Royal Belum state park gets prestigious CA|TS approval through WWF-Malaysia partnership
31 Mar 2023 03:43pm
The Royal Belum State Park - AFP
A
A
A
This milestone has been achieved through a fruitful partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia, which provided guidance and support throughout the accreditation process.
WWF Malaysia in a statement said this certifies the commitment of PSPC and the Royal Belum State Park in supporting tiger conservation efforts and placed Malaysia on the map as the very first country in Southeast Asia to implement CA|TS.
"WWF-Malaysia has worked with PSPC since 2017 to achieve this approval, by facilitating standards implementation and closely monitoring standards compliance.
CA|TS is a global accreditation scheme that encourages tiger conservation areas to meet a set of standards and best practices that will lead to successful tiger conservation and, where possible, population recovery,” the statement said.
According to the statement, PSPC has implemented a series of initiatives to meet the standards of compliance such as strengthening its management, staffing, stakeholder relationship, community engagement, and protection of the tiger population.
"These initiatives include intensive patrolling through the WWF-Malaysia Project Stampede, where
Orang Asli were mobilised to regularly patrol the deep forests of the Royal Belum State Park, and the setting up of the all-indigenous Jahai Asli patrol team, Menraq for tiger protection.
"Apart from that, continuous monitoring of tigers and their prey population is also being conducted by WWF-Malaysia to assess the impact of these initiatives,” it said.
PSPC director, Mohamed Shah Redza Husein was quoted in the statement as saying that they were honoured to receive the CA|TS approval and grateful for the invaluable support provided by WWF Malaysia.
"This recognition reflects our dedication to protecting the majestic and critically endangered Malayan tigers in Royal Belum, and hopefully the park can continue to be the stronghold of the tiger population in the country in years to come,” he said.
Meanwhile, WWF Malaysia Executive Director and CEO Sophia Lim was also quoted as saying that this is a big step towards creating a long-term conservation impact for the Malayan tiger.
"With the CA|TS approval, we are confident that ongoing conservation efforts in Belum-Temengor will be strengthened significantly. This also sends a strong message to the world that we are committed, and now join the likes of Nepal and Russia, to protect our tigers.
"We were delighted to see WWF-backed action in Nepal and other countries paying off: a win-win for people and nature. We are hopeful that together with PSPC, our efforts will see Malayan tiger numbers doubling or, at the very least increasing, in the near future,” she added - BERNAMA
