Page 261 - The Guide To Sarawak

THE GUIDE TO SARAWAK 259
Datuk Peter Nansian anak Ngusie, founder of the Redeems Bamboo Botanical Park, explains how his new guesthouse is built from bamboo to give visitors a feel for traditional living.
TIMBER & FOREST PRODUCTS
Timber
The timber industry
has been a mainstay of Sarawak’s economy since independence in 1963, and employs more than 100,000 people, over 10% of the total workforce. Sarawak produces a wide variety
of downstream products, including plywood, mouldings and dowels, furniture, laminated boards and other panel products, with annual timber-based exports in excess of RM7 billion.
Sarawak is making considerable progress towards achieving fully sustainable forest management, with the introduction of forest
plantations, permanent forest estates, rehabilitation projects and community managed forests, as well
as low-impact extraction techniques such as heli- logging.
Sarawak Forestry, a state-government owned corporation, is tasked with positioning Sarawak at the forefront of sustainable forest management and conservation and has been widely praised for
its conservation efforts. Forestry officials from
other tropical timber producing countries are flocking to Sarawak to learn about sustainable forest management at first hand.
Bamboo and Rattan
Bamboo and rattan are found throughout Sarawak.
Bamboo is widely used as scaffolding material, and both plants are used for furniture manufacture and basketry. The Bidayuhs
of Southwest Sarawak are renowned for their mastery of bamboo carving: Kampung Pichin (Km 25, Jalan Serian-Tebedu) has its own bamboo workshop and gallery.
The Redeems Bamboo Botanical Park at Kampung Apar, Singai, Bau (near Kuching) enables visitors to see varieties
of bamboo and rattan found in Sarawak as well as other countries, with demonstrations of the cultural and gastronomic uses of bamboo. There is also accommodation for visitors to stay overnight. See listings.