KOTA KINABALU: Only five per cent of Sabah’s forests are considered pristine. Some 70 per cent of Sabah endemic trees are considered threatened species from 277 tree species assessed by the Sabah Forestry Department.
Major threats are climate change and severe weather, agriculture development, fire and fire suppression, geological events, residential and commercial development, human intrusion and disturbance, logging and wood harvesting.
This was revealed in a presentation “Monitoring ecosystem integrity to support sustainable landscapes in Sabah” mentioning ‘Plant Conservation Assessment: Red Listing of Endemic Trees of Sabah’ at the Heart of Borneo Sabah Symposium on Dec 2, themed “The Need for Holistic and Pragmatic Approaches on Conservation Efforts”.
Sabah’s Heart of Borneo area comprises 39,236 square kilometres with the totally protected area comprising 14,300 square kilometres or 36 per cent of the Heart of Borneo area.
There are reference publications like “The Red List of Sabah Endemic Trees” and “The Red List of Borneon Endemic Dipterocarps” that documented these 350 global IUCN Red List assessments of Sabah tree species in the IUCN website from 2018 to 2022, noting that, for example, Elaeocarpus pinosukii has most recently been assessed for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2018.
Elaeocarpus pinosukii is listed as Critically Endangered under criteria B1ab(I,ii,iii)+2ab(I,ii,iii).The International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) funded the Sabah Forestry Department project on Conservation Area Assessment for a duration of three years commencing in May 2000 to ensure an effective state-wide forest conservation strategy as its aim.
Tropical forests are a valuable carbon reservoir at the core of climate-change adaptation and mitigation and their conservation is crucial for fighting climate change, according to ITTO Executive Director Sheam Satkuru, speaking at the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt.
She said tropical forests present a paradox in which they are both a cause of, and a solution to, climate change.
“Emissions from the degradation and loss of tropical forests have long been identified as a major cause of climate change. Paradoxically, however, these forests also have the strongest potential to mitigate the problem through carbon sequestration on a massive scale and to create highly useful wood and other assets in the process.
“Nature-based solutions are gaining traction as means for building greener societies.
“Sustainable forest management is one such solution because it generates legally and sustainably produced wood—the most environmentally friendly construction material—and many other products and services.
“Tropical forestry that benefits people and nature is important for sustainable development, enabling recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and combating the global environmental crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
“Sustainable tropical forest management can add value to biodiversity, climate change, and livelihoods. She advocated more focus on sustainable consumption and increased attention on tropical forests as a climate-change solution.
On the effectiveness of tropical forests in mitigating climate change, Sheam Satkuru said using tropical timber as a substitute for non-renewable materials can help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and store carbon, potentially for centuries.
Noting recent debate on a circular economy, Sheam Satkuru said it was an important concept that was yet to gain traction in the tropics.
“Tropical forests have the potential to absorb up to four gigatonnes of carbon per annum, making them an ideal nature-based solution. In addition, tropical forests are a source of livelihoods for the rural poor and provide many other ecosystem services, such as clean air and water,” she said.
Sustainable forest management requires long-term commitment from all stakeholders and substantially increased funding to unlock its potential.
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