Disclose designated areas under Nature Conservation Agreement, WWF Malaysia urges Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: WWF-Malaysia has urged the Sabah government to disclose the designated areas which are part of the initial 600,000ha under the Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA).

The non-governmental organisation in a statement on Wednesday (Aug 23) said this was to avoid further confusion surrounding the NCA.

The state government’s deal with Singapore-based Hoch Standard Pte Ltd for the sale of carbon credits from state forests received heat recently from various quarters especially environmentalists and civil society organisations – WWF Malaysia included – for the lack of transparency.

Deputy Chief Minister cum state Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said the agreement inked back in Oct 2021 involving management of carbon credit sales of two million hectares of forest reserves for a period of 100 years, will proceed despite attempts to derail it.

Kitingan, who chairs the Steering and Management Committee for the Implementation of the NCA claimed that efforts to sabotage the deal was likely to serve certain people with a vested interest to take over the project.

WWF-Malaysia head of conservation Dr Robecca Jumin said in the statement the carbon offset projects present a great opportunity to Sabah.

“The first step towards this is transparency. Clear facts on the project need to be laid on the table to avoid confusion. For a start, the people need to know exactly what areas are designated in the NCA.

“We also strongly urge the government to invite Hoch Standard to come to Sabah and explain this project to the public,” said Dr Robecca.

Another criterion is the concept of ‘additionality’, a fundamental principle within any carbon offset projects where carbon credits are required to be additional – in that it represents emission reductions or removals that would not have otherwise occurred without the added incentive from the carbon market.

Dr Robecca stressed that not all categories of protected forest are eligible for carbon offset.

“In his interview on the ‘Sabah Way Forward’ platform with local radio station, Kupi Kupi FM recently, Kitingan mentioned the inclusion of Trusmadi into the NCA.

“There are two forest reserves in Trusmadi – one is the Nuluhon Trusmadi Class I Forest Reserve and the other is the Trusmadi Class II Forest Reserve.

“Will the Nuluhon Trusmadi Class I Forest Reserve also be included into the NCA?” asked Dr Robecca.

She explained that a Class I forest reserve is a protection forest where exploitative activities are strictly prohibited and under normal circumstances, it is not eligible for carbon offset because of the concept of additionality.

“In principle, carbon offset projects like the NCA must satisfy the criterion that they offer opportunities for its designated areas to contribute to emission reduction that would not already happen in the absence of the project.

“To put it simply, only forests that are meant for exploitation – via logging, agriculture development, settlements, and so on – can claim additionality by means of preventing such activities that would have been otherwise inevitable,” she elaborated.

She also noted that Dr Jeffrey’s has stated that the NCA will be measured against international standards such as the Verified Carbon Standards (VCS) and the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).

The VCS was a widely used greenhouse gas (GHG) crediting programme while the ICVCM is an independent governance body for the voluntary carbon market.

“For carbon offset projects to be truly meaningful in addressing the global urgent need to reduce the concentration of GHG in the atmosphere, it needs to genuinely contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions.

“The VCS programme requires that all its projects adhere to various principles including that it must be additional, real and measurable, conservative, permanent, independently verified, uniquely numbered and transparently listed.

“For these reasons, WWF-Malaysia urges for more detailed information on the NCA from the state government and Hoch Standard, including how additionality can be demonstrated,” Dr Robecca stressed.