(MY) land for wildlife

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Asiatic sets aside land for wildlife - New Straits Times

10 May 2006

By Jaswinder Kaur

 

 

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SANDAKAN: Encouraged by the return of wildlife to reforested areas, an

oil palm plantation in the Lower Kinabatangan yesterday set aside more

land for conservation.

 

Including the latest tract, Asiatic Development Bhd has dedicated 118

hectares to jungle rehabilitation over the past seven years, foregoing

the profits from palm oil.

 

The reforested zone will help establish a corridor for wildlife to

move about in the fragmented Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary.

 

Asiatic Development signed a memorandum of understanding with

WWF-Malaysia and the Sabah Wildlife Department to help rehabilitate

one of the richest wetland habitats on Earth. The area flanks the

Tenagang Besar, a tributary of the Kinabatangan River, which is

Sabah's longest.

 

The MoU was signed by Asiatic Development senior vice-president and

general manager for Sabah Abdul Halim Abdul Majid, Sabah Wildlife

Department deputy director Laurentius Ambu and WWF-Malaysia Borneo

Programme chief technical officer Dr Rahimatsah Amat.

 

Laurentius said the department had been trying, without concrete

results, to persuade plantation owners to help restore areas near

wildlife habitats since the 1990s.

 

He said development must be balanced with conservation, and companies

which support such efforts could gain rewards in the form of tourism.

 

" Kinabatangan is a tourism icon in Sabah. Planters can tap into this

potential, as tourists can visit areas they have helped to

rehabilitate, " he said.

 

Halim, meanwhile, said proboscis monkeys and Borneo pygmy elephants

had been sighted in rehabilitated zones.

 

" We hope our efforts will lead other oil palm companies and

smallholders to do the same. We are doing our bit for the

environment, " he said.