January 27, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Sabah’s biggest challenge in conserving its forest reserves is human greed, Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said. “What is right might not be right for some people. Some of the state government’s decisions (on forest conservation) turn out to be unpopular although it is for a noble cause, that is to protect our forest reserves for posterity,” he said.
The survival of orang utans depend on the conservation of their habitat
Speaking at the signing ceremony between AEON CO (M) Bhd and the World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia) on the reforestation and rehabilitation of Orang Utan’s habitat, here on Monday, Masidi said despite the odds, the government was serious about preserving the forest.
“We don’t want to see the fruits of our efforts to be sacrificed for short-term monetary gains. We want our future generation to enjoy what we have enjoyed or have been enjoying,” he said.
Toward this end, he said more than 50 per cent of the Sabah’s forest was put under the protected areas, with some being gazetted as first class forest reserves.
The state government had also agreed to nominate both the Danum Valley and the Maliau Basin in the south central part of Sabah as World Heritage Sites, he said.
This was to ensure the future government would not act at will in handling forest reserves, he added.
He thanked AEON for the initiative in complementing state government’s efforts in the reforestation and rehabilitation of the Orang Utan’s natural habitat in northern Ulu Segama, Lahad Datu, where the forest was severely degraded due to several cycles of logging in the past and frequent occurrence of forest fire.
For this, AEON, Malaysia-wide retail chain and supermarket, signed a five-year contract with WWF-Malaysia that would see AEON investing about RM500,000 into the project within the approximately 80ha area.
AEON CO (M) Bhd managing director Nagahisa Oyama signed on behalf of the company while WWF-Malaysia was represented by its Chief Executive Officer Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma.
In his remarks, Nagahisa said it had always been the company’s aspiration to preserve the environment and the Orang Utan’s habitat there.
“We see the growing importance of conservation measures to protect and nurture green environment,” he added.
Source: Bernama