(MY) logging and orangutans

[Guest guest]

Focus on tourism, not timber' *30 Jul 2006 - New Sunday Times*

By M. Husairy Othman <husairy

 

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*GRIK: State Governments relying on logging as a major source of income

should look to eco-tourism and other industries to fill their coffers.

*

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid wants

logging to be scaled down.

 

" This is important because even with sustainable logging activities the

environment and habitat of animals will be affected.

 

" God gave us trees, why do you need to cut them down? " Azmi said after

opening the three-day Tropical Rainforest Tourism Symposium 2006 in Banding,

some 45km from here, yesterday.

 

Azmi suggested States that were blessed with large tracts of forest should

instead focus on the tourism sector. Sabah and Sarawak had shown this was a

model that could succeed.

 

" We cannot wait forever and continue to earn from logging. How long do they

want to depend on it? "

 

The tourism industry, he noted, brought in some RM19.5 billion to the

country last year.

 

He hoped that the States would come up with proposals on how they planned to

reduce logging before phasing it out altogether.

 

The Federal Government could only make suggestions but State Governments

should take these proposals seriously to protect the environment for the

sake of the people.

 

Azmi said that he supported the Malaysian Nature Society's suggestion that

the Royal Belum State Park and the Temenggor forest reserve be gazetted as

state parks to stop logging in these areas.

--\

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*Environment:* Logged and rolled

And there's still room for wildlife*29 Jul 2006*

JASWINDER KAUR <jaswin

 

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*Wildlife can survive in logged areas that are properly managed, writes

JASWINDER KAUR

*

Wildlife management was perhaps the last thing on the mind of explorers who

discovered the " timber gold mine " in Sabah.

 

There is no knowing how much wildlife was lost in the last century when

loggers moved into the thick jungles.

 

Sabah's east coast forests were first explored 126 years ago, and in 1882,

revenue started to trickle in.

 

But one thing is for sure. Foresters have, in the last couple of decades,

began using sustainable harvesting methods. Not only does it ensure income

for Sabah for many more years, it also provides shelter for whatever

wildlife remains.

 

Sabah Forestry Department says properly managed logging gives a lifeline to

threatened species, such as orang utan and Borneo Pygmy elephants, as is

being practised in the Deramakot Forest Reserve.

 

Deramakot has become a model for sustainable forest management, a practice

which will eventually be used in all Class II forest reserves.

 

Under this model, the forest is divided into compartments and logged in

different cycles, allowing the jungle to regenerate.

 

Felling is selective, going by the reduced impact logging (RIL) programme.

 

Great care is taken to retain fruit trees, woody vines and creepers which

are food for wildlife. Salt licks that wildlife depend on are also not

disturbed in Deramakot.

 

The model must be working for the wildlife, if the department's annual

report for 2004 is anything to go by. It details evidence of wildlife based

on camera traps and sightings.

 

Among the threatened species seen are the orang utan, tembadau, sun bears,

Storm storks, the Borneo pygmy elephants, Clouded leopards, proboscis

monkeys, Bornean gibbon, helmeted hornbill and the red leaf monkey. There

are also 26 other animals, including sambar deer, flat-headed cat, leopard

cat, Reticulated python and pangolin.

 

Auditors who visit Deramakot every six months use the orang utan population

as an indicator of how the forest is being managed. A drop in numbers will

indicate something is wrong somewhere.

 

The orang utan population at Deramakot remains stable at 900 to 1,000

individuals for the last 10 years of RIL type logging.

 

Department director Sam Mannan says forest conversion, encroachment, change

in land use and wild fires are what eliminate wildlife.

 

" As long as there is no change in land use, the wildlife will recover from

logging as seen from a great variety and number of animals at logged over

forests.

 

" Almost all Class II forest reserves have been logged at least once. Ulu

Segama, for example, still has the richest number of wildlife, including

orang utan. "

 

Tabin is another example of a repeatedly logged forest before it became a

wildlife reserve.

 

With the exception of a virgin core area of 8,550ha at Mount Hatton, the

rest of Tabin was logged at least twice. It remains one of the richest

wildlife areas in Sabah.

 

" The same principle applies for plants. Don't change the land use, and tree

species will recover and regenerate, " says Mannan.

 

The department also has a Forest Research Centre which studies the

importance of certain plants for the wildlife.

 

This centre works closely with the Sabah Wildlife Department and

non-governmental organisations such as Kinabatangan Orang Utan Conservation

Programme and WWF Malaysia.

 

Steps are also being taken to gain certification for more forest reserves in

Sabah, aside from Deramakot which has already been accredited by the Forest

Stewardship Council.

 

FSC certification which will further boost conservation of wildlife is in

the pipeline for Ulu Kalumpang (55,000ha), Tangkulap-Pinangah (50,000ha),

Trusmadi (75,000ha), Timimbang-Botitian (13,610ha) and Ulu Segama and Malua

(250,000ha).

 

This is a total of 443,610ha, or 6½ times the size of Singapore.

 

The concern, however, is how logging is done at some forest reserves in the

rush to get out as much timber as possible before gaining FSC certification

and other accreditation.

 

Under the spotlight are Ulu Segama and Malua, which have almost 20 per cent

of the 11,000 orang utan in Sabah.

 

Mannan says a planning team for Ulu Segama and Malua was set up on March 15

and a new forestry district has also been established.

 

" We will conduct monthly aerial surveys and weekly ground checks and build a

base camp. There is also a target of treating 35,000ha of degraded forests

in the next five years.

 

" Harvesting at Malua, which borders the protected Danum Valley Conservation

Area, will have a 100-metre buffer zone. "

 

RIL, as done in Deramakot, will be implemented in the remaining 25,000 to

28,000ha and harvesting will not deviate from the Comprehensive Harvesting

Plan, says Mannan.

 

Crawler tractors won't be used at terrain of more than 25 degrees, roadside

reserves of 30 metres will be put in place, a riparian reserve of 30 metres

at streams is mandatory and fruit trees for wildlife will not be chopped

down.

 

Another pledge has come from Yayasan Sabah, the custodian of Ulu Segama and

Malua.

 

In a faxed reply, Yayasan's Forestry, Processing and Marketing Division

group manager, Mohd Daud Tampokong, said: " We will retain the heartland of

the Orang Utan under Natural Forest Management in Ulu Segama, Malua, Kuamut

and a major part of the Gunong Rara and Pinangah forest reserves.

 

" We will progressively introduce RIL at Malua and conduct silvi-culture in

logged over forests and forest restoration at degraded sites. "

 

Daud said an Environmental Impact Assessment report is being prepared and no

harvesting will start until it is approved.

 

Yayasan Sabah and the Sabah Forestry Department will also monitor logging

contractors to ensure they carry out " proper logging practices " , says Daud.

 

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*Great apes surviving against odds*

 

THE orangutan, with its gangling arms and the adorable eyes, is more than

just cute and cuddly. These great apes are among the smart alecs of the

jungles of Sabah.

 

This is the revelation that scientists who are studying whether the

orangutan can adapt and survive in degraded forests came up with.

 

" What we found out is that the orangutan can adapt their diet and, so far,

we have documented some 300 plant species they eat in secondary forests, "

said French primatologist Marc Ancrenaz. " Most of these plants are rare in

primary forests. "

 

Ancrenaz has been studying the orangutan in Sabah for the last decade. He

and his scientists have made yet another observation: These apes are able to

reproduce just as well in the new environment.

 

Most of the adult females have babies, say the scientists, which indicates

that the orangutan are able to reproduce in highly degraded forests.

 

Surveys have shown there are 11,000 orang utan in Sabah, says Ancrenaz,

which is a 10-fold figure compared to the World Conservation Union figure of

1,000, when it was last published in the 1990s.

 

The landmark nine-year-old study was done by the Kinabatangan Orang Utan

Conservation Project (KOCP), led by Ancrenaz and his wife, Isabelle Lackman.

 

" Nine years ago, we realised there were many orangutan in Sabah and the

majority were in secondary forests, " he said.

 

At that time, scientists believed orangutan needed primary forests to

survive.

 

The study also showed orangutan in secondary forests move an average 200

metres to find food, whereas those in primary forests needed to walk four

times that distance in search of food.

 

This is where the " not-so-good-news " comes into the picture.

 

Some 60 per cent of the 11,000 individuals live outside protected areas. And

some 4,500, or four in ten of the orangutan call Yayasan Sabah timber

concession forests, home.

 

The study, Ancrenaz feels, is too short to determine the long term effect of

human activities on the orangutan.

 

" In the short term, the orangutan can survive and adapt to a certain extent

of forest degradation, " he said.

 

" But we don't know if the population is viable forever because we don't

know, at this time, the human impact on the social structure of the species.

It will take us 20 to 30 years to study this. "

 

But for now, his concern lies with the 5,000 individuals that fall under

Yayasan Sabah's care, of which 4,500 are in commercial forests and 500 at

the protected Danum Valley Conservation Area.

 

" This is the highest concentration of orangutan within one unfragmented

habitat.

 

" We can't protect all forests because it's just too vast an area, but we

feel there is a way to exploit the forest sustainably so that the orangutan

and other wildlife can continue to live. "

 

The Deramakot Forest Reserve, for instance, has shown that the orangutan are

able to live in well-managed commercial forests.

 

There are about 2,000 orangutan at the Ulu Segama and Malua forest reserves

which the Sabah Government has pledged to conserve when logging operations

cease next year, says Ancrenaz,

 

Both reserves have been logged for more than three decades, contrary to the

perception that its forests are still pristine.

 

Ancrenaz says there are more than 300 orangutan in the " very, very degraded "

forest north of the Segama river, and other parts of both reserves.

 

" Although both forest reserves have been logged, the concern is over the

type of impact it will have on the remaining wildlife there.

 

" For instance, in Malua, we recommend that logging be done from the north,

heading south.

 

" If it is done the other way around, wildlife, especially orangutan, will

face difficulties because an oil palm plantation borders the reserve on the

northeast. "

 

Ancrenaz says surveys indicate other species at the two reserves are

elephants, rhinos, wild buffaloes (tembadau), proboscis monkeys and sun

bears.

 

But for now, Ancrenaz and others who care for the survival of wildlife will

continue to monitor what happens at the two forests which have been promised

for conservation of orangutan.