Climbing green heights

Editor's note: In this weekly feature China Daily gives voice to Asia and its people. The stories presented come mainly from the Asia News Network (ANN), of which China Daily is among its 20 leading titles.

In Malaysian state Sabah, the success of environmental efforts has facilitated the planting of thousands of trees and the green rehabilitation of 5,400 hectares, part of a broader initiative targeting more than 11,600 hectares of degraded forest, thus establishing a critical sanctuary that now supports nearly 400 orangutans.

Sabah is in the northern part of Borneo, which is the only island of its kind that covers three countries: Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

It is one of the two Malaysian northern Borneo states, with the other being Sarawak. Sabah was part of the British protectorate of North Borneo until 1963.

Mountainous and jungle-covered, with astounding flora and fauna, Sabah's nickname — the land below the wind — stems from its location: just south of the typhoon belt, in the equatorial doldrums. There are about 11,000 orangutans in Sabah.

The world's largest arboreal animals are thriving in Sabah's Bukit Piton Forest Reserve, thanks to concerted efforts to conserve the great ape's habitat between government agencies and the private sector.

Sabah Wildlife Department's Deputy Director Roland Oliver Niun said conservation efforts supported by organizations like Yayasan Sime Darby, or YSD, at the forest reserve in the Lahad Datu District have significantly increased the usable habitat for orangutans.

He said habitat restoration has been supported through the planting of native tree species, adding it has also accelerated natural forest recovery.

"Now, there is evidence that orangutans are able to travel through, find shelter, and access food resources in areas previously inaccessible to them," he said during the International Orangutan Day 2024 event in Sandakan, Sabah, on Aug 19.