Wildlife corridor must be completed in order to significantly reduce extinction risk of several critically endangered species, including the Bornean banteng and Bornean pygmy elephant.
An NGO called Rhino and Forest Fund (RFF) is desperately seeking donations to buy land for the Tabin-Kulamba wildlife corridor project on Sabah’s east coast. RFF was established in 2009 in Kehl, Germany, with a focus on protecting the environment.
Its tasks include preserving forests, restoring forests, and creating wildlife corridors. More than 2,300 ha of vital forest land in Sabah have been saved by RFF, working with local authorities, since 2011, and these areas have been gazetted as completely protected areas.
Robert Risch, the founder and chief executive officer of RFF, stated that they needed to raise at least one million euros (RM4.8 million) by May of this year because the owner of the relevant plots intends to sell them as soon as possible.
A wildlife corridor must be completed in order to significantly reduce the extinction risk of several critically endangered species, including the Bornean banteng and Bornean pygmy elephant. The 540-hectare area is a part of an oil palm estate.
The wildlife corridor currently has 65ha that RFF has purchased in order to connect to important biodiversity areas, but the connectivity is still too limited, according to him.
“The 540ha cost a total of €5mil (RM24.3mil).” The owner informed us that he would sell the property to an oil palm company if we were unable to raise enough money to begin purchasing his estate by May 2023.
“We need at least €1mil by May 2023 to prove that we are serious. Right now, we are a long way from the goal.”
The most likely scenario, he told The Star, is finding private donors who can quickly decide what to do with their money, without drawn-out application procedures.
“RFF has reached out to many foundations, NGOs, and companies, but as the figure needed to be raised by next month is huge, the most realistic scenario is finding private donors,” he said.
“When asked how much money they had raised so far, he refused to say how much and responded, “There are no solid pledges yet.
He responded that there was a high risk of losing the land if they were unable to secure the RM4.8 million funding in time, depending on how quickly the owner could sell it to other parties.
To protect the imperilled flora and fauna of Borneo, the Tabin-Kulamba wildlife corridor links Malaysia’s two largest wildlife reserves, the Lower Kinabatangan and Segama Wetlands and Tabin Wildlife Reserve.
The endangered Bornean banteng, of which there are at least 50 in Tabin and 100 estimated in Kulamba, is one species of wildlife that will benefit from the corridor.
RFF’s data indicate that once combined, both sub-populations could create a healthy population and stop the extinction of the species.
The proboscis monkey, eastern grey gibbon, Bornean pygmy elephant, and flat-headed cat are just a few examples of the other wildlife in that landscape that is endangered (according to the IUCN Red List) and threatened by habitat fragmentation.