have been
widespread conversion of wetlands in Sabah for agro activities such as planting of oil palm.
This massive conversion of wetlands has become a major obstacle to conservation effort.

Datuk Sam Mannan, Director of Sabah Forestry Department says , “ Most important thing I
think is to look at the big picture and what is our big picture? A big picture is number one
there should be no net loss of the wetlands which involves the mangroves, the freshwater
swamps and the peat swamp forest, and there any losses at all they will have to be
compensated for. The second point is we need to address degradation there are some areas
that have been degraded as a consequence of bad practices in the past and also
encroachments and we do it this through replanting programs reforestation and so on and of
course very importantly create the awareness of the value of these types of ecosystems and
we can address these three things, I think we end the right path.”

There are times when we need to see and appreciate the beauty of our land through foreign
eyes. A United Nations official who visited Sabah on July 2011 has this to say of our land,
“You people are really blessed to live in such a beautiful place. This is gods go and gift to
Malaysians especially for the people of Sabah to have such a very congenial nature. You are
really living in the abode of nature with very lush green forests, fantastic coastal marine
areas, and full of leaf and shrubs.”

This is all the more reason why we should preserve these precious god-given resources
more than three billion people worldwide depend upon fish as the animal source of protein
United Nations official says, “Coral is handy mangrove really provide the breeding grounds
and they responsible for the growth of the Fisheries in the world.”

In Sabah the state government has introduced a novel and traditional method of fishery
conservation known as the toggle system. Local communities living along the banks of rivers
in Sabah have been empowered by the government by way of the system to manage these
rivers in a sustainable manner.All mangrove forest areas are important breeding and nursery
grounds for fish and prawn species many of which are of commercial importance. These rich
fishery resources are relied upon by local communities for their livelihood and sustenance.
For many of these coastal habitants fishing has always been the primary economic activity
for personal consumption and for cash income.

In Sabah is very important place for the production of marine resources,exports of fish
prawns and all those things and this is very important for the local economy and a lot more
important for communities. There are many fishermen here, so they are indirectly dependent
on our mangroves. If we manage our mangroves well means we will sustain their incomes in
the form of catch. There will be no deterioration or reduction in cages. Mangrove plays a
critical role in this in the protection of marine life providing habitat for critically endangered
species, Possibility as a new eco tourism product and all those things.

Eco tourism has developed rapidly over the past two decades in Sabah where many
Riverside lodges have sprung up along mangrove areas.These include those near cycka in
the lower region of kinabatangan river and along the gourami river near the chaos peat
swamp field center in the beaufort district, where visitors could enjoy nature at its best. They
may take a river cruises to watch wildlife in their natural habitat such as proposes monkeys,
Borneo Picking elephants, a variety of bird like the hornbills , and the amazing fireflies in the
evening

Sabah offers a host of the other eco tourism destination such as the world-renowned dive
sites as Sipadan and marble Island of Sampoorna and and the turtle island park off the coast
of sandakan. These eco tourism activities have become generators of revenue for local
communities in terms of employment and supply of goods and services. Operators of
ecotourism enterprises pay serious attention to issues related to conservation of the
environment and the need to have productive engagement with the local people for mutual
and long-term benefits.

There is also grave concern globally as well as locally over the increasing precious and
water quality and quantity caused by the continued degradation and loss of wetlands. There
is a necessity for the people to be aware that wetlands are the natural infrastructure that
receive water, restore water, and distribute water from the mountain to the sea.

Anada Tiega, Secretary General Ramsar Convention , said, “ So, if people understand and
people understand that we need a good management of wetland to have water quality. If
people understand that when our wetland are healthy, we’ll remain healthy. When our
wetland are degraded our health will be also degraded and water quality again. I’m talking
about it because in some countries it is still not understood that water quality is very
important for life. If we lose the quality of our water, we cannot develop it. There is no
country that can survive without water quality.”
The network of wetlands truly supports the whole ecosystem of the forests. The forest
received water manage it and contribute to the water cycle. Over 90% of 340,000 hectares
of Sabah’s mangrove still intact and most of these areas are under the stewardship of the
Sabah forestry department. Mangrove in Sabah are distributed abundantly in most of the
coastal areas accounting for 59% of the country’s mangrove , meanwhile Sarawak has some
23% and Peninsular of Malaysia has 18% of mangrove forests. Conservation of flora and
fauna of mangroves in Sabah is a short under the state legislation particularly the first
enlightenment of 1968. The total area covered by 22 mangrove forests and virgin jungle
reserves is closed to 328,000 hectare.

The total mangrove areas that need to be rehabilitated in Sabah are approximately 3275
hectares that are in the coastal areas and 2440 hectares of which are under forest reserves.
Since 2006 the sabah Forestry Department has carried out a number of mangrove forest
rehabilitation and conservation project throughout the state. They include rehabilitation and
restoration of degraded such as abandoned shrimp farms eroded coastal areas and
encroached areas in mangrove forest reserves.

Datuk Sam Mannan, Director of Sabah Forestry Department says ,”First is the restoration of
areas which cannot regenerate on their own as a consequence of encroachments such as
the existence of illegal shrimp ponds, fish ponds and so on. We have achieved about 800
hectares of such a restoration worth costing us just over RM 5 Million .”

The department has also entered into a collaborative effort with the international society for
mangrove ecosystems to implement a mangrove planting program in Sabah for the period
from 2011 to 2014. The rehabilitation project is funded by the Tokyo marine insurance
company limited of Japan.

Hironari Iwakuma, Executive DirectorTokio Marine Insurans (M) Berhad, said, “ We decided
plant mangrove ,to be more kind to the environmental above earth and we stated to
implementation of mangrove in Asian countries and also some in Pacific Islands, but this
time because of the systems from ISME they were able to bring the project together with
sterile and so we have decided to fund this project.”

The Sabah Forestry Department is now looking into the possibility of developing a model
area that would serve as an example of what should be done for mangrove foresets in the
state. It is similar to the Dare Market model for inland forest. The proposed area is at the
Kuala Bonggaya and Kuala Labuk Mangrove reserves ,district covering about 17,000
hectares. Once, the forest management plan for it is approved. Implementation will
commence at our level whereby we will try to look for potential collaborators,potential
partners because method to put this under proper management. This will require each
resources actually the whole idea for it for this is to apply the wise use of concept for
wetlands in accordance with the Ramsar Convention. We’ll have it implement on the ground
all those things once it is approved.

Datuk Sam Mannan, Director of Sabah Forestry Department says ,”That will address all the
requirements of sustainability which looks at the environmental part of it the economic part of
it and of course the social part of it. So, there’s a model thathas not been started but is
something which we want to implement soon. “
The Ramsar are convention registers sites all over the world in recognition of of their
richness and value in biodiversity. The largest of such ramsar sites in Malaysia is located
near the mouths of two major rivers in sabah, the kinabatangan and segama.rivers. This
Ramsar site covering just over 78,800 hectares of wetlands and intertidal forests is within
three forest reserves. This are te trusan Kinabatangan Mangrove Forest Reserve, Kulamba
wildlife forest reserve and the Kuala Maruap and Kuala Segama Mangrove Forest Reserve.
Here is one of the richest wetland ecosystem in this part of the world.

Anada Tiega, Secretary General Ramsar Convention , said,” The recognition of the value of
the site is the reason for leasing it and then taking action to manage the site to make it
long-term conservation and long-term wise use of it. We are really taking it seriously about
the linkage interdependence between forests and wetlands.”

Being largely undisturbed mangrove forests rare peat swamp forest and wet grassland on
peat the lower kinabatangan and Sagami wetlands naturally serve as an important habitat
for an array of wildlife. These include some endangered species such as a wild water
buffaloes, the perverse monkeys , the orang utans, sumatran rhinoceros, and Borneo Pygmy
elephants. There is also a variety of migratory birds and protected bird species found within
the site.

Datuk Sam Mannan, Director of Sabah Forestry Department says ,” It’s also important to
protect the wildlife that are found in the Ramsar site. Our job before the formulation of the
Ramsar site certification was to protect that area to allow some small-scale exploitation for
local use in all that.”

The impacts of the palm oil industry in the kinabatangan and Segawa river basins are among
major threats to the ramsar site such threats include the high level of total suspended solids
and other pollution of river water caused by the industry fragmentation of the forest
ecosystem and wildlife connectivity to the Ramsar site,

Conservation of areas upstream is therefore as important and could result in serious and
negative consequences if neglected one oil palm plantation firm in sabah that takes this
matter of conservation seriously is the IJM plantations Berhad. The group believes that palm
oils can be produced in a sustainable manner and it is committed to minimizing the impact of
commercial agriculture activities on the environments.

Joseph Tek Choon Yee, CEO & Managing Director IJM Plantation Berhad,Sabah, Said ,” In
our journey toward sustainability the company adopts good agricultural practices throughout
our operations. The business model company is basically to balance profitability with care for
the environment and the people.”

There is great concern over the connectivity between land and sea. When we see a healthy
mangrove and other wetland areas it means that the land around and further upstream is
well managed. When the land is not well managed all the negative impacts go into the
waters , the river system and in the end to the coastal areas. Besides the fact that mangrove
are an important resource for coastal communities, they also play multiple ecological
functions essential to surrounding habitats. For instance, they protect coastlines against
erosive wave action and strong coastal winds and serve as natural barriers against tsunamis
and torrential storms .

Sara’t Babu Gidda, Programme Officer Convention on Biological Diversity stated says,”
these coral reefs and the mangroves have a very vital role not only with the local but the
whole regional and the global level. For example, when the tsunami affected in india 10
years back, I think 2006.the where the intact mangrove ecosystems but they loss both the
property and the human loss was much less than the degradation takes place that is one
example where you can see how much the benefit, the impact mangrove ecosystem can
really provide when we face with the natural disasters.”

Mangrove forests also prevent salt water from intruding into rivers. They also help retain,
concentrate and recycle nutrients and remove toxic through a natural filtering process.

The Kota Kinabalu wetland center a 24 hectare mangrove forest was originally designated
as a bird sanctuary by the Sabah government in 1996 . Two years later is declared a state
cultural heritage site , now the state government is seeking it to be registered as Ramsar
Site.

Anada Tiega, Secretary General Ramsar Convention , said,” I had the opportunity to visit the
site, mangrove area are very important all over the world and this site is also very close to
the city. So it is important to show to the city how wetland are important for life and it’s very
important for education and we think it will be good if this site can be listed as Ramsar Site to
recognize the value of it and to continue conserving it and many of the mangrove area are
also important for protection against storms soit is important to have them around the city
and to educate people to make a clear link between the life of people and nature.”

The Kota Kinabalu wetland Center managed by the Sabah wetlands conservation society
carries out activities to create awareness and support from the general public unimportance
of mangrove and other wetland ecosystem. The society too implements the project that
promotes the conservation, education, recreation,tourism and research in various part of the
state.

Sara’t Babu Gidda, Programme Officer Convention on Biological Diversity stated says,” First
of all , I really congratulate and acknowledge the people of Sabah for undertaking such such
a wonderful activities. We have visited the wetland center, the communication the
importance the awareness which this center is creating about the value of the wetlands is
unprecedented and and also the people are very aware about the value and virtue of these
wetlands in this regard the initiatives taken by the government of sabah and the government
of Malaysia are very laudable and they are doing excellent work.”

There are challenging time ahead, globallythe years 2011 to 2020 have beeb declared by by
United Nations as the decade on biodiversity . In harmony with that move Malaysia’s
national policy on biodiversity also states that by the year 2020 Malaysia will become a world
center of excellence in conservation,research and utilization of tropical biological diversity.
Similarly in Sabah the management plan for the country largest Ramsar site supports that
national vision. This plan provides guidelines for conservation initiatives for the site covering
the same 10-year period from 2011 to the year 2020.
Datuk Sam Mannan, Director of Sabah Forestry Department says ,” we have ignored the
importance of these mangroves we have been so much focus on the inland forests for so
long but now our approach is broader, more we look at many things now in the past we were
just looking at timber but our approach is multifocal. We look at the multiple resources that
come from forests. The benefits the ecosystem services and all these things are now more
important if not more important than timber production.”

A broader view not only in terms of the scope of conservation work confined nearly within the
state of sabah but also in terms of wider geographic coverage. Conservation actions are the
Ramsar site in the next decade are also crucial in support of the larger coral triangle initiative
.They will also help promote the conservation of the sulu-sulawesi marine ecoregion which is
also dubbed as a cradle of corals. Given such crucial role of global significance the ramsar
site and all other areas of wetlands in sabah must therefore be preserved at all cost . The
sabah state government is as determined as ever to safeguard the physical biological and
functional integrity of this ramsar site and other wetlands and the ecosystems in the state.