Sabah prepares for second World Heritage Site listing
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is continuing its effort to have Danum Valley, Maliau Basin and Imbak Canyon recognized as World Heritage Sites (WHS) by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said a state-level committee entrusted with the task was preparing all the required feedback and documentation required for the listing.
“After it is completed the whole thing will be submitted to the relevant federal ministry in Kuala Lumpur to make the official proposal to Unesco,” he said to reporters after officiating at the launch of a book on traditional customs of ethnic communities in Sabah, at a leading hotel here, yesterday.
Masidi said once the Unesco had received the official proposal, it would send its experts to make the necessary evaluation, and should they be satisfied with all the endorsement given by the relevant authorities, the sites would be listed as WHS.
This would be the second WHS in Sabah after Mount Kinabalu.
“It is taking some time because we are proposing simultaneously three sites and these involves collection of data which is a bit technical,” he explained.
He added that all technicalities were expected to be completed soon, and more importantly they would be completed properly to make it easier for Unesco to make its decision.
On another development he informed that his ministry had yet to receive any official application on the proposal to turn Kota Kinabalu City Bird Sanctuary (KKCBS) into a Ramsar Site, which will also be the second for Sabah after the Lower
Kinabatangan Sanctuary.
“Officially, the ministry has yet to receive any official application, although we have read about the proposal in the media. To me an expression of intention has already been made on this matter and I assume that there will be an official application – but nothing has reach to my attention so far,” he said.
Masidi said it was also the hope of the ministry to see KKCBS recognized as a Ramsar Site but reminded that complying with all the conditions and requirements for such international recognition was not easy.
What was important for now, he said, was for all parties involved to take the necessary initiatives to ensure that the KK Bird Sanctuary was taken care well.
Source: Borneo Post
