Kota Kinabalu: Kinabatangan’s recognition as a Biosphere Reserve by Unesco appears the best gift for the iconic wildlife there, namely Orang Utans, Proboscis Monkeys, Pygmy elephants, Sun Bears, Crocodiles and Hornbills, among others.
The UN agency designated the vulnerable Kinabatangan as a Biosphere Reserve under its Man and the Biosphere programme in Hangzhou, China, last month.
This means no more projects like the controversial RM730 million Sukau bridge-cum-highway under the Najib administration that threatened the Kinabatangan in 2016, until Daily Express stepped in and for which the paper later earned the Prime Minister’s Hibiscus Award for journalism excellence, a feat not repeated by any other Malaysian newspaper.
Or most recently the Pan Borneo Highway where contractors quickly bulldozed swathes of the Tawai Forest Reserve elephant habitat despite public outcry.
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