News Published: 16 December 2024

Malaysia is a megadiverse country, ranked 12th globally for richness and endemism of terrestrial vertebrates and vascular plants. As of 2023, the country is known to host nearly 5,300 native tree species, about 1,300 of which are endemic and found nowhere else in the world; of these endemics, 128 are considered Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

These figures are in part the result of BGCI’s previous collaborations with various Malaysian institutions to determine the status of their native flora through the Global Trees Assessment. Examples of these include the Tree Red List Workshop for endemic trees of Sabah held in late 2018, as well as the completion of all Borneo-endemic Dipterocarpaceae assessments during the 11th Flora Malesiana symposium in 2019.

Building on this initial prioritisation, conservation practitioners and stakeholders across Malaysia (including Sabah, Sarawak, and Peninsular Malaysia) then gathered for the workshop entitled “Conservation Planning for Critically Endangered Trees of Malaysia”, recently conducted at the Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC) in Sepilok from November 11-15, 2024.

Facilitated by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and the IUCN Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CSPG), and funded by Franklinia Foundation, the workshop aimed to harness the collective experiences and expertise from each region to develop a national strategy for tackling the threats and issues plaguing Malaysia’s threatened tree flora.

The workshop was attended by key conservation organisations and institutions across the country, many of whom were also involved with BGCI in previous conservation and red listing initiatives. The Sabah Forestry Department co-organised the event, with support from Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability of Malaysia (NRES), Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), and Forest Department Sarawak; other participants included Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Sabah Parks, Forever Sabah, and Partners of Community Organisations in Sabah (PACOS); Sarawak Forestry Corporation, Sarawak Timber Association, and the Friends of Sarawak Museum; and PLANMalaysia, together with numerous state forestry departments.

The workshop began with an overview of plant conservation in different regions of Malaysia, covering relevant policies, in situ and ex situ initiatives, and community engagement. Participants then identified the major threats to their respective species and challenges to conservation in each region, before developing an overarching vision and specific objectives to address these. Working groups were formed to cover context-specific discussions, which were later presented in plenary for synthesis.

After a week’s worth of intense discussions, participants committed to a joint action plan leveraging their individual strengths and available resources for the future of Malaysia’s botanical heritage, to be published next year.