RAINFOREST
....The Heart of Borneo with its protected rainforest provide local communities
with the opportunity to be involve in eco-tourism activities.
By : FIZAH YUSOF
THE HEART of Borneo is a
massive biodiversity-rich rainforest treasure house that straddles three
contiguous countries, namely, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia on the island of
Borneo. The 220,000 km² rainforest is the subject of a conservation agreement
initiated by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
A recent International
Conference brought representatives and experts to Kota Kinabalu to discuss the
progress and future development of the HoB conservation effort.
The conference was not all
about not cutting down trees and allowing space for wildlife to roam, however.
Human habitation in and around the Heart of Borneo was also considered at the
conference where "Shaping and Nurturing Sabah's Forest Together" set
the theme for some purpose-oriented human activities in the conservation areas.
Tourism is of course an
industry that can open up the protected rainforest to economic activities that
do not harm nature. In the 'Breakout Sessions' on Community Development (part
of the agenda of the conference), Prof. Dr. Fadzilah Majid Cooke told delegates
that one of the examples of equal sharing of benefits from high value conservation
is found in Mukim Batu Puteh in Kinabatangan.
Cooperative Tourism Mukim
Batu Puteh, Kinabatangan (KOPEL) Berhad has a homestay business centred on
various eco-tourism activities in the Lower Kinabatangan region of Sabah.
Set up 15 years ago the cooperative
earned RM1.4 million last year from the Miso Walai Homestay, which has a
four-hectare niche in the Pin Supu Forest Reserve to support the tourism
activities there.
Considered one of the best
homestay establishments in Malaysia, Miso Walai (meaning ‘stay together in one
house’ in Orang Sungai language) offers visitors an organised community-based
cultural tourism experience drawn from stories and folklores of generations of
Orang Sungai communities on the Kinabatangan River.
One interesting aspect of
Miso Walai is that it has more than 35 households made up of about 400 people
speaking some 20 indigenous dialects of the local of “Orang Sungai” communities
living and working at the homestay complex.
The complex itself is made
up of large traditional rustic homes with some modern conveniences .
Traditional local food is served; household activities such as cooking, village
sports and farm activities are part of the experience, as are wildlife
encounters in the surrounding forests.
Saidal Udin, a KOPEL
representative at the conference told Insight Sabah that Miso Walai specialises
in cultural programs for students, families, groups, and people who are
interested in what the homestay is doing.
He said at the beginning
they faced difficulty in bringing people together to be involved in the
program.
“It is not easy to convince
people to take part when the project was still new; especially to understand
the benefits that they can get through the program,” he said.
To date the cooperative has
260 members from four villages in Batu Puteh, Kinabatangan: Kampung Batu Puteh,
Kampung Mengaris, Kampung Perpaduan and Kampung Singgah Mata.
Saidal said the income from
the business is used for the community development programmes as well as to pay
the cooperative members involved in these programmes.
Apart from that, KOPEL has
been appointed by the State Forestry Department as the contractor in the
on-going restoration and silviculture treatment of the Pin Supu Forest Reserve.
Silverculture involves getting rid of dead trees, branches and vegetations that
impede forest regeneration.
The contract with the Forest
Department is the main source of income for the local community but,
increasingly, they can count on tourism to bring in added revenue.“Miso
Walai provides a village setting not
only for visitors to experience amazing wildlife forestry and biodiversity in
the area but it also provides an avenue for sustainable livelihood for local
communities," Saidal said. – Insight Sabah
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