Tag - Environment

Kota Kinabalu: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman said more documentaries should be made to showcase Sabah's unique biodiversity, natural attractions and rich cultural heritage to the world. He said Sabah has so much to offer and one way of communicating its diverse natural and cultural attractions was through documentaries. "I therefore urge more people especially young to delve into the creative industry of film production including documentaries as well as other commercialisation of works of arts," he said, at the Kota Kinabalu Premiere of "Into The Wild of Borneo" at a leading shopping mall here on Monday. The documentary film featuring Sabah's natural beauty and diversity was co-produced by Paris-based F-Productions and University College Sabah Foundation (UCSF). Musa also said he was pleased that UCSF has set one of its goals to promote the development of both the creative and tourism industries in Sabah. "As you know tourism is an important economic catalyst for the State. As a learning institution, you must encourage your creative faculty to tap into ways to promote Sabah to the global market," he said. He, therefore, commended UCSF led by its Vice Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Ghazally Ismail on the collaborative effort. Meanwhile, University College Sabah Foundation (UCSF) became the first university in the State to capture the wonders of Sabah's flora and fauna through a world-class documentary film, 'Into the Wild of Borneo'. The 55-minute long nature documentary was brought into fruition in collaboration with Paris based F-Productions and Mapuche Production, and premiered at the Imago Mall MBO Cinema on Monday. Also present were Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Jainab Ahmad, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Mary Yap, Yayasan Sabah Director Datuk Sapawi Ahmad, UCSF Vice Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Ghazally Ismail, and the film director Jorge Camilo Valenzuela. The Memorandum of Agreement for this collaborative joint venture was signed in the presence of Musa in Paris last year. Meanwhile, Dr Ghazally said the production of the film is part of their ongoing efforts to serve in the development of human capital for the State. "… being a new university, we ought to build ourselves from the strength of Sabah. There are many ways that a new university can contribute to the State and we have decided to strive in the tourism and film making industries. "As you can see, we have involved our students in the production work of the documentary and its international marketing which eventually would boost the tourism industry especially if the film were to be shown in bigger occasions such as a film festival or even on National Geographic." He also said through the selling of the film, UCSF would like to reduce its dependency on the Government. "We want to be not totally dependent on the support by the Government as we are always encouraged to be independent. "Therefore, by pursuing the film-making industry, we could render ourselves to be financially independent because the market for documentary films is in demand. "It will be a permanent asset or intellectual property for the university to generate income in the future," he said. At the same time, the film director, Valenzuela said, filming the documentary was delightful and that he had a fun time sharing his experience with the students. "It was more like a knowledge sharing process and it is still on going. Even before the filming started, I've taught the students on how to produce a film, and five of the best students were selected to be part of the filming team," he said. He said the film took them four months to complete; two months to film and another two months to edit. "We filmed for two months in Kinabatangan and another two months was for post-production editing at our studio in Paris," he said. To a question on peculiar experiences while filming, he said a drone was broken and the process of getting a new drone was tedious. "We broke a drone while filming, but in order to get a new one, I had to hop on a lot of flights to get back to Paris, get a new drone, and back to Sabah again," he said. Valenzuela has 12 years' experience in wildlife filming and photography, while F-Productions has more than 300 short-films in its portfolio. Source: Daily Express

KOTA KINABALU: Businesses are encouraged to harness the opportunities to work with wildlife and make a profit at the same time by establishing educational self-financing wildlife centres in Sabah. Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Pang Yuk Ming said Sabah attracted over 100,000 visitors a year who come here to see the wildlife in the State. “Wildlife is an important attraction for the tourism industry in Sabah. “The whole world, especially from Europe, China and Japan, come to Sabah specifically to see for themselves the animals and mammals in the wild.” He said the mammals in Sabah were not only part of our heritage and worth preserving, they also provided a large income and many jobs in hotels, airlines and travel companies from wildlife-related tourism. Pang said there were many opportunities for businesses to contribute to wildlife conservation and still make a profit. For instance, the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary near Sandakan is run as a business but also helps to preserve wildlife and to attract tourists, he said. “Whilst the population of proboscis monkeys is declining in most parts of Borneo, at Labuk Bay the proboscis population is steadily increasing as well as attracting an increasing number of overseas tourists. “So it is a win-win situation for all concerned,” he said when officiating at the launching of a book entitled Phillipps’ Field Guide to the Mammals of Borneo and Their Econology’, authored by Quentin Phillipps and Karen Phillipps, here yesterday. The book is published by Natural History Publications (Borneo). In addition, he said there were large areas of mangrove habitat suitable for proboscis monkeys near the Nexus and Rasa Ria Resorts near Tuaran, where the monkeys could be re-introduced to the habitat to expand their population as well as promoting a conservation message to tourists and local visitors. Citing another example, Pang said the recently opened Bornean Sun Bear Centre, an NGO founded by Wong Siew Te was helping to rehabilitate sun bears which have been kept illegally as pets. “Most of their income comes from visitor’s fees of both local and international tourists. “Not only does this project help rescue sun bears from being kept in bad conditions, it also helps educate the public about the need to protect wildlife and forest ecology.” Although many tourists come to Sabah to areas such as the Kinabatangan and Danum Valley where wildlife was tame and abundant, Pang said there still remained many further opportunities for businesses to make wildlife easier to see and to educate visitors at the same time. “I would encourage all people here who are involved in tourism-related businesses to think more widely and look for examples of successful wildlife educational projects in other countries such as the pangolin centre in Vietnam and the Tarsier Centre on the island of Bohol in the Philippines.” On another note, Pang said tourists come to Sabah because the wildlife here were relatively tame and abundant. “Many of the wildlife in Borneo is endemic to Borneo. The total number of land mammals in Borneo is 247 of which 63 or 23 per cent are endemic.” Borneo endemic mammals include the Bornean pygmy elephant, Borneo Orangutan, proboscis monkey, Red Langur, Grey Sabah Langur and smaller mammals including rats, bats, squirrels and slow loris. On the book, the Phillipps’ Field Guide to the Mammals of Borneo and Their Ecology is the second field guide published about the mammals of Borneo. The first one, A field Guide to the Mammals of Borneo, co-authored by Datuk Dr Junaidi Payne and Dr Charles Francis accompanied by Karen Phillipps’ illustrations, was published by The Sabah Society in 1985. Pang said the long-awaited field guide showed the significance of wildlife in Sabah and their uniqueness, such as the proboscis monkey and Bornean elephant. “We hope that the publication will help us promote Sabah as a haven for wildlife to the people in Malaysia and the world.” Also present were Natural History Publications (Borneo) managing director Datuk C.L. Chan and Quentin Phillipps. Source: Borneo Post