Experts: Drop in pig population due to African Swine Fever affects Borneo’s indigenous communities

KOTA KINABALU (Jan 21): The African Swine Fever (ASF) is devastatingly affecting Sabah and Sarawak by threatening food security for indigenous communities, the natural ecosystem, and the wildlife population.

IUCN Wild Pigs Specialist Group former chairman Prof Erik Meijaard, in a letter for a science journal, claimed that the virus that had swept through domestic and wild pigs, was also a threat to centuries-old cultural practices and diets.

“ASF has devastated pig populations in Asia since 2018, but the impacts are especially significant on the island of Borneo. ASF has led to local population crashes of bearded pigs, once the most numerous large mammal species on the island, of up to 100 per cent,” he said.

Meijaard said the decline might render the species as ‘Critically Endangered’ from its current ‘Vulnerable’ status.

Cardiff University’s professor Benoit Goossens, one of the letter’s co-authors based in Sabah, was worried that the decline of the wild bearded pigs would see a huge shift in the state’s natural wildlife as they played an essential role in ecosystem maintenance and socio-cultural practices.

“As a major seed predator, the once numerous pigs played an important role in steering ecological processes in Borneo’s tropical forest,” he said.

Local hunting studies indicate that bearded pigs constituted up to 81 per cent of hunted wildlife weight in some villages.

Sarawak once harvested up to a million bearded pigs each year, while Sabah’s hunted pigs come in at about 8.6 million kilogrammes a year. Communities in both states rely heavily on pork as part of their diet.

“How can the loss of such an integral species be overlooked? Especially when there is no evidence indicating that wild pig populations in Borneo, or other Southeast Asian islands can fully recover,” said Goossens.

The letter calls for urgent research and interventions, with the participation of rural communities, focusing on preventing the spread of ASF to other regions where people fundamentally depend on pigs.

“Something needs to be done urgently. Failing to acknowledge the socio-economic significance of the virus in low-income demographics, such as the indigenous tribes of Borneo, could result in the irreversible loss of species and the ecosystems, cultures, livelihoods, and communities they support,” he said.

Ongoing clinical trials for the development of an effective vaccine against ASF are showing positive results.

However, Goossens pointed out that a vaccine was only relevant for domestic pigs.

“Vaccinating wild pigs would require a whole different setup, such as oral vaccination with baits, which is far from being ready. Also, baiting wild pigs across Borneo would be logistically hugely complex and expensive to implement,” he said.

The scientists said continued pressure on the natural world threatened human lives in ways that could go beyond zoonotic transmission of disease.

“Recognising that a virus which cannot infect humans, in its present state, could have catastrophic consequences for millions of people, especially those whose relationship with nature is profound and all-encompassing, necessitates a fundamental shift in global priorities.

“While such a change requires a massive overhaul of existing systems, it could all begin with acknowledging ASF and providing the virus and the communities it impacts with the attention it deserves,” said the scientists.

Both states have acknowledged the loss of their pig populations both domestically and in the wild, so much so that special imports were given to allow pork into the country to meet demands in Sabah.

Pork prices have also increased several times over the last two years. — Malay Mail