On Monday, 7th February 2011, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was
signed between the State Government of Sabah (Malaysia), represented by
the Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo
and Wildlife Research (IZW) of Germany. This MoU will pave the road to
continue an already successful collaboration of the IZW, an
internationally renowned wildlife research institute, with the SFD by
assisting the SFD in their efforts to monitor the biodiversity in Forest
Management Units (FMUs) in Sabah.
Wildlife conservation beyond borders of parks or other fully
protected areas is paramount for the effective and comprehensive
conservation of biodiversity in the landscapes of Sabah. Forests are a
key habitat in Sabah, since more than half of Sabah’s area is covered by
them. As most forests are commercially used for the production of
timber, a sustainable management of these forests is of great importance
to ensure the long-term conservation of some of the most threatened
species in Sabah, such as the SundaClouded Leopard.
During the signing, Datuk Sam Mannan, Director of the SFD, pointed
out that the collaboration with the IZW has proven to be impressively
successful during the last years and that he is very pleased that this
collaboration will now be continued and expanded in the near future. The
results obtained during previous studies by the IZW in FMUs included
pioneering findings such as the first film of a SundaClouded Leopard
released in spring 2010, or the rediscovery in Sabah of the Hairy-Nosed
Otter – previously thought extinct – after a gap of more than 100 years.
“The research by the IZW assisted us to show how diverse some of our
FMUs are” mentioned Datuk Sam Mannan during the signing of the MoU. “We
know that there are orang-utans or elephants living in our forests but
our knowledge about other, highly threatened wildlife species such as
the endangered Otter Civet was very limited. With their research the IZW
showed us that these species occur in our forests and how to find
them.” Previous studies of the IZW mainly focussed on Deramakot Forest
Reserve and its neighbouring FMUs; the new MoU paves the way to expand
these efforts to other FMUs in the coming years.
Heribert Hofer, Director of the IZW, added “the biological richness
of Sabah’s forests is a great treasure and a heritage of worldwide
importance. It is therefore an important responsibility to manage these
forests in a sustainable way. Therefore, up-to-date scientific research
and wildlife surveys are important to understand the needs of threatened
species. Knowing and appreciating the diversity of these forests will
help to protect their richness for the benefit of all.”
Earlier in November 2010, the IZW signed anMoU with the Sabah
Wildlife Department (SWD), agreeing on close collaboration on research
and conservation of Sabah’s wildlife, particularly the highly endangered
Sabah Rhino. The MoU with the SFD now expands the research efforts of
the IZW to FMUs. “Very little is known about the ecology of wildlife
species in Sabah’s forests and how they respond to timber extraction.
Such research is of a very high practical value because the appropriate
management and protection of wildlife species requires such knowledge”
Heribert Hofer added. By 2014 the SFD aims to have all FMUs in Sabah
certified for Sustainable Forest Management. Wildlife monitoring and the
conservation of the forest’s biodiversity is one of the main components
of sustainability and therefore the SFD is optimistic that this
collaboration with the IZW will assist their efforts to reach this goal.
Endangered Otter Civet Cynogalebennettii photographed in Deramakot Forest Reserve with a remote camera trap. Photo courtesy: Wilting & Mohamed, SFD, SWD
Contact:
Leibniz-Institut für Zoo- und Wildtierforschung (IZW) im Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. Alfred-Kowalke-Straße 17 10315 Berlin Andreas Wilting: 0049 (0)30 51 68 619; wilting@izw-berlin.de Steven Seet: 0049 (0)30 51 68 108; seet@izw-berlin.de www.izw-berlin.de |