All articles of environment in Sabah

14Sep

Sandakan hospital first in region to use solar energy

SANDAKAN: The Duchess of Kent Hospital (HDOK) here is the first hospital in South East Asia to utilise solar energy to support part of its electricity consumption, said Elopura assemblyman Calvin Chong. Chong said HDOK had installed a total of 140 solar tubes at the hospital and it had managed to save up to 50 percent of its electricity usage for air conditioning. “HDOK has been utilising the solar tubes to generate electricity since 2017. Before the solar tubes were installed, HDOK was using three centralised ventilation systems for its air conditioning for the past 23 years. “However, the solar tubes have now completely replaced one out of the three centralised ventilation systems in supplying electricity for air conditioning at the hospital,” Chong said, adding that electricity would be generated once the temperature at the solar tubes reaches 75 degree celcius and above. Chong said this after a briefing session by Sedafiat Sdn Bhd, HDOK’s solar tube supplier, represented by its facility manager Rosly Shaflie at HDOK here recently. The briefing session was initiated by Sedafiat Sdn Bhd to let Chong have a better insight and understanding on the quality, cost and effectiveness of the solar green energy utilised by HDOK. “In this case here, green energy not only helps the hospital to reduce electricity cost, it would also contribute in lowering power interruption in Sandakan due to low electricity supply. “I also strongly encourage the use of green energy such as solar, biomass, biogas, wind and waste to generate electricity amongst the local community, especially big scale industrial factories. With the new government now, we encourage green energy because it would save cost on energy generation and it would also benefit the Rakyat,” Chong said.   Source: The Borneo Post Online
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12Sep

3.9 million hectares of Sabah land earmarked for forest reserve

SANDAKAN: Over 50 per cent or 3.9 million hectares of land in Sabah have been earmarked for forest reserves and wildlife conservation areas, said Sabah Forestry Department chief conservator, Mashor Mohd Jaini. He said the success of the tropical rainforest protection and conservation programme in the state was due to the forest, wildlife conservation and parks enactments. “Through sustainable forest management policies, sufficient land area could be reserved and managed for conservation,” he said at the closing of the Environmental Education Course for Teachers here today. According to Mashor, the state government had also decided that 30 per cent of the tropical rainforest area in the state would be gazetted as fully protected area by 2025. He said in the last two years, totally protected areas covered almost 1.9 million hectares or 25 per cent of the total area of Sabah which was equivalent to 18 times the size of the state of Penang. Mashor added that the Deramakot Forest Reserve was a fine example of a natural reserve which had been certified well managed by an international certification body, the Forest Sterwardship Council Standard' in 1997. In addition, he said, the country's largest Ramsar site covering an area of 78,000 hectares is situated in Kinabatangan. However, he said there were also challenges facing sustainable forest management, among them low returns, high cost of forest conservation, illegal occupation and farming on forest reserve land. Thirty-one teachers from 28 secondary schools in the state attended the six-day course initiated by the Rainforest Discovery Centre in Sepilok. — BERNAMA   Source: New Straits Times
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07Sep

Sabah benefits from Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape project

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has benefitted tremendously from the Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape Project. Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Junz Wong described the initiative, which was a Coral Triangle (CTI) project jointly implemented by partners from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines as an avenue to provide opportunities for regional learning exchanges. “The Seascape model provides guidance for the Coral Triangle countries in establishing and managing large marine, trans-boundary ecosystems such as seascapes,” Junz said in his speech read by his political secretary Rakam Sijim at the Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape Project Regional and National Closing Event on Thursday. He pointed out the project had also given a positive impact on the preservation of the Tun Mustapha Park (TMP), which was established on May 19, 2016 and is also the largest marine park in Malaysia, covering 898,762.76 hectares. “The Integrated Management Plan of the TMP is focused on bringing together relevant stakeholders to manage the park. With the support of the Sulu Sulawesi Seascape Project, Sabah Parks had implemented several preparatory activities working towards the establishment of a collaborative approach to manage the TMP. “One of the key achievements is the formation of a multi-agency enforcement committee called the Tun Mustapha Park Collaborative Enforcement Committee (TMP-CEC),” he added. He pointed out that Sabah shares many valuable resources in the Sulu-Sulawesi seas, particularly the species that are migratory or fish stocks that straddle the state’s borders such as groupers, tunas and small pelagic. Designated as a priority seascape under the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reef Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) by the six member countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste), the Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape serves as a geographic focus of investments, actions, conservation and climate change related results under the CTI-CFF Regional Plan of Action (RPOA). Among those present in the event were Sulu-Sulawesi Project director Franca Sprong, the Economic Councillor to the German Embassy of Kuala Lumpur Jens Brinckmann, Sabah Parks director Dr Jamili Nais and Sabah Fisheries Department director Dr Ahemad Sade.   Source: Borneo Post Online
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07Sep

Mt Kinabalu steps into Lonely Planet’s book on world’s most epic hikes

PETALING JAYA: Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia's highest peak in the land below the wind, has been listed as one of the world's 50 most incredible hikes in Lonely Planet's new guidebook on hiking trails around the world. In the newly-published Epic Hikes of the World, around 200 Lonely Planet writers collaborated to uncover 50 incredible hiking routes in 30 countries. A sneak peek of the book by British-based website MailOnline revealed that Mount Kinabalu in Sabah was highlighted as one of the planet's most thrilling walking routes. Scaling Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Southeast Asia, incorporates "tangled jungle, granite ridges and barren plateaux, traversing Borneo's highest and holiest mountain is a task that requires nerves – and legs – of steel", it said.
Other hiking trails in Asia that made the book includes the 88 Sacred Temples of Shikoku Pilgrimage in Japan, the Markha Valley in India, and the Gubeikou to Jinshanling on the Great Wall of China. In Africa and the Middle East, Lonely Planet recommends Cape Town's Three Peaks in South Africa, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and the Camp to Camp in Zambia's South Luangwa National Park. Some of the best European hiking trails named were Wordsworth's Backyard: Dove Cottage and around Rydal and Grasmere in the UK, the Alpine Pass Route in Switzerland and the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Closer to Asia, the Sydney's Seven Bridges Walk in Australia and the Routeburn Track in New Zealand were listed as the top hikes in Oceania. Towering at 4,095m tall or 13,435 feet above sea level, Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea. It is Malaysia's first Unesco World Heritage Site and home to an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 plant species, 326 bird species, and over 100 mammal species. The summit to Low's Peak is popular amongst travellers worldwide, with many seasoned hikers making the trip to Sabah specifically to accomplish the arduous trek. Source: The Star Online
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05Sep

Nationwide beach clean-up Sept 22

KOTA KINABALU: Reef Check Malaysia, together with The Body Shop and Coca-Cola Malaysia, is organizing a nationwide beach clean-up on September 22 in conjunction with the International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) Day. Several partners and friends from individuals to companies, have agreed to lead beach clean-ups in area of their choice. This effort is part of our long battle against marine debris, which is also our focus for the International Year of the Reef (IYOR) 2018. This clean-up will be the second in a series of events that RCM has planned for the International Year of the Reef 2018. RCM conducted a beach clean-up in March, on a much smaller scale. This clean-up saw 500 people in 16 locations around Malaysia, and they collected over 2.6 tonnes of trash from 15km of coastline, including 15,974 plastic bottles, 6,884 plastic bags, 2,368 cigarette butts and 203 diapers. These clean-up efforts are intended to raise awareness and bring attention to the problem of marine debris, specifically plastic waste, which represents a serious threat to marine ecosystems. Plastics are also making their way into the food chain and will harm us in the future. However, it has to be about more than just doing continuing clean-ups. RCM sees the need to go beyond clean-ups and to eventually stop having to do away with them altogether. RCM says they are working at getting to the source of the trash and stopping the trash from reaching beaches. To achieve this, they are collaborating with a number of partners from industry and government to find solutions to reduce trash on our beaches, all towards a target of no more beach clean-ups in 10 years. A workshop in late July gathered representatives from brands, plastic manufacturers and suppliers, government, waste management companies and recycling companies, to agree the terms of reference for a multi-stakeholder workshop to be held in November. Further events include the ICC event, a workshop with plastic specialists Plasticity in October and the final workshop in November. All these workshops in this plastic waste campaign are co-led by RCM and Coca-Cola. The organisers have recruited many partners and volunteers across the country, who will be joining them in many locations on September 2 (updated locations are posted on their Facebook group). If you want to commit to organizing a team of volunteers (friends, family, colleagues) for a few hours on that day, please email to organisers (cleanup@reefcheck.org.my) so that they can send more information on how to organize a beach clean-up and collect data which will help them identify long-term solutions for trash-fee seas.   Source: Borneo Post Online
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