Read Part I and II first

Department Admits Logging Disaster’. That was the headline in the Sabah Daily Express the morning after the Sabah Society talk. It seems that the question and answer session at the end of the talk was dominated by discussion of an environmental crisis which had been unfolding for some time in the Ulu Segama Forest Reserve. It is uncharacteristically frank for a politician to admit to a ‘disaster’ and to give him credit the gist of the message appeared to be; ‘it’s a fair cop Guv, please go easy on us and we’ll promise not to do it again’.

The Ulu Segama Forest Reserve is managed by Yayasan Sabah for commercial timber harvesting. It almost completely encircles the Danum Valley Conservation Area and includes much of the catchment of the Segama River. Unsustainable logging practices have been prevalent in this reserve since the 1960’s but had intensified as the deadline to phase out all logging by the end of 2007 approached. The hardest hit area is known as North Ulu Segama and comprises 12,000ha of virtually clear-cut forest. Environmental refugees, famously orang-utans, have been unable to escape their decimated habitat due to being hemmed in by Oil Palm plantations to the north and the Segama River to the south.

Notwithstanding the environmental tragedy, the public interest of this case is that the Ulu Segama region is subject to a Sustainable Forest Management License Agreement (SFMLA). In other words Yayasan Sabah are contractually bound to manage this forest sustainably. The admission of an ‘Environmental Disaster’ by Sabah Forestry Department suggests that the SFMLA had been broken. Technically Yayasan Sabah can be sued for mismanagement and although this is unlikely to happen, at least the public now have evidence that their forest reserves are not managed as sustainably as it is claimed.

The other ‘successful’ outcome of the Sabah Society talk was that my ‘press release’ style email was mistakenly read out as a question to the Director of Forestry. In this email I had focused on the fact that proposed logging coupes near Imbak did not respect either the Imbak buffer zone or the presence of the Research Station and proposed Studies Centre. The Director’s response was to deny all knowledge of research activities near Imbak Canyon and in doing so suggest that the Conservation Division were not being transparent.

This of course was the incident to which my client referred in our meeting. As awkward as it was I knew that I had to explain myself immediately. My confession was taken curiously and on leaving the meeting I had the feeling that a re-appraisal had occurred, both of me and of the situation. Now that the dust has settled it looks as though the Imbak Studies Centre site and adjacent research plots will be spared the chainsaw, although how this will affect the viability of the proposed Studies Centre remains to be seen.

Read Part I first

Imbak Tampoi Basecamp

A white Landcruiser bounces into the Imbak Tampoi Basecamp and three men jump out clutching rolls of paper and clip boards. I sense forestry officials and so try to lurk inconspicuously. ‘Is that a map of Imbak region?’ I enquire innocently, ‘can I have a look?’ I add before he has a chance to respond. Sure enough it is a map of the proposed logging coupe, an area of nearly 23,000ha in the Sungai Pinangah, Gunung Rara and Kuamut Forest Reserves.

Much of this region has already been logged but as this selective harvesting was done 20-30 years ago there is much valuable secondary forest remaining. The proposed coupe borders four Virgin Jungle Reserves and encompasses un-logged areas, the Imbak Canyon buffer zone, plus steep areas which shouldn’t be logged under the sustainable forest management license agreement.

Most of my attention however is focussed on the 5000ha around the Tampoi Basecamp highlighted to be the first to go, sometime before the end of the year 2007. A short way down the track workers are already conscientiously marking out the 30m riparian reserve along the Imbak River.

I communicate my findings to an NGO colleague in Kota Kinabalu and together we begin to disseminate information to hopefully sympathetic acquaintances. Our plan is that we might be able to persuade someone to raise the issue at a forthcoming presentation to the Sabah Society by Sam Mannan, Sabah’s Director of Forestry. We even prime Sam himself about our concerns plus I write a ‘press release’ style email to the Sabah Society to inform them on the situation.

Unfortunately I can not make it to the talk as I am still in Imbak looking at birds. It is depressing to be surveying an area where our data may just record what used to exist. In this context I’m not sure whether it is better to find more species or less. Of course it’s better to find more but the whole thing feels rather hopeless. We record over 150 species, nearly 50 of which are Near Threatened or faced with a High Risk of Extinction as categorised by the IUCN Redlist.

A week later I am sitting in the office of my client; the Conservation Division of Yayasan Sabah. We are discussing my design of a new research laboratory at Danum Valley Field Centre but at the end of the meeting I can’t help enquiring for a progress report on the logging at Imbak Basecamp. Apparently the conservation division have lodged an appeal to save the 5000ha but are not hopeful. Once the logging contracts have been awarded it is very difficult to go back.

I ask whether the public and conservationists can help by campaigning for a reprieve. ‘No! That is absolutely what you should not do’ I am told emphatically, before he continued, ‘because apparently someone wrote an email that was read out at the Sabah Society talk and thanks to Sam’s [Mannan: Director of Forestry] response we are now having to answer to the Tan Sri about some things which have appeared in the papers about our Conservation Division’. My stomach lurched. He did not know who had written the email but I had a horrible feeling that I knew who the author was. I didn’t know what had happened at the talk, but it seemed that I had inadvertently landed my patron in the shit.

Pete on the Kangkawat River border of Imbak Canyon Conservation Area. The left hand side will be logged, the right hand side is conservation area.