Restoring the mangroves

KOTA KINABALU: A mangrove rehabilitation project will be carried out in Sandakan next year funded by Japanese firms Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co Ltd. The company inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Sabah Forestry Department which was represented by its director director Datuk Sam Manan here on Thursday. Also in the deal was International Society for Mangrove Ecosystem (ISME) represented by its executive secretary Prof Shigeyuki Baba. Witnessing the signing ceremony were Tokio Marine executive director Hironari Iwakuma, Forestry Department deputy director (forest development) Fidelis Edwin Bajau and ISME vice-president Dr Chan Hung Tuck.

Saving the mangroves: One of the last tracts of mangrove forests surrounded by housing and commercials areas north of downtown Kota Kinabalu.

Manan said the department was honoured to be the first in Malaysia chosen by ISME to carry out the project. The restoration of the mangrove ecosystem complements the department's efforts in restoring the swamp forest in Sabah where 700ha were restored in the last three years through funding from the Sabah government. "With this new funding from Tokio Marine, I am sure we will be able to do more and get international recognition. And hopefully good stories will be circulated around the world on what we are doing here," he said. "We will take full advantage of the technical skill and advice from the society as they have a lot of knowledge and experience in handling the restoration of mangrove swamps," he said.

Although the overall size of mangrove swamps in Sabah is 340,000ha, only a small percentage needed attention, said Manan. Prof Shigeyuki said the project would start in 2011 and some of its employees and customers would participate as volunteers to plant mangroves on the first three days of its implementation. He said the Forestry Department had already initiated trial planting at Sungai Lalasun, near Sandakan.

He announced that ISME would have its 8th general assembly in Sabah in September next year and it will be hosted by the Forestry Department. During the assembly, ISME will organise a workshop and field excursion to provide an opportunity for the international delegates to take part in the mangrove rehabilitation project planting effort. As of March this year, some 6,300ha of forests have been planted in collaboration with NGOs including ISME. "Tokio Marine & Nichido considers mangrove forests as the insurance for the future of the earth and hope to continue this project for the next 100 years," Iwakuma said. He added that although the company had been operating in Malaysia since 1957, it was only now that they had ventured to plant mangroves in the country, with Sabah as the first state to carry out the project.

-thestar online.