Sarawak leadership gets Princess Anne's nod for protecting environment

Britain's Princess Anne last night commended the state leadership for its committed efforts in protecting the environment.

She said Sarawak had set a very good example, when speaking at a welcoming dinner in conjunction with the Emerging Leaders Dialogue Asia 2016 held here from yesterday until today.

She said the dialogue being attended by 83 delegates from 20 countries would help to spread the very good practice that Sarawak had done.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem and his wife Puan Sri Jamilah Anu, British High Commissioner to Malaysia Victoria Trendell and president of the Commonwealth Study Group Conference Association of Malaysia (COSCAM) Adrain Jerome were among those present.

The Princess Royal also thanked the state government for giving recognition and support to the dialogue which she said would benefit the emerging leaders from the Commonwealth and other countries.

She said the dialogue was aimed at educating and to globally connect them, as well as to encourage leadership for sustainable development.

In his speech earlier, Adenan said his leadership would continue to make protecting the state's environment among its top priorities.

"We want to keep Sarawak's natural beauty pristine. We will continue our fight against illegal logging.

"There will be no more new plantations. We will create more national parks to save the orang utans," he said.

Adenan also reminded the delegates to include protecting the environment in their dialogues.

"If you don't protect the environment, the environment will not take care of you. It will mess things up in fact. So let us be united in doing this," he said.

Adenan said Sarawak admired Britain for its strong stance on protecting its environment with its laws and regulations, and enforcement. -- Bernama