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JURISDICTIONAL SUSTAINABILITY PROFILE SABAH

FOREST NO FOREST DEFORESTATION (1973-2016) LOGGED FOREST LOW-EMISSION RURAL REGROWTH DEVELOPMENT (LED-R) DRIVERS OF Large-scale agriculture AT A GLANCE DEFORESTATION Large scale timber harvest • Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) adopted the Sustainable Transportation infrastructure Forest Management (SFM) concept & standards in partnership AVERAGE ANNUAL 40.63 Mt CO2 (2010-2016) with private sector & local communities (LC) in 1997 EMISSIONS FROM Includes above-ground & • Protected areas increased from 0.9 mil ha (2007) to 1.9 mil ha DEFORESTATION below-ground biomass AREA 73,721 km2 (2016) under the Heart of initiative POPULATION 3,870,000 (2017) Data sources: • Jurisdictional Certification for initiative established HDI Not available Socio-economic: Department of Statistics Deforestation: CIFOR & Hansen et al./ in 2015 to certify all plantations by 2025, improve smallholder GDP USD 18.23 billion (2016) UMD/Google/USGS/NASA; post-processing by EII sustainability & livelihoods GINI 0.404 (2016) • Good working relationships across government agencies, MAIN ECONOMIC Services Deforestation ACTIVITIES GDP 73 private sector, NGOs, researchers & LC, in addition to sensible Agriculture Average deforestation 60,000

2 9 financing models, ensure the effectiveness of policies & new Oil & gas MILLIONS MYS initiatives RURAL/URBAN 46%/54% 6 40,000 • Sabah strives to be internationally known for certified timber POPULATION & palm oil, promoting forest conservation 3 20,000 HUNDREDS OF KM • ~900,000 ha (54%) of forests partially or fully certified under 0 4.5 4.2 2.7 6.7 5.4 6.3 4.8 6.6 7.1 8.5 5.4 8.7 5.5 11.3 8.7 9.5 0 FSC & Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) 2001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016

SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION Jurisdictional Certification for Palm Oil is Sabah’s commitment to progress includes delineation of High Conservation Value and High ensure that by 2025, all palm oil produced in the state is certified Carbon Stock areas by Carnegie Airborne Observatory; these areas sustainable according to the standards set by the Roundtable on will be eventually classified under totally protected areas. Cataloguing Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The steering committee consists of five smallholders’ requirements towards RSPO certification, such as governmental bodies, five civil society organizations and five industry training in best management practices and applications for land title players. The initiative provides new long-term opportunities for Sabah to enhance tenure security and Free, Prior, Informed and Consent producers – especially smallholders – to access premium markets (FPIC) Guide are under development. Establishing cost effective ways worldwide, grow local manufacturing and attain a competitive edge. to achieve certification of smallholders and internal tension of the Certification on a jurisdictional level is cost-competitive and enables unilateral push for national standards and external tensions such as forest conservation and agricultural productivity to co-exist. Current European Union decision on palm oil imports are key challenges.

TIMELINE OF EU-REDD+ project contract signed ◆ Part of international agreement or forum IMPORTANT EVENTS for 3 pilot areas of Sabah Initiative launched by , & Malaysia Sabah Rural Tourism Product Unit created Sabah Long Term Strategic Action SFM introduced in Commercial Forest Reserve Plan (LEAP) 2016-2035 & Structural (23% of state territory) Plan 2033 approved & adopted for implementation

1990 2000 2010 2018 2020 2030 FORMALLY ESTABLISHED COMMITMENTS Implementation of Sustainable JURISDICTIONAL Forest Management (SFM) 1

Rio Earth Summit 19922 ◆ NATIONAL Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to UNFCCC3 ◆ 1 Manage 1.67 mil ha of commercial forests with 50–100-year licenses under SFM principles. 2 Contribute to national goal: 50% of total national landmass covered by forest. 3 Contribute to national goal: Reduce GHG emissions intensity of GDP 45% below 2005 levels. KEY INTERVENTIONS DISINCENTIVES ENABLING MEASURES INCENTIVES

ORGANIZATION(S) FUNDING IMPLEMENTING INTERVENTION & FOCUS BENEFICIARIES

NATIONAL PUBLIC1 INTERNATIONAL NATIONAL Heart of Borneo Public & private 2 NON-PROFIT PUBLIC1 sectors, NGOs, LC, INTERNATIONAL STATE PRIVATE3 PUBLIC5 Conservation & rural livelihoods indigenous peoples (IP) ACADEMIA4

Sustainable Forest Management STATE Timber LOCAL PRIVATE6 PUBLIC5 concessionaires, SFD Sustainable provision of forest products & services; forest enhancement

MULTILATERAL 7 STATE -Gunung Rara Project OTHER 5 5 PUBLIC STATE PUBLIC NATIONAL SFD NATIONAL NON- NON-PROFIT8 Integrated landscape management & sustainable revenues; PROFIT8 adaptation; forest enhancement

STATE Community-based rural tourism 9 9,11 STATE PUBLIC PUBLIC LC & IP LOCAL PRIVATE10 LOCAL PRIVATE10 Rural livelihoods & forest conservation & enhancement

1 Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment (NRE). 2 Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), WWF. 3 Palm oil companies. 4 Universities. 5 Sabah Forestry Department (SFD). 6 Timber concessionaires. 7 United Nations Development Program-Global Environment Facility. 8 WWF Malaysia. 9 . 10 Local community associations. 11 .

PROGRESS TO JURISDICTIONAL SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES & EARLY INTERMEDIATE ADVANCED OPPORTUNITIES

Integrated LED-R • LEAP aligns all sectors (tourism, agriculture, timber, oil & gas, exports & trading, government) & CHALLENGES existing policies in a vision for a sustainable economy Strategy • Inflexibility of international Spatial plan • Sabah Structural Plan provides development guidelines for all relevant sectors (housing, certification requirements on commerce, tourism, agriculture & environmentally vulnerable areas) tree plantation (i.e. restrictions • Representation of all state agencies required in technical & steering committees regarding land on conversion practices) causes use matters frustration & could considerably hamper progress Performance • LEAP sets statewide environmental (improving air & marine quality, reducing emissions, & • Imbalance in services & capacity across targets increasing protected areas), social, & economic goals for 2035, endorsed by most public agencies government agencies/department • No jurisdictional target set for reducing deforestation in areas zoned for agricultural use • Lack of funding, human resources, & Monitoring, • 3D mapping of forest, carbon stocks & biodiversity recently completed capacity to carry out & sustain long- reporting & • WWF-Malaysia & SFD developed carbon accounting methodologies for REDD+ term projects verification (MRV) • Potential misunderstanding or lack Policies & • LEAP & Structural Plan coordinate development & conservation programs of clarity in government program incentives • Majority of state policies aligned with or built on national policies implementation • Potential disruption in continuation of Multi-stakeholder • Multi-stakeholder consultation is integral in all programs & initiatives conservation program due to change governance • Good working relationship across a wide range of stakeholders (incl. through “Forever Sabah” in leadership forum) ensures ownership & continuity of programs, irrespective of political changes • Lack of transparency in MRV Sustainable • 100% certification of palm oil & timber in process commodity • SFD actively promotes internationally-recognized certification (RSPO, FSC) & provides technical & OPPORTUNITIES production financial support to producers • Sabah is exploring avenues to Indigenous • Communal land title policy introduced recently addresses equity & resource distribution; however, mainstreaming green economy, aiming peoples & local terms & conditions not yet defined to be the greenest place in Asia in terms of emissions, forest reserves, community rights • SFD resolves land conflicts by swapping high-quality forest outside reserves with community land protected areas in 2035 (LEAP) • Partners of Community Organizations in Sabah (PACOS) Trust represents IP in policy discussions & land use planning • Community-based forestry & are potential areas to LED-R finance • SFD allocates MYR 1 million (~USD 250,000) towards Jurisdictional Certification for Palm Oil improve local livelihood & sustainably • Economic instruments such as green tax, carbon tax, environmental levies, payment for manage forest reserves ecosystem services, REDD+ are being developed & legislated

CITATION | N.H.A. Bahar. 2018. “Sabah, Malaysia” in C. Stickler et al. (Eds.), The State of Jurisdictional Sustainability. San Francisco, CA: EII; Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR; Boulder, CO: GCF-TF. COMPLETE REFERENCES & DATA SOURCES PROVIDED AT www.earthinnovation.org/state-of-jurisdictional-sustainability

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