A group of activists is working to restore the Kinabatangan jungle in Sabah by planting trees in areas devastated by logging.
Thanks to reforestation efforts led by Animal Projects & Environmental Education (APE) Malaysia, over 150,000 trees have been planted across 13 sites.
For their noble efforts, APE Malaysia is named as one of the 10 winners of the Star Golden Hearts Award (SGHA) 2024, an annual award by The Star that honours everyday Malaysian unsung heroes.
For more details, visit sgha.com.my.
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Thanks to reforestation efforts led by Animal Projects & Environmental Education (APE) Malaysia, over 150,000 trees have been planted across 13 sites.
For their noble efforts, APE Malaysia is named as one of the 10 winners of the Star Golden Hearts Award (SGHA) 2024, an annual award by The Star that honours everyday Malaysian unsung heroes.
For more details, visit sgha.com.my.
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Azrul. Hi, I'm Mark. We are from Abe, Malaysia.
00:04We are the winners of the Star Golden Hearts Award 2024.
00:30Back in 2017, several forest sites along the Kinabatangan River in Sabah
00:35were filled with patches barren of trees owing to the damaging effects of logging over the years.
00:41Today, however, the same sites have produced trees growing to heights of more than 10 metres
00:46owing to reforestation efforts taken by Animal Projects
00:50and Environmental Education or APE Malaysia.
00:53More than 150,000 trees have been planted at 13 sites.
01:00What you see around us now is one example of how the forest changes after we do the habitat restoration work.
01:08Initially, this is all open spaces. Without any trees, you can only see grasses.
01:15But now, where we're standing right now, this is the work of all the trees that have been planted since 2018.
01:22And then you see the impact that it has on the landscape.
01:28So in Kinabatangan, we have 13 sites located all along the Kinabatangan River.
01:33So we run three planting projects on the riparian habitat.
01:37So what we're trying to do is we try to reconnect fragmented habitat in Kinabatangan.
01:44The sites APE Malaysia are working on are also gazetted as part of the
01:48Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary designated by the Sabah State Government.
01:53There are numerous endangered species such as the Bornean orangutan,
01:57pygmy elephant, Bornean sun bear and proboscis monkey.
02:03Mazrul says among the key signs as to whether their efforts are paying off
02:07would be the surrounding wildlife utilising the replanted trees.
02:12In this particular area, we've seen orangutan nests on one of the trees that we planted,
02:18meaning that the orangutan are coming back or using these areas.
02:24Other than orangutan, we also set up camera trap and then from the camera trap,
02:29we'll see presence of other animals.
02:32Big ones, especially like pygmy elephant, we'll see sun bear in this area.
02:38And hopefully, one day when the trees are big enough,
02:42the trees can also be used by other larger animals like hornbill,
02:46maybe using it as a nest location.
02:49Among the challenges they face for reforestation efforts
02:52was working against the elements as well as diseases affecting the planted trees.
02:57Building the local community's trust is another crucial element
03:01towards ensuring the project's success.
03:08Of all our projects, initially we have to gain the trust of the community that we are working with.
03:14So it's a long process.
03:16So it's a long process.
03:18We need to be here and then establishing the relationship.
03:21But eventually, slowly, we see that the community accept the work
03:26and then you'll see they are joining, slowly joining the project.
03:29So it's not an easy process.
03:31Take time, but it's a process that you cannot skip.
03:34Our field team are made out of all the people from the village, mainly the youth.
03:39So they benefit in terms of job opportunity, income opportunity.
03:44So besides the field team, the project also impacted more than close to 70 families now.
03:53Besides the forest restoration project,
03:55APE Malaysia's day-to-day operations include maintaining the trees.
04:00Each of these trees will have to be taken care of to ensure good survivability.
04:05And then also, we will have days where our team will be coming down to prepare
04:09the sites for planting.
04:11So these are areas that might not still be ready for trees to come in.
04:16So our team will have to prepare the site.
04:17We will have to do a survey of the area.
04:20And then we start planting trees.
04:22In all of the sites also, we do camera trap surveys.
04:26And then every now and then, we will also fly a drone to map up the sites
04:31in terms of identifying which trees or which areas are needed to be planted first.
04:37And then also to look at the progress of how each of the sites are doing across the years.
04:42The tree propagation process may take a month or two
04:45and is usually done between March and November.
04:48We are planting mainly tree species that are indigenous or native to the Kinabatangan landscape.
04:54All of these trees are fast growers, flower and also fruit-bearing trees.
04:59And all of these trees are important food resources for a lot of the wildlife,
05:03especially key species like the orangutans, hornbills and etc.
05:09So all of these trees are propagated from the local nurseries.
05:14And we bring them onto the site by boat and it's planted by our team on the ground.
05:20The tree propagation process is assisted by local communities in the village.
05:25So about 75 families are currently working and collaborating together with us.
05:31They are mainly the women folks from the village, single mothers or the aunties as we call them.
05:37So they set up their own nurseries.
05:38Our team assists them in terms of training and technical expertise.
05:43And whenever they produce good quality saplings, we will be buying those saplings from them
05:49and we bring them into our stockade nursery.
05:51And then we use them for planting in our restoration sites.
05:55So all of our team members are also people or communities that come from the village of Sukau.
06:01And we want them to continue to support this kind of work
06:06because this is one way to encourage them to support the conservation in the area.
06:11APE Malaysia also runs volunteering projects at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre in Sepilok,
06:18alongside other special projects with other groups in Penang.
06:22I think as a whole team, we are very honoured to be given the opportunity
06:28to be among one of the Star Golden Heart Award winners.
06:32That gives us greater motivation and also satisfaction knowing that
06:36we are doing a good thing for the environment, for the wildlife and also for the community.
06:43Happy 10th anniversary to the Star Golden Heart Award.
06:47We hope this award will continue for many years to come
06:50to acknowledge the good work and the great projects of our fellow Malaysians.