Sarawak nominates two national parks as Asean Heritage Parks

KUCHING: The state government has nominated Bako National Park in the Kuching Division and Bukit Lambir National Park in the Miri Division as Asean Heritage Parks (AHP), said Deputy Premier Datuk Awang Tengah Ali Hasan today.
He said the Asean Centre for Biodiversity has conducted assessments on both parks.
"The results of the assessments are expected to be announced by September this year," Awang Tengah, who is also the state Urban Development and Natural Resources Minister, said in his winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly today.
He added that the nomination of these two national parks followed the successful inscription of Niah National Park as a UNESCO World Heritage Site last year.
Awang Tengah also said the state government is committed to obtaining UNESCO Global Geopark Site recognition for Sarawak Delta Geopark in 2026.
"We are in the final stages of preparation for the UNESCO assessment scheduled for June 22 to 25 this year," he said, adding that this is to ensure all preparations run smoothly.
Awang Tengah also informed the state assembly that the Sarawak government has gazetted 2.1 million hectares of totally protected areas (TPA), comprising 874,000 hectares of land and 1.2 million hectares of marine waters.
He added that an additional 318,000 hectares of land has been approved for preliminary gazettement.
He said Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC), in strengthening forest conservation efforts, has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the Sarawak Infectious Disease Centre (SIDC) for zoonotic disease studies, the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) for biodiversity technical cooperation, and the University of Malaya for genetic research.
He added that SFC is also collaborating with King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand, on the conservation of migratory shorebirds.
"For the first quarter of 2025, the migratory shorebird tagging programme was implemented at the Bako-Buntal Bay East Asian–Australasian Flyway site," he said.

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