KUALA LUMPUR: Three Sabah-based environment organizations in Malaysia have thrown their support behind a move by the by the Sabah Forestry Department to “re-gazette 183,000 hectares (ha) of heavily logged Class 2 Commercial Forest into Class 1 Protection Forest, which makes it a protected area,” Bernama news agency reported on Saturday. The NGOs were responding to a recent statement by the Department to transform the Ulu Segama Forest Reserve and the northern section of the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve into a protected area. The Scientific Director of HUTAN-Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Program Marc Ancrenaz said in a joint statement with local NGOs that “this re-gazettement will serve to secure habitat for Malaysia's largest orang-utan population, as well as for a wide range of biological diversity. “HUTAN has been assisting in surveys and monitoring of orang-utans in this area for the past few years, so we are especially pleased to see this move by the State Government,” said Ancrenaz. Founder of LEAP (Land Empowerment Animals People) Cynthia Ong added that “nationally and regionally, Sabah was emerging as a leader in pushing the boundaries in management of natural ecosystem services, and for treating forests as stores of water, carbon and biodiversity rather than just as timber sources.” She added that there are still a number of issues that the NGOs want to address with the Department, “but this is the sort of change that we do want to see.”
