Forum
Regional Forum on “Enhancing Forest Ecosystems Connectivity and Corridors within The Heart of Borneo in Sabah”
On 26 and 27 October, BenoîtGoossens attended a Regional Forum themed “Enhancing Forest Ecosystems Connectivity and Corridors within The Heart of Borneo in Sabah”, at the Magellan Sutera Hotel in Kota Kinabalu. The Forum was organised by the Sabah Forestry Department with funding from WWF-Malaysia.
The objectives of the forum was to provide a platform for relevant stakeholders to highlight and discuss on: (1) the concept and requirement of forest connectivity and corridors in connection with the conservation of wildlife, flora and fauna; (2) the status of the various initiatives on enhancing forest connectivity or corridors; and (3) on the way forward to advance their implementation.
Wild Cat meeting
On 4 and 5 November, BenoîtGoossens was invited to participate in a workshop themed “First steps towards the conservation of wild cats in Sabah”, co-organised by the Sabah Wildlife Department, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, the Global Canopy Programme, Bornean Wild Cat and Clouded Leopart Project and the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (Oxford, UK), with funding provided by the Darwin Initiative (UK) and Universiti Malaysia Sabah. The main objectives of the workshop were (1) to bring together key stakeholders to discuss the conservation requirements of the wild cats in Sabah, (2) to collate all available information regarding the ecology and conservation status of the 5 species of Bornean wild cat, with a specific focus on Sabah populations, (3) to identify current gaps in the knowledge base regarding Bornean wild cats and formulate strategies to address these gaps, and (4) to identify the first steps towards formulating a Wild Cat Action Plan for Sabah. There are five species of wild cats in Sabah, the clouded leopard, the bay cat, the marbled cat, the flat-headed cat and the leopard cat and they are all present in the Kinabatangan.
DanauGirang Field Centre will be involved in a wild cat camera-trapping programme in the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, in collaboration with Dr Marc Ancrenaz from the NGO HUTAN (Sabah), Andrew Hearn and Joanna Ross from the Bornean Wild Cat and Clouded Leopard Project (UK), and Andreas Wilting from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Germany). Andrew and Joanna will visit DGFC from 11 to 14 November to assess the site for future camera-trapping work.
Orangutan Conservation Colloquium
On 1 and 2 October, Benoit Goossens attended an Orangutan Conservation Colloquium themed “Developing Models for Orangutan Conservation Within Fragmented Ecosystems”, at the Shangri-la’s Rasa Ria Resort. The colloquium was jointly organized by the Sabah Wildlife Department, the Borneo Conservation Trust, the NGO Hutan, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, the Sabah Land and Survey Department and the Sabah Forestry Department. The colloquium aimed to present and discuss current knowledge about orangutan status within the oil palm landscape of eastern Sabah with representatives from governments, private industry, NGOs, scientists and media from Malaysia and from the international community; to discuss possible models that could be developed for orangutan conservation in fragmented habitats; and to produce and endorse an official resolution that will be tabled before the State Government and will present follow-up actions to minimize the negative impacts of habitat fragmentation as a result of agriculture development.
Danau Girang Field Centre is located in the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, where there is a master plan to establish a wildlife corridor along the Kinabatangan River. Genetic data from previous work carried out by Benoit Goossens and collaborators including Dr Marc Ancrenaz, from the NGO Hutan, showed the importance of corridor establishment along the Kinabatangan to restore gene flow between isolated orangutan populations. At the end of the colloquium, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Masidi Manjun, while accepting the final resolution from the participants said “We are here together to do one thing, to make sure future generations can see wildlife in their natural habitats and enjoy what we are able to enjoy now”.