Transboundary biodiversity conservation: The
Pulong Tau National Park, Sarawak State
Malaysia
This transboundary biodiversity conservation
project involving the Pulong Tau National Park was a further effort to support
ITTO’s initiatives to promote biodiversity conservation in the humid
tropics. The Chief Minister of Sarawak, Pehin Sri Hj. Abdul Taib Mahmud,
expressed his support to the project in a letter to the Executive Director
of ITTO in February 2002. Following this, the ITTO engaged an international
consultant Dr. James Gasana to prepare the project document for Sarawak
Forest Department (SFD) to submit to the ITTC to seek approval and funding.
The two-year project started in January 2005. At the recommendation of the
Project Steering Committee (PSC) in 2006, the project was extended for a
further nine months from January to September 2007 with additional funding.
Apart from transboundary conservation the project
was also designed to initiate a process of conservation management of the
national park and to support local socio-economic development. The project
was related to the national and state governments’ policies on sustainable
forest management (SFM) that was aimed at maintaining a balance in development
and conservation and at meeting the ITTO 2000 Objective. At the local level,
the project was to identify management problems associated with the national
park and to develop strategies for successful management.
In order to realize this, the project found that
involving local communities as co-caretakers of the national park, addressing
problems or issues associated with sustainable resource utilization were
necessary. One such issue was traditional user rights of the local people
on the resources and their continued dependence on the forest. Phase I was
essentially a baseline data collecting and identification phase – the
information to be used to elaborate a park management plan and to justify
support for a second phase.
The Executing Agency has submitted the completion report,
and technical reports resulting from the implementation of the project
to the ITTO Secretariat in accordance with the project agreement signed
with ITTO. In November 2008, the Committee on Reforestation and Forest
Management declared this project complete, subject to the submission of
satisfactory final financial statements.
December 2007
In accordance with the project’s progress reports submitted
in January and August 2007, progress in project implementation can be
summarized as follows:
Park boundary survey and marking of core area is in progress
concentrating on sections that are liable to be damaged or encroached,
such as areas adjacent to timber licenses or settlements. The boundary
is 260 km long of which 160 km has been cut and marked with Park signs;
The Stakeholder Consultative Committee is now functioning
as planned; consultation continued to be held among the local settlements
and with the timber managers through the respective local Stakeholders
Consultative Committee;
The mapping of community settlements and human activities
within the Park is underway. New trails were jointly surveyed and marked
by ITTO, SFC and the local community and once completed, the old trails
will be abandoned to allow the damaged vegetation to recover;
Process of extension of the PTNP area is on-going: negotiations
between the Director of Forests and the timber licenses on the extension
of the Park are still in progress. The first stage is to secure the
core area of Batu Lawi and the area around Long Repung near Pa Lungan
linking Kayan Mentarang National Park in Indonesia;
All field activities on baseline ecological and biodiversity
surveys have been completed have been completed and a series of technical
reports are shortly ready for dissemination;
Socio-economic and cultural studies in local communities
are presently at the stage of reporting. The final report on survey
on the cultural sites in the Northern Highlands has been completed and
copies will be distributed to the local communities. Altogether, 88
cultural sites have been identified and mapped comprising 41 burial
sites, 42 megaliths and 5 non-megaliths. The last two reports to be
ready by September 2007 are “socio-economic studies of the Penan”
and “resource use by the Penan”; and
The Indonesia-Sarawak Joint Task Force met in Bali on
7 to 9 June 2007 to discuss issues of common interest including park
protection from illegal activities, inauguration of the TBCA in August
to be hosted by Indonesia, continuing research activities in KMNP and
PTNP and information exchange.
Despite the operational difficulties faced due to the remoteness
of the Park, the project is progressing on track to achieve its planned
outputs and objectives.
December 2005
In accordance with the project’s progress report submitted
in August 2005 and the results of the first Project Steering Committee
(PSC) meeting held on 4 May 2005, progress in project implementation can
be summarized as follows:
The project offices in Kuching and Bario have been equipped
with computer facilities;
Some 10 kilometers of park boundary lines around the
foot of Mt. Murud were cut and boundary signs put up at appropriate
distances along the cut lines;
A Stakeholder Consultative Committee has been formed
and a list of suitable candidates for its members was established;
The project’s objectives have been socialized with
the local communities at Bario through two dialogues;
Maps of extended national park have been prepared and
official recognition by relevant State institutions and timber companies
is being sought for;
A three-week ecological and floristic survey was conducted
in April 2005 and two soil surveys were carried out in June-July 2005;
and
Preparatory work for collecting information on and mapping
of the villages and cultural sites in the Kelabit Highland areas is underway.
To be attainable during the project duration, the first PSC meeting had
recommended to redefine Output 1.2 and made the necessary adjustments
to the original activities without additional funds. A supplementary document
outlining the changes and their justifications is to be submitted by the
Executing Agency to the relevant Committee during its Session in November
2005 for assessment.
Mission report
Blaser J., 2006: Transboundary
Biodiversity Conservation: The Pulong Tau National Park,
ITTO Project Supervisory Mission: 1 – 9 March 2006
