The Borneo inhabitants of Asian elephants have been recognized to be genetically distinct from its different cousins on the refreshed IUCN Crimson Record, having separated from them “tens to a number of a whole lot of 1000’s of years in the past”. Scientists say the popularity supplies a powerful impetus for his or her conservation.
“To safe the way forward for these distinctive animals, it’s important to guard and develop their forest habitats, help native communities in minimising battle with elephants, and implement anti-poaching measures,” mentioned IUCN on its web site.
Lately, a technique that non-governmental organisations in Malaysia have regarded into is establishing wildlife corridors via the huge oil palm plantations – an answer supported by IUCN too – as these connectors can be a part of forested patches, permitting the elephants to roam extra extensively, entry extra meals, and mingle to protect their genetic range.
On a current go to to Sukau, Kinabatangan, some of the biodiverse areas in Malaysia, conservation teams inform Eco-Enterprise that wildlife habitat loss as a result of growth of oil palm websites proceed to be an issue, whereas native communities and oil palm smallholders see elephant encroachment into their estates as a menace.
Social enterprise Animal Initiatives & Environmental Training (APE Malaysia)’s Sabah challenge supervisor Mark Benedict mentioned that almost all human-elephant conflicts that occur in Sabah are pushed by improvement which disrupts former elephant migration paths.
Within the Kinabatangan district, what was as soon as primarily forested land is now principally agricultural, with oil palm plantations overlaying roughly 90 per cent of the panorama. Past oil palm growth, specialists additionally spotlight how different improvement and mining actions are hurting wildlife biodiversity.
On strengthening hall connectivity, Benedict shared that his crew is seeking to construct these protected passages for the elephants to cross from one forest patch to a different. “We now have some areas the place the whole plantation website is now used for conservation functions,” he mentioned, including that he has been seeing a transformational change the place the present technology of elephants now like to spend extra time on plantation estates as a result of easy accessibility to meals.
Palm oil smallholder Jumahali Limpisan talking to reporters in regards to the challenges he faces within the agriculture enterprise, significantly human-wildlife battle. Picture: Siva Selan/Eco-Enterprise
Establishing wildlife corridors could be extremely efficient in mitigating human-wildlife battle and selling biodiversity, significantly for species like elephants and orangutans as these corridors present important pathways that join fragmented habitats, permitting them to maneuver safely.
Nonetheless, the effectiveness of those corridors depends upon a number of components, mentioned Dr Nurzhafarina Othman, senior lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
Dr Nurzhafarina mentioned that to ensure that these corridors to work, all stakeholders should agree on the specs, safety measures, and features of the corridors which entails detailed planning so that they meet the ecological wants of wildlife.
“The Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary consists of corridors which are protected to attach patches of Class VI forest reserves [also known as virgin jungle reserves] alongside the river. We must always try to extend the protected areas by buying land or collaborating with landowners at any time when doable,” she mentioned.
Aside from these corridors, Dr Nurzhafarina added that managing wildlife on the panorama stage is the holistic strategy to addressing human-wildlife battle, because it integrates conservation objectives with socio-economic improvement.
Since wildlife akin to elephants have giant house ranges and require intensive areas for meals, water, and mating, establishing a community of corridors exterior protected areas is essential.
“Managing elephants on the panorama stage entails contemplating the whole ecosystem and numerous land makes use of inside it, reasonably than specializing in remoted areas like particular person villages or plantations.”
“A landscape-level technique ensures habitat connectivity, permitting elephants emigrate between completely different habitats with out coming into battle with human actions. By planning and managing land use throughout the panorama, we are able to cut back human-elephant conflicts, create buffer zones, and design wildlife corridors that information elephants away from high-risk areas,” Dr Nurzhafarina mentioned.
In June 2024 alone, there have been reportedly 4 elephant encounters inside Sukau, from a single elephant to as many as 80. Chasing these giants away from plantation websites stays a frightening and harmful process for villagers.
The Kinabatangan wildlife division is offering help to farmers coping with the state of affairs. Nonetheless, the sheer measurement of the district and the overwhelming variety of calls make it tough for the rescue crew to get to location on time, mentioned Kinabatangan district wildlife officer Sylvia Alsisto.
“A part of our mitigation measures to minimise battle entails collaboration with NGOs. However this alone just isn’t sufficient. The neighborhood must know the best way to deal with the state of affairs as properly,” she mentioned.
Kinabatangan district wildlife officer Sylvia Alsisto (third from proper) responding to farmers’ issues throughout a particular stakeholder dialogue. Picture: Wild Asia/Flickr
Lengthy-term measures to minimise conflicts embody set up of electrical fences, however these require cooperation from the local people when it comes to upkeep, to allow them to proceed to serve the aim of retaining elephants at bay, Alsisto mentioned.
“However it isn’t simple to keep away from battle altogether as a result of we are able to’t set up gates in the whole space,” she mentioned, including that they proceed to work with native communities and place their groups at numerous areas to handle the difficulty.
Apart from NGOs, the Sabah state authorities can be seeking to begin elephant hall initiatives in Kinabatangan by the tip of this yr in its efforts to higher defend the pygmy elephants.
Final month, Sabah Tourism, Tradition and Atmosphere minister Datuk Christina Liew mentioned the state is in talks with numerous stakeholders to create a meals hall by planting meals crops alongside elephant migration paths, with the intention of decreasing human-wildlife conflicts.
Dr Nurzhafarina famous that shifting ahead, resolving human-wildlife battle and higher defending animals requires a paradigm shift in approaches taken, since such conflicts usually come up from disagreements amongst stakeholders over the best way to handle wildlife.
“Attaining coexistence ideally requires settlement or at the least cooperation amongst stakeholders on administration methods. Coordinated and collaborative conservation actions are subsequently required to ship significant outcomes and permit communities to shift from battle to coexistence with wildlife,” she mentioned.
Benedict burdened the necessity for the Kinabatangan wildlife sanctuary to remain protected as it’s the place there ought to be coexistence between people and wildlife within the district.
“We’d like quite a lot of stakeholder involvement, particularly from the plantation facet, to adjust to the prevailing standards. If they’ll enable for protected passage inside their panorama, it will possibly assist handle a few of the conflicts that we’re seeing [today],” he mentioned.
Aside from the elephants, the Kinabatangan River Basin boasts a spread of treasured wildlife, such because the endangered proboscis monkeys, orangutans, pig-tailed macaques and hornbills.
Eco-Enterprise’ entry to smallholders and conservation teams in Kinabatangan in addition to the sponsored journey to Sabah was facilitated by Wild Asia and Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC).
