Customers urged to buy certified wood only

SANDAKAN: Customers must only buy certified wood to ensure the success of the global sustainable forest management.

Borneo Conservation Trust (BCT) Head of Conservation and Research, Raymond Alfred said this in his speech during the launch of a two-day awareness and education programme for 16 Japanese students at the Segaliud Lokan Forest Reserve, organised by BCT recently.

He said that such efforts need the support of strong policies and strategic marketing mechanisms in every country, and he called on the relevant parties to be active in its promotion.

Raymond explained that in Sabah, BCT has implemented a three-year conservation programme with a local logging company that supplies only certified wood, as part of the Sabah Mega Biodiversity Corridor Programme Initiative.

“The activities that have been outlined in the three-year programme is aimed at providing capacity building to the company, in biodiversity monitoring, High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF) monitoring and enforcement activities efficiency monitoring,” he said.

The initiative was one that supports the Sabah Wildlife Department’s (SWD) Species Action Plan which strives to enhance forest ecosystem connectivity and corridors for Orangutans and the Bornean Elephants in the Segaliud Lokan Forest Reserve.

“The vision of the project is to ensure that the viable population of global priority mammal species continues to thrive in a functioning and sustainably-managed Green Corridor in Sabah, connecting the fragmented forest habitat to the larger and continuous forest landscape,” he said.

Raymond further added that the visit by the Japanese students would also help raise awareness on the importance of utilising certified wood for the sake of conservation and biodiversity management in Borneo’s forests.

Speaking on certified wood, he cited that KTS Plantation Sdn Bhd (KTS) for instance, has been supplying their certified wood to one of the trading houses in Japan, which channels the end products to the Panasonic’s manufacturers.

“KTS’ principal and marketing strategy in promoting certified wood in relevant industrial and manufacturing sectors in Japan should be emulated and duplicated by others in the field,” he said.

Meanwhile, KTS Senior Manager, David Chieng cited that the Segaliud Lokan Forest Reserve, which has been managed by them since 1995, was the first Forest Management Unit (FMU) that has been certified under the Malaysian Timber Council Scheme (MTCS).

“Commitment and policy support from KTS Board of Directors have been the key element of KTS’ success in garnering the certification between 2009 and 2010.

“Our leaders played a critical role in ensuring the company’s success in getting certified. Other contributing factors that are equally important are the high commitment of our staff in the development of the management plan, as well as their willingness to learn,” he said.

He added that to ensure the sustainable management of the FMU in the future, KTS will embark on restoration programmes geared towards improving high value forest trees with the planting of dipterocarp trees and other high value trees such as mahogany species and replace low value forest trees, such as sadaman species.

Aside from that, KTS is also committed towards enhancing their capacity in developing standard wildlife monitoring and enforcement programme which is presently being developed by BCT.

“KTS also has a strong principal in protecting high slope areas, maintaining all riparian reserve as natural forest for biodiversity corridors, and emphasising the use of the Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) in their logging practices,” said Chieng.

Also present at the event was Toshinori Tsubouchi, an executive committee member of BCT.