Sime Darby Plantation and 1StopBorneo Wildlife marked #Plant4Tawau soft launch by planting 50 trees recently to connect forest reserves and other smaller parks for wildlife to roam freely.
TAWAU: Sime Darby Plantation and 1StopBorneo Wildlife recently held a soft launch of the much-awaited forest rehabilitation effort #Plant4Tawau project.
Both organisations marked the launch by planting 50 trees led by Sime Darby Plantation’s Table Estate Manager Tahir Ismail, the Head of Bomba Tawau, Sukkur and other Bomba officers.
The project aims to connect the forest reserves of Tawau Hills, Bukit Gemok and other smaller parks in the long run through the planting of various Ficus tree species, including Ficus Racemosa, Cucurbitina, Villosa, Rosulata, Microcarpa and Benjamina, to improve the natural habitat for wildlife species to roam freely.
“We would love to have the people in Tawau and Sabah joining us in this collaborative effort to improve the biodiversity in these landscapes,” said 1StopBorneo Wildlife representative, Shavez Cheema.
Apart from forest rehabilitation, the project also aims to educate visitors on the best practices for restoring damaged forest back to the original diversity of Borneo’s native forests.
The rehabilitation, he said will provide wild food for the local wildlife at Tawau Hills especially hornbills, gibbons and langurs allowing visitors to watch these animals at close quarters including providing a living gene bank of Borneo figs freely available to both Malaysian and overseas researchers in fig ecology, taxonomy and biodiversity.
“Our hope is that in 50 years’ time the plant4tawau project will provide a diverse wildlife rich forest garden which will attract students, researchers and tourists from around the world,” he said.
“Finally we hope that this living example of what is possible will stimulate the creation of hundreds of similar projects throughout Borneo. We can provide free fig seeds and growing advice to anyone interested in similar projects and forest restoration,” he added.
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