Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Sabah looks forward to stronger cooperation with Heart of Borneo partners


KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is looking forward to building stronger cooperation with its partners in the Heart of Borneo (HoB) programme, an agreement signed in 2007 by the three countries in Borneo to protect a 220,000 sq. km. swathe of forest on the island.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said the government was committed to continuing in the governance of best practices in forest management and conservation.

“I am pleased to note that the HoB initiative has fostered good ties among various government agencies and partners such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia, Sime Darby Bhd, Malaysian Palm Oil Council, HSBC, New Forests Asia (Singapore) Pte Ltd and non-government organisation Land Environment Animal People (LEAP), just to name a few.

“The key focus in driving sustainability is restoration and rebuilding of the productive capacity of forests, rationalising forest landuse from the ecological and social perspectives, and further developing as well as capitalising ecosystem services provided by the forest and its biodiversity in search of sustainable financing,” he said when opening the International Conference on the HoB Initiative here yesterday.

His speech was read by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai. Also present were former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his wife Tun Jeanne Abdullah, who is also chairwoman of Lanskap Malaysia.

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