KUCHING, Dec 1: The Sarawak government has placed special surveillance to put a stop on wildlife trade and will not allow the state to be a transit hub for such illicit activities.
Apart from staying ahead of wildlife trade issues in the state, specific species that may go extinct or in danger through such activity has also been identified.
“The State government has done so via our Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1988 which includes species that are totally protected. The surveillance is to keep us ahead of issues involving wildlife trade that may be threatened in the future.
“We collaborate on wildlife trade discussions with various stakeholders and counterparts in other countries as well. With this broad approach which uses multiple skills, we are hopeful that we can control the harvesting and trading of our wildlife,” said the Sarawak government in a written reply to a question raised by Place Borneo Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Mona Manap during “Sunday with CM: Dialogue Session with Young Entrepreneurs in Sarawak” held on Sept 28 this year.
Mona had asked on the state government’s plans to balance the development of the state with conservation of its flora and fauna which are deemed as the most valuable resource in Sarawak.
Due to the constraints of time which caused many questions unanswered, DayakDaily had forwarded the questions that were yet to be answered to the relevant authorities who came back with the answers recently.
The law and system which are currently being used to manage Sarawak’s biodiversity provides protection and management of forests, including extraction of forest produce.
As a matter of fact, the state government have targeted one million hectares of totally protected area (TPA) as one of the strategies to conserve the habitat including marine biodiversity.
TPA includes national park, nature reserve and wildlife sanctuaries.
“Apart from that, the state government has also identified priority conservation area (PCA) and those areas will be integrated in the development plan. Other approaches are by incorporating biodiversity conservation in the policy.
“Under this policy, the guideline on forest management certification incorporated the element of biodiversity conservation such as forest manager to identify and protect the wildlife especially endangered, rare and threaten species as well as reduce the impact during harvesting operations,” the statement said.
Besides, the state government had also formed Sarawak Economic Action Council (SEAC) where environmental sustainability is one of the core principles for development of major economic sector.
Environmental sustainability will be the prominent doctrine on future development plan, hence, the state’s future outlook will transcend to capitalise on eco-system services as a new source of wealth. — DayakDaily
