FWD: Local parks and wildlife reserves in peril

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This article is from The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my)

URL:

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2005/6/7/features/10879856 & sec=f\

eatures

 

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Tuesday June 7, 2005

Local parks and wildlife reserves in peril

By HILARY CHIEW

 

The management of the Endau-Rompin National Park is considering setting up a

petting zoo as an added attraction for visitors.

 

The plan is puzzling.

 

Is the park short on nature appreciation programmes or is it just keen to

provide a crowd-pleasing activity in the hope of increasing visitor numbers?

 

The intention reflects the inability to convey the conservation message to the

public and the lack of understanding of the role of a protected area (PA) – to

conserve the natural ecosystem together with its flora and fauna.

 

 

 

It also highlights the fact that while some PAs are making significant strides

in the right direction, others are struggling to implement their basic

objectives.

 

An assessment of PAs by the World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia (WWF) found

that several nature parks in the country are operating without management plans

– the basic tool that spells out the policies and strategies for managing these

wild places.

 

Only “a few” of the 18 PAs assessed were either finalising a management plan

or about to develop one. Some existing plans require updating and revision while

others rely on a business or protection plan which is incomplete or unsuitable.

Although setting aside a piece of forest for conservation is the crucial first

step, it must be followed up with financial commitment by the authorities.

 

“It is more difficult to obtain allocation for developing management plans than

for infrastructure development,” explained Surin Suksuwan, WWF senior scientific

officer who headed the assessment team, at a two-day workshop that presented the

preliminary results of the assessment. He suggested that the federal government,

which benefits from park entry fee collections, fund the development of

management plans.

 

 

 

The WWF assessed these terrestrial parks: Taman Negara, Endau-Rompin, Gunung

Ledang, Tanjung Piai and Perlis State Park in the peninsula; Bako, Gunung Mulu,

Gunung Gading, Kubha, Niah, Lambir Hills, Loagan Bunut, Similajau, Tanjung Datu

and Batang Ai in Sarawak; and Kinabalu, Tawau Hills and the Crocker Range in

Sabah. These come under five authorities: Department of Wildlife and National

Parks (Perhilitan), Perlis Forestry Department, Johor State Parks Corporation,

Sabah Parks and Sarawak Forestry Corporation.

 

Respondents who were appointed by the respective park authorities answered 19

questions designed to evaluate the management effectiveness of the parks. These

range from biological importance to socio-economic values of the PAs to legal

security and allocation of resources such as staffing, infrastructure

construction and funding. Substantial focus was given to assessing the pressures

and threats faced by the PAs.

 

The methodology is based on a framework developed by the World Commission on

Protected Areas for Nature and has been applied in Algeria, Bhutan, Cameroon,

China, France, Gabon, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Swaziland.

 

Assessment of PAs is deemed crucial as conservationists realise that while

there are over 44,000 PAs worldwide covering an area the combined size of India

and China, many exist in name only. Some have been seriously degraded while

others face increasing pressure from poaching, logging, mining and alien species

invasion. Staffing and funding to ensure full protection are also inadequate.

 

Establishment of PAs is widely recognised as the cornerstone of biodiversity

conservation and is one of the ways to achieve the 2010 goal of significantly

reducing the rate of biodiversity loss called by the Convention on Biodiversity

(CBD).

 

<b>Some ecosystems under-represented</b>

 

The CBD also called for conservation of at least 10% of each ecological region

by 2010. Countries are encouraged to develop a PA network that is representative

of their diversity. As the primary agency tasked with ensuring that Malaysia

puts in measures to fulfil its CBD commitments, Perhilitan is concerned that

Malaysia still has a long way to go. Its protected area division director Sahir

Othman said Malaysia has achieved 6% of the collective global target.

 

 

 

“Certain ecosystems are under-represented in our PA system. We still lack

representation in the realms of freshwater, coastal ecology and marine,” said

Sahir, highlighting the reluctance of state governments to enact parks under the

Perhilitan-sponsored National Park Acts 1980. He identified these ecosystems to

be the south-east Pahang peatswamp forest, alluvial swamps of Sedili Kecil in

Johor, the Terengganu limestone hills and the coastal dipterocarp forest of

Dinding and Segari in Perak.

 

WWF’s Suksuwan added montane ecosystem to the list. He pointed out that except

for Gunung Tahan, the whole of the main range is left out of the PA system. The

highest peak in the peninsula is part of the tri-state park Taman Negara which

is managed by Perhilitan. Although Perhilitan protects 751,413ha of forested

lands through its 40 wildlife reserves and two national parks (Taman Negara and

the Penang National Park), the coverage is still insufficient. It is only a mere

8.5% of peninsula forests, compared with the 78% controlled by the Forestry

Department.

 

While Forestry Department officials present at the workshop argued that Virgin

Jungle Reserves (VJRs) should be included in the country’s PA coverage, Sahir

said VJRs lack vital information on boundary, location, size and conservation

status.

 

The Forestry Department also said that the 23,002ha spread out in 87 VJRs and

representing five forest types – mangrove, heath, peatswamp as well as lowland

and hill dipterocarp forests – are essentially a bastion of conservation.

However, as VJRs come under the department’s “protected forest” category which

is still subjected to degazettement, conservationists are wary of their

protected status.

 

<b>Borneo shines</b>

 

In comparison, Sabah and Sarawak have done a fairly decent job of protecting

their natural reserves. Sabah Parks manages six parks that represent most major

habitats in the state. Sound management with a strong research tradition has put

it in a far better financial position than its counterparts in the peninsula.

For instance, revenue from visitor fees is around RM10mil a year.

 

 

 

To date, more than 300 major research projects have been completed and the

findings published in scientific journals, both locally and internationally.

 

Sarawak is also making strides in putting more forested areas into its PA

network. It will be the first state to have a terrestrial trans-boundary park

when the Lanjak-Entimau Transboundary Park is established with Indonesia.

 

Rahimatsah Amat, the former director of Perlis State Park, said PA authorities

must develop scientific research programmes and subsequently prioritise their

conservation efforts. “For the first five years, it is all right to do baseline

research but subsequent research should be more intense,” she said.

 

Land conversion, logging and hunting – either legal or illegal – are the major

problems facing PAs in the country. Encroachment by licensed loggers into park

areas is a common occurrence. Encroachment happens as PAs boundaries are either

not properly demarcated or the accessibility of the parks makes them vulnerable

to poachers.

 

Illegal hunting is more rampant in PAs where native communities are prohibited

to hunt. Suksuwan pointed out that such conflicts with local communities were

less apparent in Sarawak where indigenous rights to sustainable use of forest

resources are upheld. In Sarawak, poaching by outsiders for pure commercial

purposes has been controlled via the Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998 that

bans all trade in wildlife.

 

Tourism also poses considerable pressure to national parks. In the Mulu

National Park, for instance, visitors have stuffed spent batteries into crevices

in caves.

 

 

 

Land rights disputes, arising from a lack of consultation with local

communities – particularly forest dwellers in Sabah – are long-standing issues

that require attention. A case in point is the Crocker Range National Park. Set

up in 1984, it is still battling native customary rights claims by displaced

communities.

 

<p>

 

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