KOTA KINABALU: Better forest and wildlife conservation in Sabah is expected with a recent signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the state and the World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia).

       The MoU, signed through the Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) on Monday (Dec 6), will see both SFD and WWF-Malaysia, among others, jointly restore open and degraded forest lands to enhance connectivity and wildlife habitats.

       The five-year MoU would also see the improvement of ecosystem function and services, and local community empowerment, said WWF-Malaysia CEO and executive director Sophia Lim.

       “We have always worked closely with SFD in our conservation works in Sabah. With this latest collaboration, we hope to strengthen our existing ties to work in unity with the state government to achieve lasting conservation solutions,” she said.

       This is done through the facilitation of inter-agency collaboration through forest conservation work (restoration, anti-poaching task forces and human-elephant conflict management) groups at district and state level, she said.

       Meanwhile, social forestry works will include forest community engagement and capacity building for sustainable forest and biodiversity use, Lim added.

       Earlier, she said the MoU aims to enhance inclusive conservation practices in Sabah focusing on biodiversity conservation and maintaining forest ecosystem integrity through responsible forest governance.

       She said inclusive conservation involves developing and applying inter- and trans-disciplinary processes.

       This includes the living landscape approach to balance the consequences of different visions and interests on the landscape for how forests and nature should be conserved, Lim said.

       She said the MoU was expected to improve collaboration between the two parties in enhancing conservation activities of forest protection and quality through the restoration of degraded forest lands and habitats and wildlife corridors.

       She said better social forestry work with stakeholders and partner organisations including Heart of Borneo (HoB)-related activities in transboundary efforts between Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia was also on the cards.

       The MoU was signed by the Chief Conservator of Forests, Datuk Frederick Kugan and Lim at the Natural Resources Office of Menara Kinabalu, Teluk Likas here.

       “Close collaboration with NGOs and civil society is the norm but must be tempered with pragmatism,” Kugan said.

       “WWF-Malaysia has always been an active and valuable partner to SFD, and we hope to continue this momentum to achieve greater heights in our conservation agenda,” he said.

       The ceremony was witnessed by WWF-Malaysia’s Sabah Conservation head Dr Robecca Jumin and SFD’s Forest Sector and Planning chief Rosila Anthony.