Sabah’s Sugud Islands is Malaysia’s first IUCN Green List Site

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KOTA KINABALU: The Sugud Islands Marine Conservation Area (Simca) is now an IUCN Green List Site – the first of its sort in Malaysia.

Through the Green List, Simca is now recognised globally as a well-managed Protected Area by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).

This was introduced Thursday (May 26) on the ongoing 2nd Asia Parks Congress being held on the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) right here.

Simca is the first privately managed marine protected space overlaying three islands – Lankayan, Billean and Tegaipil – that has space about 46,317ha within the Sulu Sea in Sabah’s east coast.

Simca, which is managed by non-profit firm Reef Guardian Sdn Bhd appointed by the state authorities, is dwelling to no less than 500 species of fish, 300 species of coral, two species of sea turtle, six species of large clam and 26 species of seagrass and algae.

“This world recognition is a milestone for Simca. It exhibits that every one our efforts through the years have come to fruition,” stated lead marine biologist and Reef Guardian supervisor Dr Achier Chung.

He stated that the success was resulting from shut collaboration, significantly with the Sabah Wildlife Department, the native maritime enforcement companies together with the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) and General Operations Forces to fight encroachment into the Simca protected zone.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga stated that Simca was gazetted underneath the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 since October 2003 as a Marine Wildlife Conservation Area.

“It has been an amazing partnership between the Sabah State Government and Reef Guardian Sdn Bhd in rehabilitating and preserving the realm over the past 19 years.

“We are very pleased with the achievement and it was not a simple activity certainly. We hope that our partnership will proceed to keep up the accomplishment we had and extra issues to come back,” he stated.

The analysis course of for the IUCN Green List in Malaysia is carried out by the Expert Assessment Group for Green List Malaysia (EAGL).

The group includes 10 multi-disciplinary volunteer specialists who undertake the analysis of Green List Candidates in opposition to the Green List standards and indicators.

EAGL Chair Rambli Ahmad stated there have been 5 extra Protected and Conserved Areas on their option to Green Listing, together with the Danum Valley Conservation Area, the Tun Mustapha Park, the Sook Lake Forest Reserve and Pin Supu Forest Reserve in Sabah in addition to the Jagoi Heritage Forest in Sarawak.

WWF Malaysia’s Protected Areas supervisor Elyrice Arim stated that as a result of Covid-19 lockdown beforehand, the EAGL group carried out its web site assessments just about.

“This meant that we needed to be doubly thorough in our analysis. In the tip, it was potential as Simca was capable of present sturdy proof of their achievement,” added Alim.

“Simca’s achievement is testomony of their relentless efforts in safety and enforcement. We hope that Simca’s success serves as an inspiration to different protected websites to comply with go well with,” she added.



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