Sime Darby Foundation to assist conservation of bantengs in Sabah

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah -- (ReleaseWire) -- 12/18/2012 -- The Sime Darby Foundation announced new support for the conservation of the banteng, a species of wild cattle, in the Malaysian state of Sabah. The new funding of USD$350,000.00 will go towards a project that is being carried out by several stakeholders including Cardiff University of the United Kingdom, the Sabah Forestry Department and Sabah Foundation.

The funding from the Sime Darby Foundation is a long term commitment to its "Big9 conservation programme," which is to protect and conserve nine endangered animals, most of which are indigenous to Malaysia. These are the sun bear, orangutan, Asian elephant, Sunda clouded leopard, hornbill, banteng, proboscis monkey, Sumatran rhinoceros and Malayan tiger.

Bantengs were once widely distributed across South East Asia but in the last 20 years, its population in the wild has plummeted by an alarming 80% across its entire range. The number of banteng remaining in the wild across its range countries is estimated to be 3000-5000 individuals today.

The species Bos javanicus lowi is found only on the island of Borneo and will be the subject of this study. Small populations of Bos javanicus birmanicus still exist in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in increasingly fragmented habitats but has been declared extirpated in its former range countries of India, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, and Peninsular Malaysia.

"The banteng project aims to increase the knowledge and awareness of this extremely endangered species of wild cattle in Sabah," explained Dr Laurentius Ambu, Director of the Sabah Wildlife Department.

"It will be a three-year project during which we will try to locate the remaining populations of banteng across Sabah and assess their conservation status and longevity in their current locations," said Dr Benoit Goossens, Director of the Danau Girang Field Centre and leader of the project. "To achieve our objective, we will use the only record of banteng distribution available in the literature, an unpublished report entitled "A Faunal survey of Sabah" that was compiled by WWF in 1982, which includes a distribution map of banteng in Sabah and estimated population sizes," added Goossens.

"Recognition of remnant banteng populations is critical to identify the extent of their decline in Sabah which has probably occurred over the past 30 years as a result of deforestation, land conversion and human population expansion. It is also crucial for identifying connectivity issues compromising the genetic integrity of the species," explained Goossens adding that camera trap grids would be set up on in those areas to capture banteng photographs and estimate habitat occupancy.

"Education and capacity building have always been a priority for the Sime Darby Foundation, and as such, the project will also include training of one Malaysian master student and two local field research assistants," explained Goossens.

"At the end of the project we will organise an international workshop on the conservation status of banteng in Sabah to highlight the current status of the species, and discuss mitigation possibilities and launch an action plan for banteng in Sabah," concluded Ambu.

The foundation's long term commitment is estimated at USD$40 million with close to $26 million already committed towards the program.

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Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) recently received a RM1.46 million funding from the Sime Darby Foundation for their project on the conservation of Sunda clouded leopards and sympatric carnivores in a fragmented landscape in Sabah.

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah -- (ReleaseWire) -- 12/10/2012 -- The Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) recently received a RM1.46 million funding from the Sime Darby Foundation for their project on the conservation of Sunda clouded leopards and sympatric carnivores in a fragmented landscape in Sabah. The project is also a collaboration with several partners including the WildCRU (Oxford University, UK), the University of British Columbia (Canada), Cardiff University and Universiti Malaysia Sabah.

The funding from the Sime Darby Foundation is in line with the Foundation's Big9 programme which is to protect and conserve nine endangered animals, most of which are indigenous to Malaysia. They are the sun bear, orangutan, Asian elephant, Sunda clouded leopard, hornbills, banteng, proboscis monkey, Sumatran rhinoceros and Malayan tiger. So far, close to RM80 millions has been committed towards the conservation of these nine species. The total commitment from the Foundation for its environmental pillars is estimated at USD$35 million.

"The project aims to increase the conservation efforts for the Sunda clouded leopard as well as increase awareness of the species in Sabah, to build local capacity for carnivore field research in Malaysia and to gather essential ecological data that will enable the development of effective conservation measures to ensure the survival of Sunda clouded leopards in the fragmented landscape of contemporary Borneo," explained Datuk Dr Laurentius Ambu, Director of the Sabah Wildlife Department.

"It will be a three-year project during which we will study the spatial ecology and habitat associations of the Sunda clouded leopard specifically in the fragmented landscape of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (LKWS)," said Dr Benoit Goossens, Director of the Danau Girang Field Centre and leader of the programme. "We will use state of the art satellite telemetry to investigate the spatial ecology and habitat use of Sunda clouded leopard and other threatened carnivores in the LKWS and see how the species respond to a highly degraded and fragmented landscape," added Goossens.

"We will also carry out intensive camera trap surveys tailored to estimate and investigate seasonal and annual variation in density of Sunda clouded leopards in LKWS. In addition, we will come up with detailed mapping of habitat corridors through and around oil palm plantations for clouded leopards and their prey, using camera-trap data and cutting-edge ecological connectivity analytical models," explained Goossens.

"The project will also see the development of an education programme, aimed primarily at children from schools in oil palm plantations, in collaboration with the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre in Sandakan," added Goossens. "Education and capacity building have always been a priority for the Sime Darby Foundation, and as such, the project will also include training of two Malaysian master students," explained Goossens.

"The three year project will culminate with an international workshop on the conservation of the Sunda clouded leopard in Sabah and the results of this project will assist our Department to develop a State Action Plan for the clouded leopard in Sabah, and will hopefully increase awareness and appreciation of the species in the State and elsewhere," concluded Ambu.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm