By Ainggararuban Ganeshan, Chen Jialong and Mohd Istajib Mokhtar
Tropical rainforests are home to an abundance of life and biodiversity, and an important part of the ecosystem that sequesters carbon. But this important natural treasure continues to face unprecedented pressures from unsustainable deforestation for timber, land conversion for agriculture and property development, industrial expansion and weak environmental and legal protections.
Forest reserves are often degazetted for economic purposes without rigorous environmental or social assessments. In response, securing international recognition through UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (“MAB”) offers an avenue for strengthening conservation and sustainable development objectives.
The 2025 designation of the Kinabatangan River Basin in Sabah as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (“BR”) demonstrates the growing relevance of this mechanism. This article analyses unsustainability issues under Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG 15), examines related legal frameworks, and assesses how UNESCO Biosphere Reserves can serve as a tool for protecting threatened ecosystems.
SDG 15 aims to promote sustainable management of all forest types and halt excessive deforestation, conserve biodiversity and protect terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, unsustainable land-use patterns persist across tropical regions.
In 2025, Papua New Guinea saw renewed controversy after reports that more than 1.6 million hectares of virgin rainforest had been designated for clearing under Forest Clearing Authority (“FCA”) licences, many allegedly misused to facilitate large-scale logging without meaningful Indigenous consultation or adequate environmental assessment. This includes non-recognition of land rights, violence and abuse of human rights, on top of negative environmental impact.
According to an article titled “The Future of Southeast Asia’s Forests” published in the journal Nature Communications, about 15% of the world’s tropical rainforests are located in Southeast Asia, and similar risks arise throughout the region, where economic incentives often outweigh conservation commitments.
In Malaysia, for example, the Sabah State assembly approved the degazettement of over 16,700 hectares of forest reserve land for socio-economic development in 2025.
Global assessments indicate that simply designating a protected area does not ensure its long-term security, as many sites remain vulnerable to ongoing threats and weak management capacity.
The WWF Living Planet Report 2024 highlights that legal protection for 247 million hectares of protected land and marine areas has already been lost in the 21st century, underscoring how Protected Area Downgrading, Downsizing, and Degazettement (“PADDD”) processes continue to weaken biodiversity safeguards.
Together, these examples reveal a clear truth: declaring an area protected is not enough. Lasting progress under SDG 15 depends on strong governance that can genuinely safeguard these ecosystems.
UNESCO Biosphere Reserves: Opportunities and limitations
UNESCO BR are established under the MAB Programme and conceptualised as “learning sites for sustainable development”. They integrate conservation, sustainable livelihoods and scientific support functions.
Research from the WWF Living Planet Report 2024 shows that conservation efforts are most effective when governance is equitable and inclusive, recognising the rights and roles of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The report emphasises that these groups have sustainably managed biodiversity for decades, and that conservation approaches which empower their stewardship consistently deliver stronger, long-term outcomes.
However, the designation itself has no binding legal force. UNESCO does not possess enforcement powers, and the term “Biosphere Reserve” is not legally protected under international law. This creates significant variability across countries.
In some jurisdictions, BR designation is embedded within environmental legislation, giving it legal weight. In others, it remains symbolic, vulnerable to political shifts or competing land-use priorities. Scholarly reviews further show a dominance of ecological studies over governance and social-science research, limiting holistic understanding of BR effectiveness.
PADDD events pose serious threats to conservation, as legal downgrading or degazettement can rapidly undo decades of ecological gains. An article titled “Expand or Better Manage Protected Areas: A Framework for Minimizing Extinction Risk When Threats Are Concentrated Near Edges,” published in Biological Conservation, demonstrates that strong and legally stable protected areas are crucial for reducing extinction risks, particularly in landscapes where human pressures are concentrated along forest edges.
Without binding domestic protections, even internationally recognised areas remain vulnerable. Thus, strengthening legal systems is essential, rather than merely expanding protected-area networks is crucial.
2025 developments: A mixed outlook
The year 2025 featured both progress and setbacks in conservation effort. On the positive side, the Kinabatangan River Basin was officially declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve – as reported by World Land Trust 2025 – covering more than 400,000 hectares of forests, wetlands and community settlements.
The area hosts species such as the Bornean orangutan and pygmy elephant and includes the cultural landscapes of the Orang Sungai communities. Its designation followed multi-stakeholder consultations, signalling a promising governance model.
Conversely, the Sabah forest-reserve degazettement, as well as widespread deforestation threats in Papua New Guinea, illustrated the fragility of conservation commitments when economic imperatives dominate decision-making. These contrasting developments underscore a core challenge: international recognition alone cannot secure lasting protection without complementary legal and institutional frameworks.
To strengthen the effectiveness of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, several key measures are essential: embedding Biosphere Reserve status within national legislation to convert symbolic recognition into enforceable protection and reduce exposure to PADDD events; strengthening participatory governance by placing Indigenous and local communities at the centre of planning, benefit-sharing and monitoring; expanding interdisciplinary research and long-term monitoring to address gaps in social, governance and livelihood dimensions; requiring rigorous, transparent environmental and social impact assessments before any degazettement decisions; and leveraging UNESCO recognition to enhance international cooperation, funding, and accountability mechanisms.
Collectively, these steps reinforce the role of forest gazettement as UNESCO Biosphere Reserves as a viable pathway to advancing SDG 15.
The Kinabatangan designation in 2025 illustrates how international recognition can mobilise conservation action and community engagement, yet ongoing PADDD events in Sabah and deforestation controversies in Papua New Guinea underscore persistent governance weaknesses. Addressing these challenges through legal codification, inclusive governance and strengthened scientific monitoring is critical to securing the long-term sustainability of tropical forest landscapes.
Ainggararuban Ganeshan, Chen Jialong and Dr Mohd Istajib Mokhtar are from the Department of Science and Technology Studies, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya
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