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.
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