MALAYSIAN BORNEO AND KALIMANTAN (Syllabus: GS Paper 1 – Geography)

Context: The elephants of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo and Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo have been classified as 'Endangered' on the IUCN Red List.

Malaysian Borneo

• Also known as: East Malaysia or the Borneo States.
• Island Information: It is the part of Malaysia on and near the island of Borneo, the world's third-largest island.
• Constituent States: East Malaysia comprises the states of Sabah, Sarawak, and the Federal Territory of Labuan.

Kalimantan 

• About: It is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo.
• Area: It constitutes 73% of the island's area.
• Political Division: Kalimantan, southern three-fourths of the island of Borneo that is politically part of Indonesia.
• Malaysian and Brunei Territories: The rest of the island is divided between the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak and, between them, the sultanate of Brunei.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

• About: IUCN was founded in 1948 as the International Union for the Protection of Nature (IUPN).
• In 1956, the organization was renamed IUCN.
• Headquarters: Gland, Switzerland.
• IUCN Red List: The most extensive record of the worldwide conservation status of plant and animal species across the globe.
• IUCN Red Data Book: It is a publicly available document designed to record endangered and rare species of plants, animals, fungi, and certain local subspecies found in a specific region.