(MY) orangutan sanctuary

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Heritage bid for orang utan sanctuary in Sarawak - New Straits Times*06 Jul

2006*

Nancy Nais <news

 

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*KUCHING: A sanctuary to almost 1,400 endangered orang utans could be

Malaysia's next World Heritage site if all goes well later this month.

*

The Lanjak Entimau Wild-life Sanctuary is one of 37 sites that will be

considered when Unesco's World Heritage Committee meets from July 8 to 16,

said the Malaysian National Commission for Unesco.

 

The 170,000ha protected forest, about five hours drive from here, was paired

with the Batang Ai National Park when the Sarawak Forestry Department made

the submission in 2002.

 

The World Heritage Committee made its final evaluation last year, said

Wilfred Landong, Sarawak Forestry general manager for protected areas and

biodiversity conservation.

 

Delegates from the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism will be attending

the committee's 30th annual meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, he added.

 

Other sites in the running for the prestigious listing include the Lope

national park in Gabon and the Causses- Cevennes, a French region home to

mediaeval Templar ruins and the famed Roquefort blue cheese.

 

Lanjak Entimau was made a protected forest area in 1983. Primarily an orang

utan reserve, its terrain is rugged, with hills and ridges that are over 300

metres high, and steep slopes with narrow V-shaped valleys.

 

It is also home to the giant Rafflesia flower and other protected species

such as Borneo gibbons, hornbills, and Brooke's Birdwing butterfly.

 

The Batang Ai National Park is much smaller, with an area of about 24,000ha.

Gazetted in 1991, it covers the tributaries and headwaters of the Batang Ai

river which flows into the reservoir of the Batang Ai hydro-electric dam.

 

Malaysia has been trying for a joint World Heritage site listing for

historic Malacca and Penang, but ran into difficulties after the sites were

nominated in 2001. The dossier will be re-submitted this year.

 

The country has two World Heritage sites, the Gunung Mulu National Park and

Kinabalu Park, both listed in 2000.

 

 

Unesco's World Heritage List was created in 1972, and the 812 sites include

the Giza pyramids in Egypt and the Great Wall of China.

 

News agency AFP reported Unesco officials as saying the organisation hoped

to make the list more globally representative.

 

Its list dominated by sites in Old Europe, Unesco especially wished to take

in more natural sites. Those already listed include Australia's Great

Barrier Reef, the Serengeti national park in Kenya and Tanzania and

Ecuador's Galapagos archipelago which inspired Charles Darwin's theory of

natural selection.