Abdul Karim gestures while highlighting a point during a press conference. With him are Ting (left) and Zolkipli.
MIRI (Sept 6): The status of Niah National Park’s application to be listed as a World Heritage Site under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), is now at the final stage.
In announcing this, Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said such recognition would put Miri prominently on the world map.
“Although it (proposal for Niah National Park to be listed as a World Heritage Site) is not easy, but the process has now reached the final stage.
“Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) and Sarawak Museum Department have used their own expertise to help fulfil the requirements requested by Unesco,” he said in press conference held after the opening ceremony of the ‘International Conference on Niah National Park for World Heritage Site Nomination’ at Pullman Miri Waterfront Hotel yesterday.
Adding on, Abdul Karim said the recognition of the national park as a Unesco World Heritage Site would give tremendous impact on the tourism in the Niah area, and also Miri.
“Niah is so close to Miri, about an hour and a half in driving distance.
“Once the Niah National Park obtains the (Unesco) certification, it would put Miri on the world map. That is why state government has invested quite a lot to improve the tourism facilities at Niah National Park such as building a new walkway. The latest project is the construction of a buggy trail, which expected to be completed by 2024.”
Abdul Karim also said while improving the facilities at the national parks or any World Heritage Site, the state government would ensure that such effort would not cause any damage to these protected areas.
“Otherwise, Unesco may withdraw the World Heritage Site status.
“In this regard, the contractor must comply with the conditions set by Unesco, including to not adversely affect the heritage site.
“That is our treasure. We have to do it (improvement works) very carefully because we don’t want anything that we do to affect the heritage sites.”
Replying to a question about the local folks’ preparation should Niah National Park be accorded the World Heritage Site status, Abdul Karim pointed out education as playing an important role in this and SFC had already did it part by engaging the communities.
In this respect, he understood that some local folks living around the national park had been relying on guano and bird’s nests to earn incomes.
“If the national park is a place for them (the local folks) to harvest bird’s nests or collect guano, set a control on it – they will understand.
“I see Niah National Park is ‘our new jewel’. When visitors start coming to Niah, they (local communities) can shift to other ways of earning income such as operating homestays and introducing new products to the tourists.”
Abdul Karim was accompanied by his deputy minister Datuk Sebastian Ting and SFC chief executive officer Zolkipli Mohamad Aton at the press conference.
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3Qj7IT4
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