Research Proposal: “High Conservation Value Forest and the Management of Biodiversity Values across Tropical Plantation Landscapes”

An immense richness of flora and fauna has made Borneo a centre of biodiversity in Southeast Asia (Hazebroek and Morshidi 2001; Inger 2007), with over 1000 species of terrestrial vertebrates (Stuebing 2005), and in excess of 2500 tree species in Sarawak alone (Hazebroek and Morshidi 2001). The recent interest in large scale estate crops like oil palm is resulting in the clearance of large tracts of rain forest (de Jong et al. 2003), and today plantation forestry is seen to be taking over much of the former naturally forested landscape of Borneo (Padoch and Peluso 2003), including the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah. In terms of disturbance, the name Borneo itself now evokes a vision not just of luxurious forests, but also of a constantly changing landscape (Potter 2006).

In recent years, various classification systems (e.g. Jennings et al. 2003) have been developed for the identification and management of High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF); forest that is deemed so important for sustaining soils, water quality, cultural resources and biodiversity values that it is excluded from intensive exploitation and/or conversion to other land uses. While such classification systems may be useful in highlighting and protecting HCVF areas, it largely ignores the role of a well-managed matrix for the maintenance of these important values. As such, some resource managers have questioned the relevance of the HCVF concept in favour of a forest and/or land use regime that looks to protect and sustain the same values across the entire production landscape rather than solely within often isolated and consequently unviable forest fragments.

This thesis, prepared in fulfilment of the degree Masters of Applied Science, will therefore contrast and compare the range of methodologies employed in the East Malaysian States of Sarawak and Sabah, and possibly also extend to the Indonesian State of Kalimantan, and the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam for the identification and management of HCVF. It will discuss the key criticisms of the HCVF concept and recommend strategies that efficiently combine HCVF management with broad-scale landscape management, with a particular emphasis on biodiversity conservation.

The thesis will include an extensive literature review that includes peer-reviewed literature, industry publications, internal reports and management plans. Interviews and surveys of regional industry representatives, conservation practitioners and local academics will form an important component of the research. This approach is essential in determining the confidence of the industry in, and perceived efficacy of the HCVF approach for biodiversity management, and in doing so highlight any real or perceived shortcomings of the method. In short, the thesis will provide a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) analysis of the HCVF concept on the Island of Borneo; a land in a state of rapid transformation and associated biodiversity loss.

Through the course of my previous research interests on Borneo (e.g. see Shadbolt and Ragai 2010) I have fostered good working relationships with a number of plantation companies, industry bodies and government departments throughout the island. These include the Sarawak Timber Association (STA), Sarawak Planted Forests (SPF), Grand Perfect Sdn. Bhd. (GP), Asian Forestry Company (AFC), and Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). I am confidant of continuing support from these organisations during this research programme, and of securing additional support from other organisations during by time on Borneo, including government departments, plantation companies, NGO’s, universities and other research institutions.

To date I have established and maintained a long running MOU with GP in Sarawak via the University of Canterbury, NZ School of Forestry, and am in the process of finalising a second MOU with AFC in Sabah through Lincoln University. Both these companies are tasked with the conversion of degraded secondary forest to large scale industrial timber plantations of 540,000 ha and 60, 000 ha respectively. Plantation establishment in Sarawak by GP is well under way with in excess of 240, 000 planted hectares, and with the first experimental harvesting having taken place in 2011. However planting in the AFC plantation near Kota Marudu only begun in late 2011, and plantation managers here are only just beginning to set about identifying HCVF areas and are also required to prepare a Conservation Management Plan by the end of 2012.

Therefore working particularly closely with these two plantation companies will provide an excellent opportunity to contrast and compare the ways in which the concept of HCVF is applied. More significantly the lessons learned from the GP experience can be applied to the AFC plantation situation, and it is anticipated that the findings from this research will provide a significant contribution and guidance to both the AFC’s pending Conservation Management Plan, and to a review of the GP’s plan as well. This approach to the research ensures that the topic maintains an applied nature in keeping with the qualification of Masters of Applied Science.

The value of this line of research to myself as a researcher/academic will be a thorough understanding of the range of ‘tools’ used for wildlife conservation in tropical production landscapes; landscapes that are set to cover significant areas of Borneo Island. The way in which the research will be structured will allow me to network widely throughout Borneo and other parts of Tropical East Asia, and as a result develop new and fruitful partnerships and support for
future long-term research projects for both myself and other New Zealand based researchers.

References

De Jong, W., Tuck-Po, L., and Ken-ichi, A. (2003) The political ecology of tropical forests in Southeast Asia: historical roots of modern problems. In Jong, W., Tuck-Po, L., and Ken-ichi, A. (Ed’s) The political ecology of tropical forests in Southeast Asia: historical perspectives. Kyoto University Press, Kyoto, Japan.

Hazebroek, H. P., and Morshidi, A. K. A. (2001) National parks of Sarawak. Natural History Publications, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

Inger, R. F. (2007) The significance of tropical planted forests in the conservation of Bornean biodiversity: an amphibian perspective. In Stuebing, R., Unggang, J., Ferner, J., Ferner, J., Giman., and Ping, K. K. (Eds) Proceedings of the regional conference of biodiversity conservation in tropical planted forests in Southeast Asia. Forest Department, Kuching, Malaysia.

Jennings, S., Nussbaum, R., Judd, N., Evans, T., Azevedo, T., Brown, N., Colchester, M., Iacobelli, T., Jarvie, J., Lindhe, A., Synnott, T., Vellejos, CYaroshenko, A., and Chunquan, Z. (2003) The high conservation value forest toolkit. ProForest, Oxford, UK.

Padoch, C., and Peluso, N. L. (2003) Borneo people and forests in transition: an introduction. In Padoch, C., and Peluso, N. L. (Ed’s) Borneo in transition: people, forests, conservation and development. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

Potter, L. (2006) Forward. In Cooke, F. M. (Ed) State, communities and forests in contemporary Borneo. The Australian National University E Press, Canberra, Australia.

Shadbolt, A. B., and Ragai, R. (2010) Effects of habitat fragmentation on the movement patterns and dispersal ability of the brown spiny rat (Maxomys rajah) in the Planted Forest Zone of Sarawak, Eastern Malaysia. Biodiversity Conservation 19: Pp 531 – 541.

Stuebing, R. B. (2005) Wildlife conservation in the planted forests of Sarawak: blind ambition? In Tuen, A. A. and Das, I. (Eds) Wallace in Sarawak – 150 years later. An international conference on biogeography and biodiversity. Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan.