SANDAKAN: A total of 151.5 hectares of mangroves have been rehabilitated through a mangrove planting project with appropriate tree species in Sandakan, Beluran, Beaufort and Kunak districts since SFD signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ISME in November, 2010.
The MoU was for Mangrove Rehabilitation Phase I (2011-2014) and will continue into Phase II (2014-2019).
These degraded areas were affected by erosion and excessive intrusion of illegal shrimp and fish ponds as well as oil palm cultivation in mangrove forest reserves.
The rehabilitation programme is funded by Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. while the planting was carried by SFD with technical advice from ISME in terms of site selection, preparation and monitoring of survival and growth performance.
Some Japanese volunteer high school students and Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. staff also participated in the planting activities.
Thus far, the project has benefited both parties mutually from the experiences and lessons learnt on mangrove rehabilitation, including both international and national recognition and publicity, better mangrove management and conservation, identification of suitable planting techniques, close cooperation between ISME and SFD, and incentives for local communities to collect planting materials.
A project steering committee (PSC) has been formed to monitor the progress of the project. The committee has met seven times, with the latest held on March 3, 2014 at the forestry headquarters in Sandakan.
The previous meeting was held in Okinawa, Japan. Such collaboration will strengthen SFD in its capacity in mangrove rehabilitation. Sabah is privileged to be the first state in Malaysia to embark on such collaboration with ISME.
The close working relationship between ISME and SFD has led to the initiation of the International Exchange Programme on Coastal Resources with Tropical Biosphere Research Center (TBRC), University of Ryukyus, Okinawa.
The department has also signed a MoU with TBRC on capacity building, especially in the field of forestry, biodiversity management and marine biology among officials and staff of the department. With support from ISME and TBRC, the department is confident to be on the right track towards successful rehabilitation of degraded mangrove forests in Sabah.
Mangroves are rich in biodiversity and provide a wide range of goods and services to human communities living in coastal areas, including wood and non-wood forest products, fisheries, medicines, recreation, ecotourism, bio-filtration, nursery grounds, coastal protection and carbon sequestration.
Sabah has about 60% of the mangroves in Malaysia, encompassing some 340,000 hectares. Over 90% are still largely intact and most of these areas are under the stewardship of the Sabah Forestry Department.
Realizing the importance of mangroves, the SFD has been proactive in managing the mangrove forests in accordance with the principles of conservation and sustainable use.
Efforts have been taken to rehabilitate the degraded mangroves, and this is being actively carried out in collaboration with the International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems (ISME), which is a non-profit and non-governmental scientific society established in 1990, with its headquarters based in Okinawa, Japan.
With its membership of 40 institutions from 93 countries, ISME is world renowned for mangrove rehabilitation and promotes research and training on mangrove ecosystems.