Immediately after reading the headlines on SABAH's move to permanently conserve 78,000ha of forest and mangrove area, I emailed this bit of GOOD news to all my environmental-freaked friends. It's not everyday one gets to read such great news...
The coastal area in question is 3 TIMES the size of Kuala Lumpur and is rich in wildlife and biodiveristy so this move is more than welcomed in view of protecting the environmental from further global warming. The Lower Kinabatangan-Segama region is roughly 250km from Kota Kinabalu, capital of Sabah. Included in this area are the Trusan Kinabatangan and Kuala Segama-Maruap Mangrove Forest Reserves and the Kulamba Wildlife Forest Reserve.
With the blessings from the Cabinet, the Borneo Biodiversity and Ecosystems Conservation Phase II program will now list the area as part of the global RAMSAR SITE NETWORK.
RAMSAR (named after a place in IRAN) - is an international convention on wetlands and provides a framework for national and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of the world's wetlands and their resources. First established in 1971 but only came into force in 1975, it has come a long way in doing their utmost to protect earth's natural habitat for many life forms. MALAYSIA, together with Indonesia and New Guinea have the greatest plant biodiversity in the world... and it is imperative WE do everything possible to CONSERVE and PROTECT our 'natural heritage'.
Some of the benefits for being listed as a Ramsar Site are - the funding for management activities such as forest management, plan preparation, enhanced protection, bio-diversity assessments and increased access to expertise.
Certainly, it will further raise the profile for Sabah's conservation efforts on an international basis and will have a positive effect on the state's growing eco-tourism industry. But more importantly, it is another giant step towards saving Mother Earth.
To read the news article:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/7/19/nation/21865022
For further reading on Mangrove Swamps:
http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/types/mangrove.html
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