By Olivia Miwil - March 16, 2021 @ 4:37pm
KOTA KINABALU: The wetlands in Sabah are still susceptible to man-made and natural threats, with more than 3,300 hectares in need of restoration.
According to a study by Omar et al, in 2017 Sabah had about 378,195 hectares of mangroves which covered about 60 per cent of total mangrove areas in the country.
In Sabah, 93 per cent of those mangrove areas are forest reserves. However, the state lost 8.5 per cent of the mangrove to degradation.
Sabah Deputy Chief Conservator of Forests (Research and Development) Dr Robert Ong said in 2012 an assessment was made and they found out 3,300 hectares of mangrove land required some form of restoration.
"(The degradation) is not only happening in Sabah but it is common where there are mangroves.
"The drivers to those degradation including agriculture, aquaculture, settlements, and poaching," he said while presenting on the 'Conservation of Wetlands in Sabah for the Last Two Decades' during yesterday's 4th International Symposium on Conservation and Management of Wetlands 2020.
He added other factors that contributed to the degradation included road construction which could disrupt the hydrology and mangrove ecosystem.
"There were also 22 cases of tengar (a spesies of mangrove) poaching between 2010 and 2022 with 52 people arrested.
"It is not something new, but over the last few years it has become more frequent," he said, adding the state Forestry department would look into the value chain from it.
Apart from that, researchers would also study the socioeconomic factors among the people living along the mangrove areas.
As for the peat swamp, with the largest areas located in the Klias peninsula and Sugut, both were badly destroyed by forest fires during the El Nino phenomenon in 1998.
Ong added that the department will also pursue legislation related to jurisdictional authority within mangroves.
On the department's achievements, he said 1,790 hectares of mangroves had been replanted for restoration purposes since 2006.
Sabah has also acquired Ramsar status for the Lower Kinabatangan and Segama wetlands in 2008 and another for the Kota Kinabalu Wetland in 2018.
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
The federal government has also allocated a total of RM13.82 million for Lower Kinabatangan-Segama Wetlands status from the 10th and 11th Malaysia Plans between 2011 and 2020.
The Klias Peat Swamp conservation project received RM11.89 million from the 8th until 11th Malaysia Plans.
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