Taxonomy for Conservation in , Exploratory discussions for collaboration between National of Natural History - Naturalis, Leiden, Netherlands, EDIT, and Sabah agencies for biodiversity studies and conservation, August 6-10, 2007 Bert W. Hoeksema1, Annadel Cabanban2, and Merijn M. Bos3

1 National Museum of Natural History - Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands 2 WWF Malaysia, Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion Programme 3 State Museum of Natural History, Stuttgart, Germany

Introduction For ATBI fieldwork by the EDIT taxonomic community in biodiversity-rich non-European countries, the Malaysian Tun Mustapha Park at the Banggi Islands was proposed by NL-TAF. From August 6 to 10, 2007, meetings and discussions were carried out with agencies in Sabah. The Tun Mustapha Park is a proposed national park and will be managed by Sabah Parks. The meetings and discussions aimed at the exploration of the feasibility of collaborative biodiversity research in Sabah national parks in general and Tun Mustapha Park in particular, by European and Malaysian researchers. Malaysia is a signatory of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and in 1998 the Sabah Government has formulated its Biodiversity Strategy. Subsequently, the Sabah government has formed a Biodiversity Council, which is composed of governmental agencies to implement the CBD’s agreements.

Tun Mustapha Park The Tun Mustapha Park (Fig. 1) has been proposed to be gazetted by the State . Sabah Parks has the mandate to manage the Tun Mustapha Park. The park is easily accessible: After arriving at international airport, transport takes about 2.5-3 hours over good roads that lead to city at the northern tip of . From there boats leave to the Islands and boats can be rented. The park covers no less than 1.1 million hectares and overlaps the border between the and the , and surrounds the northernmost tip of Borneo. The area is a conservation priority area within the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion, SSME (WWF, 2004), which is endorsed by the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia and the as well as important stakeholders. The SSME plays an important role because of migration routes of dolphins, sperm whales, sea turtles, and habitats for sea otters. In terms of biodiversity of the limestone outcrops, caves, protected primary forests, and coral reefs, few data are available. We visited the area with the WWF Malaysia boat, donated by the Malaysian government to monitor Tun Mustapha’s coral reefs. The boat is equipped for 4 divers and takes 2-3 hours from Kudat harbour to Kerakit, the largest village on . We carried out two exploratory dives on the coral reefs around Banggi Island, guided by an ex-fisherman. The coral reef assessments have just started by WWF Malaysia, and most reefs remain uncharted. WWF’s initial assessments can help assign focal sites for ATBI activities.

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Fig. 1: Tun Mustapha Park (within dotted line) with the two main Islands Balambangan and Banggi.

2 Travel itinerary:

Date Location August 6 9:30-11:00 Visit to Kota Kinabalu’s Sabah Parks office. Meeting with Dr. Jamili Nais, Deputy Director of Sabah Parks and Mr. Ludi Apin http://www.sabahparks.org.my Attended by M.M. Bos, A. Cabanban, B.W. Hoeksema, & M. Schilthuizen. 12:00-15:00 Visit to the Borneo Marine Research Institute at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and meeting with Prof. Dr. Ridzwan A. Rahman. Attended by M.M. Bos & B.W. Hoeksema. 14:00-15:00 Visit to the aquariums and coral collection of the Marine Biology Department at UMS with Ms. Zarina Waheed. Attended by M.M. Bos & B.W. Hoeksema. August 7 10:00-14:00 Visit to Kota Kinabalu’s WWF Malaysia office and meeting with Dr. Rahimatsah Amat, director of the Borneo Programme of WWF Malaysia. Attended by M.M. Bos & B.W. Hoeksema. 14:00-17:00 Travel to Kudat. 18:00-19:00 Visit to the WWF office and facilities in Kudat, hosted by Ms. Robecca Yamin, coordinator of WWF Malaysia in Kudat (Tun Mustapha Park). Attended by M.M. Bos, A. Cabanban, B.W. Hoeksema, & Z. Waheed. August 8 7:30-18:00 Visit to the Tun Mustapha Park with dives on the coral reefs south of Banggi Island. Visit of dense mangrove forests and of the caves and lime stone cliffs of , west of Banggi. Hosted by WWF Malaysia. Attended by M.M. Bos, A. Cabanban, B.W. Hoeksema, & Z. Waheed. August 9 Return to Kota Kinabalu. August 10 9:30-12:00 Visit to and meetings with Mr. Sintoiong Gelet, Deputy Director (Research & development) and Mr. Anthony Chong, Curator (Head of Conservation Section) of the Sabah Museum. Visit of the collection of Sabah Museum. Attended by M.M. Bos, A. Cabanban, B.W. Hoeksema, & M. Schilthuizen. 13:00-17:00 Visit to the collections, molecular lab and Scanning Electron Microscope facilities of the Institute for Tropical Biodiversity Conservation of the UMS, hosted by Dr. Menno Schilthuizen (UMS, and associate director of the NNM Naturalis, Leiden, Netherlands). Attended by M.M. Bos.

3 Sabah Parks Dr. Jamili Nais (Sabah Parks’ Deputy Director of Research) indicated support in principle. He is looking forward to receiving a letter of intent and a brief research-proposal. The Memorandum of Understanding should be signed by Sabah Parks. Because of possible overlap with other developments by European institutions, the Memorandum of Understanding should include a common vision on research collaborations that extends beyond the reach of the EDIT network so that EDIT’s MoU does not limit but facilitates subsequent agreements. Dr. Jamili mentioned that biodiversity inventories are of Sabah Parks’ primary interest. Biodiversity inventories are crucial for setting up conservation strategies. However, of the 1.1 million hectares of the Tun Mustapha Park, few data are available on species richness, spatial distribution of diversity, levels of endemism, and the regional role of the area. Any inventory work by international taxonomic taskforces would contribute greatly to the management of Tun Mustapha Park. Further important aspects for Sabah Parks are training, capacity building, and collaborations between Malaysian and European researchers. Sabah Parks’ collections are particularly well developed for terrestrial vertebrates and some invertebrate groups. Interestingly, Sabah Parks participates in the annual “Sabah Inter-agency Tropical Ecosystem” (SITE) seminars to communicate scientific results with all relevant Sabahan agencies. Sabah agencies (including Sabah Parks) take turn in organising these seminars.

How to acquire research permits In a nut shell: Sabah Parks’ research permits cost about 25EUR (100 ) per person per month and can be acquired as follows: 1) Provide - a cover letter along with a 3-5 page research proposal stating background, methodology, specimen collection, duplicate distribution list, proposed itinerary and a description of benefits for Sabah Parks; - CV of each applicant; - letter of support from the applicant’s home institution.

More details: http://www.sabahparks.org.my/swf/research_procedure.swf

2) - With written approval of counterpart institutions, each researcher should obtain permission by the Malaysian Government and acquire appropriate visa. This process takes 6 months and permits are issued by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime minister’s department in Kuala Lumpur. In a nutshell: Application costs (in total) about 50EUR (200 Malaysian Ringgit). In general, the Research Permit will be picked up in person in Kuala Lumpur, but this may change once successful collaboration is assured. Upon arrival in Sabah, the holder of the Research Permit must report to the Sabah Immigration Department to apply for a Research Visum and a multiple-entry visum to conduct research in Sabah. A form will be filled in by the applicant and the local collaborator/guarantor. The processing of this application will take 1 week to 2 weeks.

More details: http://www.epu.jpm.my/New%20Folder/application%20and%20approval/undertaking%20research.htm

The process of permit acquisition should be supervised by EDIT in order to assure that all occurs according to the Memorandum of Understanding and to avoid confusion. A local assistant could further assist with bureaucratic tasks.

4 WWF Malaysia WWF Malaysia has a very strong local profile and works together with Sabah Parks to assure sustainable conservation strategies for Sabah’s national parks. The Tun Mustapha Park is a conservation hotspot as it plays a key role in the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion (SSME) as endorsed by various nature conservation organisations active in SE Asia. The principal impedimentary factor of setting up conservation zones is the lack of baseline biodiversity data for the area. WWF Malaysia sees an additional role of biodiversity inventories in applications for raising public awareness. WWF Malaysia is currently probing the local opinions on nature conservation and marine biodiversity. Biodiversity inventories can be applied to the biological profile of the area to facilitate raising awareness. Moreover, during the next 2 years WWF Malaysia expects tourism to develop on the Islands of Tun Mustapha Parks, and a well-developed biological profile can stimulate the development of ecotourism. WWF Malaysia can play an important role in the organisation of ATBI activities in the area. The organisation is very well settled in Sabah’s network of scientists and institutions, which can relieve bureaucratic pressures. A possibility is to hire a post-graduate student as assistant for scientific activities in the Tun Mustapha Park (salary +/- 600EUR per month). The role of such an assistant is to supervise permit acquisition, organisation of local infrastructure, and assuring good communication between all relevant Sabahan institutions and agencies.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah Prof. Dr. Ridzwan Abdul Rahman (former director of the Borneo Marine Research Institute, BMRI, and present director of the Centre for Research and Innovation ) is very much interested in raising the scientific interest in Tun Mustapha Park and increasing student involvement in marine research. The involvement of students of the Universiti Malaysia Sabah would be part of the capacity building incentives of EDIT’s ATBI activities. In return, the university can contribute with logistics (hiring boats, air compressors, etc.), material (they have over 30 dive tanks) and laboratory space. The department has up- to-date collection facilities for marine collections, which can be listed as deposits for marine reference collections. The university’s Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ITBC) can play an important role in the co-organisation of terrestrial activities. Dr. Menno Schilthuizen (currently director of research of NNM Naturalis, Leiden, Netherlands) has been associate professor at the ITBC for six years and has set up an up-to-date entomological and malacological collection, as well as a molecular lab. EDIT’s terrestrial ATBI activities could involve ITBC students who can contribute with their knowledge on local fauna and infrastructure. Terrestrial reference collections should ideally be deposited at the Sabah Parks collections and those of the ITBC.

Sabah Museum The Sabah Museum is primarily interested in archaeological aspects of marine reserves. Currently, its activities are focussed on the recent finding of a 10th century Chinese vessel in the Tun Mustapha Park. The Sabah state has expressed the wish to set up a local exhibition in Kudat (northern tip of Borneo) on the recently found vessel and Sabah Museum would be interested in setting up this exhibition in combination with an exhibition on marine biodiversity, to which EDIT’s activities could contribute.

Other institutions For terrestrial activities in the Tun Mustapha Park, the Forestry Department of Sabah must be well informed.

5 Conclusions EDIT’s concept of All Taxa Biodiversity Inventories and the application of taxonomy for conservation match very well with the ongoing developments of Malaysia’s federal and state legislation. Moreover, the low costs of permit acquisition and optimal infrastructure make activities very feasible in terms of finances and accessibility. All contacted institutions in Sabah have indicated interest in inventory activities in the Tun Mustapha Park. The good communication between all contacted institutions forms an excellent basis for immediate applicability of inventory data for conservation strategies and raising awareness, two of the main aims of EDIT-WP7. The active involvement of WWF Malaysia with biodiversity inventories as well as with park management guarantees an optimal connection between inventory activities and their application to biodiversity conservation. If specimens are collected, duplicate collections must be deposited in Sabah. The collections of Sabah Parks (vertebrates) and the ITBC (invertebrates) seem to be most suitable for terrestrial collections, whereas the marine collections of the Universiti Malaysia are particularly suitable for the marine section of ATBI activities. EDIT-WP7 activities in Sabah can be very interesting for other work packages of the EDIT network as well. All contacted persons are actively involved in training and raising awareness, in which EDIT work packages can participate. This could include organisation of training courses by EDIT taxonomists for Malaysian students, and by contributing to raising public awareness, in collaboration with Universiti Malaysia Sabah, WWF Malaysia, and Sabah Museum.

Next steps toward establishing an ATBI network in Sabah should be the drafting of a letter of intent addressed to Sabah Parks, along with a brief research proposal including EDIT’s ATBI concept, and a description of the applicability for park management. Sabah Park’s reaction to the letter and our common vision should then be documented in a Memorandum of Understanding. This MoU will include the process of permit acquisition in Sabah, as well as guidelines for acquisition of national permits and visa. EDIT’s activities can contribute greatly to the ongoing developments of Sabah’s nature conservation and to the foundations for longer term Malaysian-European collaborative biodiversity research in the broadest sense.

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The boat, team-members and dive-equipment of WWF Malaysia at Tun Mustapha Park office.

Limestone outcrops at Balambangan Island Island.

Mangrove forests around Banggi Island. (Photo credit: M.M. Bos, 2007)

7 Contacts: Dr. Annadel S. Cabanban Dr. Rahimatsah Amat Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion Manager Chief Technical Officer, Borneo Programme WWF-Malaysia WWF-Malaysia Suite 1-6-W11 & Suite 1-7-W11 Suite 1-6-W11, 6th Floor 6th & 7th Floor, CPS Tower, No. 1, CPS Tower, No. 1, Jalan Centre Point Jalan Centre Point 88000 Kota Kinabalu 88000 Kota Kinabalu Sabah, Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia Dr. Jamili Nais Prof. Dr. Ridzwan Abdul Rahman Deputy Director of Research Director Sabah Parks Centre for Research and Innovation P. O. Box 10626, Universiti Malaysia Sabah 88806 Kota Kinabalu Locked Bag 2073 Sabah, Malaysia 88999 Kota Kinabalu Sabah, Malaysia Dr. Menno Schilthuizen Mr. Sintong Gelet Deputy director NNM Naturalis (Research) Deputy Director (Research & Development) National Museum of Natural History 'Naturalis' Sabah Museum P.O. Box 9517 Jalan Muzium 2300 RA Leiden 88300 Kota Kinabalu the Netherlands Sabah, Malaysia Tel. +31-71-5687769 e-mail [email protected] Mr. Anthony Chong Ms. Lee Yoke Lee Curator/Head of Conservation Section Marine biologist WWF Kudat-Banggi Project Archaeological Conservation WWF-Malaysia Department of Sabah Museum Kudat Field Office Locked Bag No. 2015 No. 541, Lot 2 88566 Kota Kinabalu Taman Pakka Choon Sabah, Malaysia Jalan Tamanggong Kerantud P.O. Box 389, Kudat Sabah, Malaysia Ms. Robecca Jumin Project coordinator WWF Kudat-Banggi Project WWF-Malaysia Kudat Field Office No. 541, Lot 2 Taman Pakka Choon Jalan Tamanggong Kerantud P.O. Box 389, Kudat Sabah, Malaysia

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