BY ALVERDTEKOSTER ANYAP
Sarawak is the largest state in Malaysia, similar to the size of Peninsular Malaysia, with its vast land, rough terrains and home to more than 60 ethnic and sub-groups spread across the region.
It is no doubt the environment and nature play a significant role in the lives of the indigenous people.
For many generations, the forest and wildlife have provided a livelihood for the rural community to survive and thrive until today.
As time moves on, and with progression of development kicking in, it has been a threat to the environment and wildlife where forest being bulldozed and habitats destroyed to make way for rapid infrastructure development.
Some of the livelihood and the socioeconomic of the indigenous people have been disrupted where resources from the forest may be destroyed or depleted due to the impact of development.
However, the involvement of the World Wide Fund Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia) to help the community has impacted the lives of the community, giving them a chance to be self-sufficient and generate economic prospects through nature conservation.
Apart from that, WWF-Malaysia head of conservation, Dr Jason Hon said that the NGO recognised the indigenous community has been here for a very long time, managing Sarawak’s forest landscapes over many generations.
Forest for the livelihood of the indigenous people
“We recognise that the life that they actually been in for many years has actually provided for them in many ways in terms of water, food and also cultural needs.
“So we know that they have significant connection to the land, so much between indigenous people and the cultures they have. WWF-Malaysia knows that they have been an integral part of the landscape,” said Hon.
He explained WWF-Malaysia focused on the conservation of forest and animals, but it also took part to help indigenous people through various conservation projects.
“When people talk about conservation, we think about conserving forest and animals.
“For us, we actually look into who are the stakeholders, who are the people who actually use this forest as resources, what are their needs for it and how are they actually keep the forest remains pretty much intact as it is.
“To the indigenous community, the rainforest is part of their livelihood, so that is what we focus on, to help promote good practices livelihood activities.”
He also noted the indigenous people are the guardians of the forest with their skill sets and knowledge on the resources that they can take from the forest.
Hon said with the skills and knowledge about the forest, this is where WWF come in to assist the community in improving existing skills and knowledge to move forward such as in handicrafts, agricultural activities such rice farming, pepper farming just to name a few.
Improve livelihood through conservation projects
There are three WWF-Malaysia’s mission focusing on conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.
The NGO is also working to sustain the natural world for the benefit of the people and wildlife, with six major themes; forests, oceans, wildlife, food, climate, energy and freshwater.
“People may think that we could easy or randomly pick one spot for our conservation projects with the indigenous community, but no, it is not easy and there are process we need to go through.
“Actually, we consider on work on specific projects where we really need to understand the background, who are the indigenous people we are working with and what the prospect is for them in the future.
“We have done a lot of studies, surveys, interviews and more importantly we do forums with the indigenous communities on conservation and the potential projects that can benefit them,” said Hon.
There are also uncertainties which makes it a challenging obstacle for the NGO where some indigenous communities have no additional skills.
However, he said, with WWF-Malaysia’s help and guidance, things can be better for the community to gain new skills that can help prospect them.
“So the whole thing is very important to work on with the community to really identify what they can do and what they know best that can benefit them in terms of socioeconomic.
“When we share the ideas and projects that can benefit them, overall, the response has been positive but there are some doesn’t give fully supportive to this.
“We know some of them are skeptical, worried and afraid to delve into our projects and venture into new areas, its human nature.”
In general, he noted that a lot of them like the idea of combined conservation with community livelihood and has been receptive by the indigenous communities.
“I think the whole approach that we do is part of our mission, and we want all of this to benefit not only nature but humans as well.
“So if we work on that principal, we do get a lot of support from the community in the project.”
Strong policies help conservation efforts
Environmental sustainability is one of the pillar within the Post COVID-19 Development Strategy 2030 (PCDS 2030).
PCDS 2030 focuses on six economic sectors as the main engine of growth, namely manufacturing, commercial agriculture, tourism, forestry, mining and social services.
In 2021, Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the aim for forestry was to become globally recognised in sustainable management of tropical forests and biodiversity conservation, while enhancing the growth of the timber industry.
He added sustainable approaches to monetise Sarawak’s rich resources would be implemented to provide economic opportunities for rural communities.
This is in line with WWF-Malaysia’s effort to conservation, and Hon believed strong government policies strong to the environmental aspects can improve community livelihood, bring empowerment, economic development and others that can benefit both nature and humans.
“The first thing is to really understand what is the state government needs to sustain the environment, and secondly, how do we balance this with conservation.
“So I believe that the government of the day is very open to all this discussions because it’s all about what sustainability development needs, it’s about working towards this concept.
“With common agenda of sustaining the environment and conserve nature and wildlife, it will encourage collaborations between NGO like us and government agencies.”
He also commended the state government for putting up forest conservation in their policies to keep the forest intact which promote the livelihood of the indigenous communities.
“We have ministries, people from different departments, GLCs and others who are present which is an indication that people really want to look on how we can have more sustainable development and how create environment for nature and people.
“As a wildlife conservation organisation, we have to help them towards this direction and actually engage with the government agencies, telling that we are on the same boat pushing for a balanced and sustainable development approach.”
