Forests for People

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members can control and manage the visits by providing prior infor-

mation and guidelines regarding local values and norms and provide

ecotourism programmes that incorporate Miso Walai homestay and

conservation activities. The second category is known as free independ-

ent tourists (FIT), who may arrive spontaneously at the village and are

more difficult for the KOPEL administration to manage. The average

annual rate of growth of GIT (199.9 per cent) has surpassed that of FIT

(94.1 per cent), indicating this package’s popularity. During the last

decade GIT accounted for 86.6 per cent of visitors, with the rest being

FIT. Overall visitor figures rose annually except in 2002, most likely

due to the SARS bird flu scare in South East Asia.

The success of CBFET at Batu Puteh can be attributed to institu-

tional arrangements that include:

• Friendly and cooperative work cultures and norms among

the households in the community and presence of conflict

resolution mechanisms

• Willingness of relevant Government agencies to decentralize

natural resource management to local communities

• Willingness of corporate entities to financially support CBFET

through their corporate social responsibility programmes and of

domestic and NGOs to lend a hand in facilitating forest resource

conservation activities

• Strategic partnerships among the community with relevant

Government agencies and NGOs with regard to organizing CBFET,

community user rights of forests for ecotourism purposes and the

use of volunteers to strengthen forest conservation and ox-bow lake

restoration programmes.

The establishment of KOPEL and MESCOT was moti-

vated by economic and environmental considerations.

Local youths were looking for new job opportunities that

would not require migrating to urban areas but, due to

a lack of exposure and experience, they needed external

guidance to move forward. In 1997 the WWFM and the

Sabah Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment

offered to assist by assigning a facilitator for local people

in the conservation and homestay programmes. The

group assessed the rural opportunities, shared ideas and

prioritized ecotourism as the economic activity of choice.

A proposal paper for a CBFET at Batu Puteh was

prepared to seek funding fromWWF Norway to finance

the initial activities.The society that was initially formed

was converted to a cooperative to amalgamate the avail-

able ecotourism options.

Having gained experience and established a working

relationship with the Sabah Forestry Department,

KOPEL and the local youths then formed a strategic

partnership with the department for forest fire preven-

tion and forest rehabilitation programmes.

Involvement in ox-bow lake rehabilitation occurred as a

result of an infestation of Selviena mollusta, a fast-breeding

weed species found in still lakes. Infestation can cause the

water level in lakes to drop, affecting fishery resources.

Locals developed the idea to use boats with scoops to raise

the weeds out of the lake.

KOPEL was set up to reverse the losses of forests and cultural heritage and to create

economic value and appreciation of the rainforests

Ox-bow lake rehabilitation: locals used boats with scoops to raise

the weeds out of the lake

Image: Mohd Shahwahid