Returning of illegal oil palm squatter area to the tropical forest
Destruction of natural rainforest to grow oil palm
Returning of illegal oil palm squatter area to the tropical forest
1 Original Tropical Forest
2 Private Oil Palm Plantation
3 Newly established Buffer Zone since 2010 where the zone is protected to grow back by itself.
Destruction and burning in Membelua Forest Reserve
beside Bandar Sri Indah
Private Oil Palm Plantation
Government Forest Reserve
Destruction and burning in forest reserve
Tawau Airport Road 2018-02-13
Bandar Sri Indah is in the
close vicinities of the Membelua Forest Reserve and Babanga Forest Reserve and
near to the famous Shan Shui Golf & Country Course.
Tradeoff: Sabah banks on palm oil to boost forest protection
In 2014 Sabah set aside an additional 203,000 hectares of protected forest reserves, boosting the Malaysian state’s extent of protected areas to 21 percent of its land mass. But instead of accolades, Sabah forestry leaders were criticized for how they went about securing those reserves: allowing thousands of hectares of deforested land within an officially designated forestry area to be converted for oil palm plantations.
"In Indonesia and Malaysia, what you’ve seen is huge portions of tropical forests ...... being shredded because of primarily the palm oil industry,"
Remarks by
President Obama
at Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Town Hall
University of Malaya
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
April 27, 2014
The authorities, including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), have been asked to investigate whether there are cases of illegal logging at Gunung Rara Forest Reserve here, following the deaths of 14 Pygmy Elephants in the area early last year.
Kalabakan member of parliament Datuk Seri Abdul Ghapur Salleh
said a thorough investigation should be conducted to identify if
their habitats had been affected by illegal logging and the cause of
death of the elephants.
Read more:
www.theborneopost.com/
Obama: palm oil destroying Malaysia's rainforests
news.mongabay.com/
80% of Malaysian Borneo forests are degraded – devastating for
wildlife.
wildlifenews.co.uk/
I thoroughly enjoyed both Sarawak and Sabah; each have plenty to
offer including a chance to see endangered orangutans and lush
rainforests.
goasia.about.com
Felling of a century old rain tree near the train station and
field in Tenom town to make way for a public toilet project.
Another 100 years old tree was chopped down to make way for a public toilet
project under the Tenom District Council. Many suggest that appropriate action
should be taken against those responsible for felling the tree, which was one of
four iconic rain trees in Tenom.
There used to be four century-old trees :
1) two near the train station
2) two near the shoplots adjacent to the train station.
One of the two trees near the shoplots has been felled. Some owners of the
shoplots have also expressed dismay over the felling of the tree, as it had been
there since their childhood, when they played around it. They questioned the
wisdom of sacrificing the high value tree for a public toilet project, for there
must be other potential sites at the area for the project.
“(the felling of a century old rain tree) defeats the
government’s efforts to turn Sabah into a green state............Just early this
week Kota Kinabalu .....launched a tree planting programme.......On the one hand
the state government is spending a lot of money to plant trees as it wants to
tell the world that we want a green state. Then on the other hand, a local
authority chopped down a 100-year-old tree.....”
SAPP vice president Datuk Wong Yit Ming
June 2012
Wong questioned the need to build more public toilets in Tenom
town, as there are already two public toilets there, one near a petrol station
and the other near the railway station.
The oldest rain tree in Kota Kinabalu City at Wisma Muis in Sembulan is about 90
years old and is worth about RM600,000. As such, the century old rain tree in
Tenom Town was chopped down in Tenom town could be worth RM1 million.
Century-old tree in Tenom felled for toilet project. Read more:
Forest Reserve (Left) and Oil Palm Plantation (Right)
In between Malaysian Government Forest Reserve and a Private Oil Palm Plantation
is a narrow open track.
Compared to a healthy forest (Left), oil palm plantations (Right) store less
carbon, house less biodiversity, and are more prone to erosion than natural
forests.
Virgin rain forest cleared and planted with oil palm.
What is left is an lonely tropical tree, Seraya, standing tall among the oil
palm plants. (photo left)
Map from :
Sabah Forestry Department
http://www.forest.sabah.gov.my
A Sabah Forest Reserve was in bad shape after illegal clearing
and squatters for 2 decades. More than 7,000ha of the reserve
was illegally cleared and planted with oil palm in the 1980s and
1990s.
Ulu Kalumpang Forest Reserve on Sabah’s east coast is in the
process of being rehabilitated after years of illegal clearing
and degradation by illegal squatters – thanks to the Sabah
Forestry Department.
The Sabah Cabinet has allowed Sabah Forest Department to clear
illegal plantations and replant mixed indigenous plant species
in the Ulu Kalumpang Forest Reserve.
The rehabilitation efforts needed heavy police presence as the
illegal squatters had attempted to attack the rehabilitation
workers. On January 1, 2010 an excavator operator was shot at by
a squatter.
Director of Sabah Forest Department Datuk Sam Mannan said that
due to nearly three decades of “meek environmental leadership”,
some 8,000ha of regenerating forest was cleared and degraded,
and the habitat for Sabah’s iconic wildlife such as orang utan
and Borneo pygmy elephants destroyed.
“Rivers in the forest reserve turned into open sewers used by
squatters,” he said, adding that the situation only changed
after Datuk Musa Aman took over as Chief Minister in 2003.
The Star Online
http://thestar.com.my
Southeast Asia is expanding oil palm plantations at the cost of
tropical rain forest. Is oil palm a valuable route to sustainable development or
a costly road to environmental ruin?
Environmental groups have long expressed concern about
over-logging and deforestation in the island of Borneo.
Old palm plantations threatens rich biological diversity—while also offering the
finance needed to protect forest.
Old palm plantations offers a renewable source of fuel, but also threatens to
increase global carbon emissions.
Oil palm expansion can contribute to :
1) deforestation,
2) peat degradation,
3) biodiversity loss,
4) forest fires and
5) a range of social issues.
But oil palm is also :
1) major driver of economic growth and
2) source of alternative fuel.
|
|
