WWF-Malaysia lauds Forest Bill but calls for third party audit

Source: Borneo Post online

Published on 27th April, 2015

KUCHING: World Wide Fund for Nature – Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia) welcomed the revision of the Forest Ordinance and the passing of the Forest Bill 2015, as the law has some positive changes that augur well in better protecting, conserving and managing Sarawak’s rich natural resources.

The organisation said the Bill has incorporated some elements that take into account the changing environment and needs, and if fully implemented, can help towards achieving sustainable forest management (SFM), and eventually certification. This will address environmental concerns in the state, particularly unsustainable and illegal logging.

At the same time, WWF-Malaysia noted that some interpretations could be further improved, particularly on forest reserve and protected forest; and payment for ecosystem services (PES) for better clarity and future reference.

“Through PES, there is a focus to consistently maintain an ecosystem service while in return the beneficiaries of ecosystems services pay to the providers of such services. It is commendable that the Bill gives recognition that our ecosystems do provide valuable services, but the mechanism has to be properly and adequately understood,” said WWF-Malaysia chief executive officer Dato’ Dr Dionysius Sharma.

“This can be addressed by carrying out an evaluation of our forests and its ecosystem services. The Bill lacks any mention of this. Nonetheless, the Bill shows that Sarawak is diligently seeking to address issues of sustainability of the state’s timber resources.”

WWF-Malaysia, Sabah get SMART with poaching

Source: Borneo Post online

Published on 6th September, 2014 by Karen Bong

KOTA KINABALU: World Wildlife Fund for Nature – Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia) has been working closely with Sabah Forest Department (SFD) in conducting joint patrols to monitor poaching in some of the forest reserves, particularly the newly protected forest reserves.

Thanks to surveillance cameras, WWF Malaysia revealed in a press release yesterday that poachers had been making frequent entry to the forest reserves.

The camera-trap photos also show that the poachers carried weapons such as machetes and firearms, and even transported carcasses of illegally killed animals at the back of their vehicles.

In Sabah, entry to any forest reserve requires a permit from SFD and any hunting activity in the reserves is illegal.

The evidence gathered showed that the poachers had total disregard for the laws and regulations of forest reserves in Sabah.

Illegal and over-hunting of wildlife in our forests may lead to local or even regional extinction of species, most of which are already endangered, declining or totally protected by law in Sabah.

Animals are an integral part of forests. Forests emptied of animals do not function well as natural forests.

Big funding boost for proposed Tun Mustapha Park

Source: The Rakyat Post

Published on 18th August, 2014

A local fisherman tending to his net in the proposed Tun Mustapha Park in Sabah, which is home to many endangered marine animals in the country’s second largest concentration of coral reefs. — Pic by Eric Madeja/WWF-Malaysia

THE home of endangered marine animals and the country’s second largest concentration of coral reefs, Tun Mustapha Park (TMP), has been boosted with recent funding from the Malaysian Wildlife Conservation Foundation.

The foundation awarded a grant of RM138,000 to WWF-Malaysia to build support for the gazettement and management of the park between now and June next year.

The funds will mainly be used to develop and implement enforcement to address issues such as small-mesh size in fishing gear, use of high light intensity in purse seiners, illegal trawling in non-trawl areas, poaching of turtles and turtle eggs, illegal sand mining and fish bombing.

The enforcement mentioned is a collaborative effort between Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Department of Fisheries Sabah, marine police, Sabah Wildlife Department, and the local community representatives made up of honorary wildlife wardens and community groups.

Save the tiger: Countries that don’t survey their tigers risk losing them

Source: The Independent

Published on 29th July, 2014 by Jonathon Porritt

Global experts reckon that the wild tiger population has dropped by 97 per cent since 1900. We’re bombarded by so many shock-horror statistics about the state of the world that a lot of them just bounce off us. But that one sticks: 97 per cent.

Tomorrow is International Tiger Day, and The Independent is working with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to highlight the plight of the tiger. No one’s quite sure exactly how many tigers there are alive today, but back in 2010, the global population was estimated at 3,200, which makes them one of the most endangered species on the planet.

But even that figure required significant guesswork, as many countries at that time had not undertaken systematic national tiger surveys. Wild tiger numbers are currently known for India, Nepal and Russia, which carry out regular national surveys, and numbers will soon be known for Bhutan, Bangladesh and China – all of which are in the process of carrying out surveys. Less is known about the size of tiger populations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

The year 2010 was also the point (at the Tiger Summit in St Petersburg) at which governments from the 13 tiger-range countries committed to doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022. We are now more than a third of the way to 2022, meaning we need to move at a faster, more determined pace if we are to achieve that goal of doubling tiger numbers.

Countries that don’t survey their tigers risk losing them to poachers without even knowing it. Surveying after tigers have been poached is too late. At the moment, Malaysia and Indonesia are the most crucial countries – both potentially have a significant proportion of the global tiger population and contain two tiger subspecies. However, both are facing great threats from poaching and habitat loss.

And that’s why, on World Tiger Day, NGOs such as the WWF are urging countries to carry out surveys urgently. It takes at least a year to complete a survey, as well as an additional six to 12 months to plan, so these surveys must start now if an updated global tiger figure is to be released by the halfway point in 2016.

Save The Tiger: The threat to a species

WWF-Malaysia joins Borneo Eco Film Festival, promotes biodiversity

Source: Eco-Business

Published on 21st August, 2013 by Elga Reyes

WWF-Malaysia and the Borneo Eco Film Festival are joining hands to promote environmental conservation through filmmaking at the upcoming film event in September. Image: Mazidi Ghani, WWF-Malaysia

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Malaysia announced on Tuesday its partnership with the Borneo Eco Film Festival (BEFF), an annual film event that celebrates the bio-cultural diversity and local filmmaking of the world’s third largest island.

The three-day, free admission event is taking place this September 27 to 29 at Kompleks JKKN in Kota Kinabalu, and it will include a special award from WWF-Malaysia this year.

According to the environmental group, this is a synergistic partnership since both entities focus on the importance of nature. BEFF highlights the natural heritage of Borneo and the community’s relationship with nature, while WWF conducts awareness campaigns and environmental programmes across the country.

Part of the organisation’s work includes the “Save the Borneo Pygmy Elephant” campaign and the Heart of Borneo programme, which is a rainforest conservation project involving the three countries sharing the island of Borneo: Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

The Borneo Eco Film Festival is a purely Malaysian outfit that started in 2011. It enables an alternative type of activism for the enviroment through the

Malaysian NGOs form alliance to address palm oil concerns

Source: Mongabay.com

Published on 31st July, 2013 by Rhett A. Butler

Seven Malaysia-based NGO’s have banded together to form an alliance to provide a Malaysian civil society perspective on social and environmental issues related to palm oil production. The initiative aims in part to counter Malaysian industry claims that concerns over palm oil are purely driven by Western NGO’s.

The alliance, called the Malaysian Palm Oil NGO Coalition (MPONGOC), currently includes the Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA), Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC), Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia (JOAS), Land Empowerment Animals People, (LEAP), Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Sabah branch, Partners of Community Organisations (PACOS) Trust and WWF Malaysia, according to a statement issued by the group.

“MPONGOC aims to influence land use policy and decision making, and is also working towards advocating consumer responsibility

WWF-Malaysia releases 80 young terrapins

Source: Bikyamasr

Published on 22nd September, 2012 by Alisha Hassan

WWF-Malaysia looks to boost terrapin population, conservation efforts.

KUALA LUMPUR: The World Wildlife Fund-Malaysia’s Terengganu branch in collaboration with the Setiu Women Association released 80 young terrapins near the Kampung Mangkuk river on Friday as part of its conservation efforts of the endangered species.

Terengganu WWF Conservation Program head Rahayu Zulkifli said the program was meant to increase the turtle family species of terrapins and tortoises which were on the brink of extinction.

“Beginning in 2009, WWF started the terrapin conservation activities through monitoring beaches, protecting the eggs, collecting data and making studies on terrapins that were trapped in fishing equipment.

‘Heart of Borneo,’ last stronghold of lowland forest, says report

Source: Borneo Post Online

Published on 11th February, 2012

KUCHING: The Heart of Borneo (HoB), which straddles the transboundary highlands of Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, may be the last stronghold for the preservation of lowland forest in Borneo, said a report relased by World Wide Fund for Nature-Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia)’s Heart of Borneo Initiative.

Its team leader Adam Tomasek said today based on the the new report titled “The Environmental Status of the Heart of Borneo”, the good news overall was that most forest types in the HoB were currently rated as good or very good.

“This is particularly important for lowland forest which is under severe threat across the rest of the island of Borneo, especially as it is prime habitat for the pygmy elephant, orang utan and rhino,” he said in a statement here.

However, he said, the HoB still remained under serious threat from industrial conversion of natural forest for oil palm cultivation and other agricultural crops as well as illegal logging and unsustainable rates of legal timber extraction.

Forest fires, mining and over hunting of wildlife were also major threats which future versions of the report would serve to monitor, said Adam in highlighting the significance of the report, which analysed the environmental health of the area via 13 key targets and more than 50 scientifically derived biological and ecosystem indicators.

Asia loses its taste for shark fin

Source: Free Malaysia Today

Published on 22nd January, 2012 by Philip Lim

While people in Singapore and Hong Kong are saying no to shark’s fin, high-end eateries in Malaysia and Thailand are holding firm.

SINGAPORE: As Asia’s ethnic Chinese sit down for lavish banquets to usher in the Lunar New Year, a delicacy long considered a must at celebratory meals is fast disappearing from menus and dinner tables.

A growing number of shops, restaurants and hotels have in the past few months given up selling shark fin, which in Asia is usually eaten in soup, throwing a lifeline to the marine predator that activists say is long overdue.

“Yes, we do see an increasing number of locals and international businesses saying no to shark’s fin,” said Elaine Tan, chief executive for environmental group WWF in Singapore.

“This change in attitude could be due to an increasing awareness of the plight of sharks as well as the result of many shark campaigns worldwide,” she told AFP.

Malaysia to set up ‘environmental courts’

Source: Zeenews

Published on 17th January, 2012

Kuala Lumpur: Calling environmental crime a threat to man’s existence, Malaysian authorities have decided to set up “environmental courts”.

“A court dedicated to handling environmental issues was important as 60 per cent of Malaysia was covered in forests,” said Chief Justice Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria, adding there should be an end to the lack of sensitivity to such crimes.

“The judiciary would provide more training to its judges and officers on environmental law,” said Zakaria.

Similar courts and tribunals had been set up in neighbouring countries in tandem with the Johannesburg Principles on the Rule of Law and Sustainable Development, which was adopted by 60 countries, in 2002, he said.