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Borneo pygmy elephants in the wild
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30th September, 2007
AS WE ROUNDED UP a corner of the Lower Kinabatangan River, we spotted them. A herd of Borneo pygmy elephants were quietly grazing, barely 7m from our boat, the bull guarding the group, that includede three calves, a short distance away.
We were at Danau Girang, a 10km boat ride from Kg Batu Putih, near the Mile 32 Lahad Datu-Sandakan junction, mixed feelings of excitement and sadness welling within us. For we knew that these majestic pachyderms face an uncertain future if nothing is done soon to curb the encroachment of palm oil plantations all the way to the river bank, thus hindering their movement.
We were a group of journalists and environmentalists on a wildlife expedition to the Lower Kinabatangan through the Nature Conservation Programme under the auspices of the School of Biology and Tropical Studies, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. The 31-member team was headed by Datuk Rajah Indran, the programme’s adviser.
The 560km-long Kinabatangan River is home to such endangered species as the Borneo pygmy elephants, proboscis monkeys, orangutans, hornbills, clouded leopards, sun bears and Sumatran rhinoceros.
The reserves here hold an estimated 13,000 orangutans and 1,100 Borneo pygmy elephants. A total of 26,103 hectares have been gazetted as the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary under the State Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997. In 1999 the state government declared the Lower Kinabatangan as Sabah’s “Gift to the Earth”.
But although the visionary plan is ideal for the conservation of natural habitats here, little seems to have been done to bring the plan to fruition.
Wildlife is the main attraction for the 2.3 million tourists expected to visit Sabah this year. They come from as far as the USA, Europe (mainly the UK and Holland), as well as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China.
“What we clearly noticed during our visit is the encroachment of oil palm plantations very close to the river bank,” said Malaysian Nature Society Sabah chairman Omar Abdul Kadir.
About a year ago, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman and the then Director of Land and Survey expressed concern about the encroachment, Omar said.
“It was resolved to adopt a soft approach to encourage oil palm plantations to follow “riparian reserve” guidelines i.e. move back the plantations about 150m away from the high-water mark.
“Now that a year has passed, it is time for the authorities to abandon the soft approach and deal with them hard, bring them to court if need be, otherwise the elephants will be stressed to live in such a narrow corridor,” Omar lamented.
He said the river is heavily sedimented, an indication that new plantations are being opened upstream.
A similar view was expressed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) volunteer Emi Sakano, 32, who is attached to the Sabah Ministry of Youth and Sports. She expressed concern over the sight of oil palm trees disturbingly close to the riverbanks, saying such encroachment is definitely not conducive to the mammals and birds.
A study by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) revealed Pygmy elephants prefer lowland forest because there is more food of better quality. Mammals of their size require large feeding grounds, but shrinking forests have brought the elephants into more frequent contact with people, increasing human-elephant conflict, the report said.
The elephants normally use only a few thousand hectares of the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary and Forest Reserves, and they frequently venture into privately-owned lands, including villages and oil palm plantations. Due to barriers formed by large rivers, large water channels, oil palm plantations and villages, the forests have been fragmented into 15 patches (or pocket reserves). Elephants can only move between these patches by swimming across rivers, and walking through plantations and villages, the study revealed.
WWF is proposing at least a 100m corridor reserve on both sides of the river for free animal movements.
The government needs to act swiftly. There are numerous laws to take good care of our biodiversity, such as the Environmental Protection Enactment, the Sabah Parks Enactment, the Forestry Enactment, the Wildlife Conservation Enactment and the Biodiversity Conservation Enactment, but without muscle they are rendered useless.
Of late the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary has been attracting a lot of tourists including those from overseas. We met a young British couple, Marcus K Payne and Georgina Alexander, on their honeymoon here.
They said they had been so lucky to see elephants in the wild and the smallest squirrel in the world, the plain pygmy squirrels, while in their hammocks at Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp at Danau Girang.
We met another young couple, Rubberma and Y. Buikema from Holland, who flew down here to take advantage of the natural beauty of our forests.
Tourism provides a source of income for the four villages here — Kg Abai, Kg Sukau, Kg Bilit and Kg Batu Putih. The homestay programme is booming in this part of Sabah, and the villagers are also actively involved in nature conservation and reforestation programmes in helping plant trees frequented by orangutans and other animals.
The Kinabatangan Wildlife sanctuary, dubbed the ‘Corridor of Life’, must reflect its name in true essence.
Rajah said in the natural environment, unspoiled woodlands and wildlife habitats are irreplaceable assets.
“These could not possibly be relocated and their loss could not be compensated. Therefore it is important that these be identified and protected through planning policies,” he said.
Immediate efforts must be taken to join back the patches which are currently divided into more than 10 pocket reserves, possibly by acquiring back the required land under the Land Acquisition Act.
This will give more space and ensure greater movement of animals, especially elephants and orangutans which live in closely-knit families. Any attempt to disturb or destroy their natural habitat will only nudge them to near extinction.
The responsibility lies with the policy makers who must ensure that the biodiversity resource is understood and fully taken into account in all planning decisions. In addition the enforcement officials must see that this ‘Corridor of Life’ is a free passageway in the true sense, wide enough for the animals to roam freely and happily without much conflict.
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