NEWS OF THE DAY ~ Promoting Crocker Range as biosphere reserve

New Sabah Times

16th March, 2012

 
TAMBUNAN: Authorities are working to get the Crocker Range Park international accreditation as a biosphere reserve in the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) of UNESCO.

The MAB is a world recognition equivalent to that of the World Heritage Site already conferred on Mount Kinabalu.

The Crocker Range is a highly protected area gazetted as a water catchment that supplies water to 200,000 village settlements in the Interior and West Coast of Sabah.

Deputy chairman of the Sabah Parks Board of Trustees, Patrick Jilan made the announcement during a River Environment Education Programme (REEP 3) at the Mahua Rainforest Paradise located within the Crocker Range near here.

“An effort such as this will help towards getting international recognition for the Malaysia’s rich biodiversity, especially in Sabah and nominate the Crocker Range as a site for MAB,” he said in reference to REEP.
He said getting the MAB accreditation would require co-operation from all stakeholders including the young who will inherit the natural biodiversity and therefore needed to learn how to protect and sustain it.

REEP 3 is a programme that educates students, teachers and communities on methods that monitor the quality of water.

For three days, participants learned to recycle water, mechanisms on processing water and sources of water pollution.

It was organised jointly by the Sabah Biodiversity Centre, Sabah Parks, Japanese International Cooperation Agency, Sabah Environmental Action Centre, World Wildlife Foundation, Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Department of Drainage and Irrigation, Water Department and the Tambunan District Office.

Eighteen students from eight schools, six teachers and local residents took part in the programme. Tambunan is the third district to hold REEP after Keningau and Ranau.

The MAB was established in 1971 to promote interdisciplinary approaches to management, research and education in ecosystem conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.

To date, 580 biosphere reserves in 114 countries have been included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.