Kota Kinabalu: WWF-Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) Berhad have joined forces to establish a wildlife corridor connecting the Tabin Wildlife Reserve (WR) and the isolated Silabukan Forest Reserve (FR).
The effort would facilitate biodiversity conservation and promote ecological connectivity within the Tabin Landscape.
“This significant initiative by KLK sets a new precedent in corporate responsibility. “We hope this will spur more movements within the palm oil industry to follow suit, recognising the importance of biodiversity and habitat restoration,” said WWF-Malaysia Head of Conservation Sabah Dr Robecca Jumin.
Located in the midst of oil palm plantations, Tabin is home to the largest population of orangutans in the eastern lowlands (1,200), and also serves as a reserve for other Bornean endemic species such as Bornean elephants (350), Bantend (50), and Sunda clouded leopards (40).
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Mr Dinaakaran
Dr Robecca – WWF-Malaysia Head of Conservation Sabah.
The five-year project (funded by Beiersdorf AG, a German multinational company that manufactures personal-care products like Nivea) was inaugurated on September 26th at Ladang Bukit Tabin with a tree planting ceremony, at which a symbolic 300 tree seedlings were planted. This comes following a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed in June 2023.
“KLK and WWF-Malaysia’s unwavering commitment to improving the conservation and rejuvenation of the Tabin Landscape demonstrates the living landscapes approach implementation for sustainable development in Sabah.”
The initial phase of the project would prioritise planting fast-growing native pioneer species and fig-plant to improve the food source for wildlife. KLK dedicated 7.1 hectares of oil palm land and will continue to maintain the planted area.
KLK’s funding of the project “demonstrates the living landscapes approach in Sabah and activity beyond certification in the instance of a private company reserving land for a wildlife corridor in Sabah.”
KLK Sabah Senior General Manager Dinakaran Madhavan confirmed that conservation and preserving biodiversity remained one of the key priority areas in KLK’s sustainability commitments.
“Among others, we continue to pledge to no new development on peat, as well as using the approach of high conservation value (HCV) and high carbon stock (HCS).
“Through these efforts, we hope to create a sustainable ecosystem that would ensure the survival of wildlife and maintain life-supporting systems essential to the ecological process. We cannot achieve this alone and we are honoured to work alongside partners like WWF-Malaysia towards the common goal,” he said.
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