Participants of the P2P Greeniz programme will be learning about sustainable eco-tourism during their camp in Kinabatangan, Sabah, next week.<\/b><\/p>\n
AS his boat glided down Sungai Kinabatangan, Albert Teo was struck by the sight of gaps in the forests along the riverbank. He later learned that the gaps were the sites where logs harvested from nearby jungles were kept before being rafted downstream to the east coast town of Sandakan in Sabah. The stacking of thousands of logs over the years resulted in the soil being compacted, leaving behind barren spots. Teo, who was by then involved in tourism in Sabah, wondered if he could ever do anything about those barren gaps.<\/p>\n
Many years after that trip down Sabah’s second longest river, he set up a lodge near Kampung Sukau for tourists to experience the lower Kinabatangan region which is teeming with wildlife. But the barren gaps he first saw so long ago never left his mind. After his 20-room Sukau Rainforest Lodge began operating in 1995, Teo turned his attention to those gaps along the river.<\/p>\n
Teo set up the Sukau Ecotourism Research and Development Centre that “adopted” a 25.6-hectare barren land near Kampung Sukau. Teo’s mission was to find ways to reforest the area by planting native tree species including binuang, laran, bangkal kuning and talisai paya.<\/p>\n
“I wanted to have trees planted there to encourage the wildlife to return to the area apart from removing what to me was an awkward gap in the forests lining the river,” he said, adding that the move was also to reduce erosion along the riverbank.<\/p>\n
Aesthetics aside, regenerating the forest was crucial in efforts to establish forest corridors to enable wildlife hemmed in by nearby oil palm plantations to move between existing fractured conservation areas. The project called the Kinabatangan Wildlife Corridor Rehabilitation Programme kicked off in 2000. To fund this ambitious scheme, the lodge sets aside US$1 for every international guest staying there, regardless of his company’s profit margins. The fund was used to buy seedlings from villagers in Kampung Sukau who are mainly from the indigenous Sungei community, and to pay for the maintenance of the area. After eight years, and with a funding of more than RM43,000, the project has met with some success with more than 4,000 tree saplings planted.<\/p>\n
“The past eight years have been a learning period. We learned the proper care for the trees and to use things like elephant dung as fertiliser,” he said.<\/p>\n
Teo and his staff also got acquainted with certain habits of the pachyderms (mammals characterised by their thick skins, such as elephants, rhinoceros, hippopotamus) once they started returning to the area.<\/p>\n
“It appears they cannot stand the sight of man-made structures. We have put up signboards and they pushed them down. When we put them up again, they did the same thing. We just removed the whole thing,” added the Teo who has published seven photographic books on Borneo, two videos and over 150 postcards displaying the scenery of Borneo.<\/p>\n
The forest rehabilitation project is just one of the environmental and local community-oriented schemes undertaken by Teo’s Sukau Rainforest Lodge. They are also conscientious about reducing the impact of operating a lodge in the surroundings. Solar panels were used to generate electricity and hot water, before the advent of regular power supply to the lodge. Boats ferrying tourists to watch wildlife are equipped with electric engines as gasoline-powered engines are loud and noisy. Even used cooking oil is recycled to light the lamps along the walkway leading to the lodge’s restaurant.<\/p>\n
Teo’s efforts to reduce the impact of tourism on the environment have resonated with many of his guests who support the lodge’s various projects with donations. Many tourists choose to stay in Teo’s lodge because of its sustainability practice. Teo’s company Borneo Eco Tours and Sukau Rainforest Lodge have won numerous international ecotourism awards. He is recognised internationally as a leading expert of sustainable ecotourism, and has often been invited to speak on the topic. He has documented his experience of running the lodge in Saving Paradise, co-authored by Carol Petterson.<\/p>\n
Other projects Teo and his staff have initiated include the distribution of water tanks for dozens of families around Sukau to enable them to store rainwater for drinking. Teo believes that including the local villagers in their conservation efforts has had a positive impact. Now, most the lodge’s staff is from Kampung Sukau and they have gained skills in the tourism and hospitality industry. Teo said the lodge’s involvement in the environment and the local community was in line with the tenets of eco-tourism.<\/p>\n
“We have benefited from the environment and the local communities. It is only appropriate for us to give back something in return,” said Teo who is now turning his attention to the Rungus community in northern Sabah.<\/p>\n
It is also in this spirit of giving back to the community that Sukau Rainforest Lodge will be hosting the participants of this year’s P2P Greeniz camp from May 25-29. The P2P Greeniz programme is a peer educator programme initiated by StarYouth last year to encourage young people to spread environmental awareness to their peers, family and community. Thirty young participants will see and experience for themselves Teo and his team’s sustainability practices and conservation efforts. Hopefully, the participants will also be inspired by their host’s commitment and initiatives in keeping the earth green. When they leave Kinabatangan and return home, the participants are expected to spread the environmental lessons they have learnt to their peers.<\/p>\n
Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman will officiate at the camp.<\/p>\n