Definitive proof of a red ape rebound
Published on: Saturday, August 08, 2015
Lahad Datu: Looking for a definitive proof of wild orang-utan rebounds in heavily degraded forest in Ulu Segama/Malua Forest? This is it – two weeks ago, an orang-utan nested on a fruiting Telesai tree planted four years ago inside the Sime Darby Foundation-funded 5,400-hectare Northern Ulu Segama, Malua Forest Restoration Project entitled 'Orang-utan Rehabilitation,' in collaboration with the Sabah Forestry Department.The defining moment ignited wild cheers!
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"My God, that's exactly the kind of impact that we are looking for. So heartening that the trees we planted are fruiting and the orang-utan is using our trees to nest!" exclaimed an exhilarated Sime Darby Foundation CEO Yatela Zainal Abidin at a joint press conference with State Forestry Director Datuk Sam Mannan at the latter's Sandakan office. "We are so excited and very, very happy because it actually shows our collaboration with the Sabah Forestry Department is working," Yatela noted. Ulu Segama inspired probably the earliest book ever written on Sabah's great ape entitled "In Search of the Red Ape" by John MacKinnon who did a field study here in the early 1960s when it was primeval jungle. MacKinnon later became a professor at the University of Kent.
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But numbers wise: Is its returning visibility in Bukit Pitong a sign of true rebound or are the fruit trees attracting them to the area?Yatela confessed she's not sure until a WWF report has been completed by year-end, she said.
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"The fact is when we started the project in 2009, it was so difficult to see an orang-utan but now every time we go in we see at least one," Yatela cited the typical such sighting by the press brought in by Sime Darby Foundation (YSD) on August 4."The impact is so good we felt compelled to get the press to write about it," she said (hence his front page report!) But YSD deserves unreserved praise for spending unbelievably big one of their "Big 9s".A hefty quantum of RM25 million has been committed to this 10-year 2009-2019 project by Sime Darby Foundation to restock the 5.400-hectare area logged multiple times starting in the early 60s by Kennedy Bay and twice burnt by forest fires in 1983 and again in 1998. In fact, out of the RM130 million committed to the 'Environment Pillar' since 2009, RM80 million went to Sabah. "Without such intervention, this forest would never regenerate because dipterocarp seeds are not dormant and quickly become unviable in a matter of two weeks," said Indra Purwandita bin Henry Sunjoto, District Forest Officer, Ulu Segama Malua, who gave the Malaysian press a guided tour on May 4. Meant to finish in 2018, "we are looking to an early completion next year," Yatela announced. Mannan claimed "excellent progress", citing 2,400 hectares certified by the Forest Stewardship Council in 2011, and labelled Sime Darby Foundation the single biggest "exemplary" corporate healer of sick forest in Sabah. But the master stroke is the politically driven "security of tenure" which Mannan likened to 'land title' alienated to orang-utans for perpetuity, crediting Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman as the 'driver' who pushed the issue. "Round about 2006, the Chief Minister decided all logging in Ulu Segama must cease by December 31, 2007. Notices were given out to all loggers, you get out whether you finish or you don't finish. That's it. There was political support and there was a ceremony that this area was going to be conserved into posterity in the interest of particularly orang-utan," Mannan said. By 2012, security of tenure was sealed when the Northern Ulu Segama Forest Reserve was upgraded to Class 1 Bukit Piton Forest Reserve with an overall objective to conserve orang-utan, banning logging for good, Mannan stressed. "I'll tell you this: If the orang-utan is going to have a chance of survival in this planet, Sabah is the place where they got the greatest chance because we know more, we do more than anywhere else in the world and we have taken actions that not only will the species survive but will thrive." That's my take," he asserted, claiming 75 per cent of Sabah's orang-utans now live in protected forests because SFD made it happen! "Previously popular saying 75 per cent of orang-utan inhabit unprotected forest is untrue now because we made it untrue," Mannan declared. Will Sime Darby Foundation be receptive to future projects with Sabah Forestry? Yatela said 'reputation' attracts YSD."We are open to impactful projects from partners who have proven themselves," she said, hinting at SFD for one."My Council is very strict with governance which requires half yearly or yearly audits and the Sabah Forestry Department opened their books to us," she told the media.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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