The ecological integrity of the area is, however, under threat: degradation due to land conversion and forest harvesting; habitat loss due to fire and agriculture use; stress to ecosystem balance due to hunting and drainage; to name a few. Prior to the fire episodes of 1998, both the Binsulok (12,000ha) and Klias Forest Reserves (3,600ha) boasted of the only examples of such forests in East Malaysia to have been protected. Excessive dryness brought about by a combination of human intervention and the El Nino related drought led to destructive fires which razed most of Binsulok FR in 1998 and which recurred recently. Fortunately, only about 7 percent of the northern section of the Klias FR was damaged, during both episodes. the unburnt portion now represents the only remnant of this unique ecosystem left in Sabah.
