The Efficacy of Protected Areas and Future Challenges for Wildlife Conservation in Sarawak
The protected areas of Sarawak now contain the best examples of what were
once some of the most diverse and continuous mature rainforest in the world.
Excluding proposed sites and marine reserves, Sarawak boasts 26 protected
areas comprising nature reserves, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.
These are the only line of defence in efforts to protect Sarawak’s biodiversity
and prevent local extinction. The protected areas cover about 0.5 million
hectares of forest, or 4% of Sarawak’s total area. Accelerated land conversion
to agriculture, agro-forestry and urban development has confined the residual
biodiversity to protected areas and human-modified or secondary habitat. With
protected areas being fragmented and isolated, even minor threats to these
areas could potentially have large impacts on their biodiversity. The ability of
species to persist within such remnants is an issue of concern. With the rapid
pace of anthropogenic land use change, Sarawak is running out of potential
sites for new high quality protected areas. In light of this, and based on past and
present experience, a decisive approach to conserving the remaining diverse
mature rainforest is urgently needed. New criteria for reserve selection based
on basic principles of ecology are critically needed to maximize conservation
gains and priorities.