Beyond Rehabilitation: The Tabin Sun Bear Project as a Landscape-Based Conservation Model

The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) leads the landscape-focused Tabin Sun Bear Project (TSBP), a long-term conservation initiative aimed at safeguarding the Bornean sun bear (Helarctos malayanus euryspilus), a keystone yet endangered species in Borneo’s tropical lowland forests. Implemented within Sabah’s 123,000-hectare Tabin Wildlife Reserve and its surrounding oil palm-dominated landscape, TSBP demonstrates how biodiversity conservation can be integrated with climate-resilient land use, aligning closely with the biodiversity-climate-land-use nexus highlighted by NEX16.

A core pillar of TSBP is its in-situ, forest-based soft-release rehabilitation approach, linking animal welfare, ecological restoration, and landscape management. Orphaned sun bear cubs rescued due to habitat loss, poaching, or human encroachment undergo a structured rewilding programme within natural forest habitats. Trained field assistants act as surrogate mothers, accompanying the cubs on daily forest walks to rebuild essential survival skills such as climbing, foraging, nest building, and navigating complex forest structures. Cubs progress through adaptive rehabilitation phases, from forest exposure and pre-weaning to weaning and increasing independence. Release is only considered once individuals demonstrate the behavioural competence and independence required for survival without human support. Rehabilitation is currently ongoing, with individual variation reflecting a gradual, welfare-centred transition towards autonomy.

Beyond rehabilitation, TSBP conducts long-term ecological research on both wild and rehabilitated sun bears to examine behavioural ecology, feeding patterns, and space use across forest–plantation interfaces. Findings highlight the sun bear’s role in seed dispersal, soil turnover, and forest regeneration as ecosystem functions critical for climate change mitigation and tropical landscape resilience. This research also informs coexistence strategies that reduce human-wildlife conflict and guide land-use planning in multi-use landscapes.

TSBP collaborates with the Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah Forestry Department, and neighbouring plantation companies to strengthen anti-poaching efforts, enhance habitat connectivity, and promote biodiversity-positive land management. By integrating rehabilitation, science, and inclusive landscape governance, the Tabin Sun Bear Project offers a scalable model for biodiversity conservation and climate-resilient land use in tropical ecosystems.