UNESCO has officially designated Malaysia’s Kinabatangan region in Sabah as a World Biosphere Reserve, making it the country’s fourth site under the organisation’s Man and the Biosphere programme.
The designation was announced on September 27 following the 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves in China, with the newly declared Kinabatangan Biosphere Reserve covering 413,866 hectares of forests, wetlands and villages in eastern Sabah, connecting the Heart of Borneo transboundary rainforest conservation area with the Lower Kinabatangan-Segama Wetlands.
The reserve is home to 315 bird species, 100 reptiles, 33 amphibians, 127 mammals and more than 1,000 vascular plant species, including the Bornean orangutan, pygmy elephant, proboscis monkey, sun bear and all eight hornbill species found in Sabah.
The announcement, made during the 37th MAB International Coordinating Council in Hangzhou, China, places Kinabatangan alongside three other Malaysian sites in UNESCO’s network: Tasik Chini in Pahang, recognised in 2009; Crocker Range in Sabah, recognised in 2014; and Penang Hill in Penang, recognised in 2021. Kinabatangan becomes the second biosphere reserve in Sabah after Crocker Range.
UNESCO’s MAB Advisory Committee, which conducted the preliminary review, praised the nomination dossier’s clarity and the extensive stakeholder engagement achieved through a 22-month consultation process. The designation follows two years of work by conservation partner HUTAN to put together an evidence-based nomination dossier, coordinated by the Sabah Government’s Sabah Biodiversity Centre.
A key aim of the designation is to help safeguard cultural heritage, including the critically endangered Orang Sungai dialect, which is recognised in UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.
Officials say they hope the designation will strengthen coordination between conservation, agriculture and tourism in one of Malaysia’s most intensively used landscapes.