Sabah formulating 25-year plan for long-term forest management

KOTA KINABALU – Sabah is currently formulating a 25-year Forest Master Plan to pave the state’s direction in long-term forest management.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the master plan will focus on forest reserves and areas within state and alienated land, and will be in line with the Sabah Forest Policy 2018.

Hajiji noted the Sustainable Forest Management introduced in 1997 has already been fully implemented.

“Consistent efforts to strike a balance of socioeconomic development and conservation via the rationalisation of land use must continue as part of achieving new and sustainable income generation for Sabah.

“This entails exploring various initiatives which can support forest conservation programmes through non-timber-based income generation (Forest Beyond Timber),” he said at the Heart of Borneo International Conference: An Ecosystem That Provides at the Sabah International Convention Centre here today.

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister I cum Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan read his speech.

Hajiji said the Sabah government is committed towards the conservation of its natural resources through protected areas in line with the objectives of the Heart of Borneo Initiative.

“Since the declaration of the Heart of Borneo Initiative in 2007, the Sabah government, through the Sabah Forestry Department, has made much progress in conservation.

“More than 27% of the state’s land area or about 2 million hectares have been gazetted as Totally Protected Areas (TPAs), and 75% of the TPAs are located within the boundaries of Sabah’s Heart of Borneo,” he said.

The chief minister said in line with the Sabah government’s development roadmap, Hala Tuju Sabah Maju Jaya, the Sabah government is also committed to expanding the size of the TPA to 30% of Sabah’s land area by 2025.

He said Sabah is also committed to supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for enhanced climate actions and will continue to promote the strong linkages between climate change and sustainable development whilst mainstreaming climate change-related actions into Sabah’s development agenda.

“Sabah is also committed to implementing necessary mitigation actions, as well as adaptation actions, across all sectors to support the Nationally Determined Contribution that Malaysia has set under the Paris Agreement by 2030,” he said.

In this regard, Hajiji said the Sabah government has established the Sabah Climate Action Council to set the direction and coordinate climate change mitigation and adaptation-related projects at the state level.

A total of six more memoranda of understanding have been signed during the conference this year, adding to the list of cooperation Sabah has with various partners through 110 memoranda of understanding and memoranda of agreement.

Since 2009, some RM48 million has been disbursed to Sabah for the implementation of the HoB Initiative and under the 12th Malaysian Plan, the federal government has pledged another RM13 million for the initiative, he said. – The Vibes, August 23, 2023