Heart of Borneo Initiative will focus on communities and conservation efforts

 By Olivia Miwil - November 9, 2021 @ 2:45pm

Chief Conservator of Forests Datuk Frederick Kugan. - Pic courtesy of Sabah Forestry.

KOTA KINABALU: The Heart of Borneo Initiative (HoB) will focus on reaching out to the communities, plantation and agriculture landscapes and the built environment.

Chief Conservator of Forests Datuk Frederick Kugan said to date, the Initiative had helped to expand Totally Protected Areas (TPAs), rehabilitation activities, strengthening Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and exploring the potential of forest beyond timber, the Nature-based Solution (NBS) and the Green Economy.

"Despite this tremendous target and achievement thus far, the most commonly debated issue among the public now is what these achievements really mean to the people?

"This is indeed a challenge on our part particularly to prove to all that conservation pays and that forests and environment conservation need not necessarily be in conflict but serve as a vital provider of environment services for many related sectors," he said during the launch of the 11th series of the International HoB conference.

The event was launched by Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

Frederick said given those new "frontiers", they would need to forge new partnerships to bring in other players, including the private sector and civil society.

"We need to leverage on the strength of the many innovative initiatives, corporate efforts, and resources to bring about synergistic, impactful and meaningful conservation outcomes."

During the two-day-conference, 24 working papers would be presented including those related to the engagement of the local communities.

The virtual event will also have sessions to tackle four equally important topics that include protected area and sustainable natural resources management; sustainable land use development & management; forest beyond timber and capacity building.

Meanwhile, he added that a review was currently ongoing on the Sabah State Strategic Plan of Action (SPA) to compile the Initiative's achievement for the past 13 years and to identify the next actions to support current and future conservation targets.

He added that the SPA, which was supported financially by WWF-Malaysia, would envision the Sabah Heart of Borneo Strategic Plan of Action for 2021 – 2030 to provide more holistic programmes through biodiversity conservation and sustainable development programmes in the state.

The initiative, which started in 2007, aims to protect and conserve a healthy and contiguous network of protected areas covering 22 million hectares of forest landscapes, through the re-establishment of forest corridors for connectivity and the promotion of sustainable land use practices within and surrounding these areas.

A landscape of about 3.9 million hectares in Sabah has been designated as part of the HoB, a project initiated by three countries located in the island of Borneo – Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia.