Maliau Basin ( ms, Lembangan Maliau) or also Maliau Basin Conservation Area, is a region in Tongod District of

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, which represents a geological

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

surrounding the Maliau River. Located around the centre of Sabah in the

Sandakan Division Sandakan Division ( ms, Bahagian Sandakan) is an administrative division of Sabah, Malaysia. It stretches diagonally from the northeastern coast of Sabah to the state's central region. With an area of 28,205 square kilometres, it occupies 38.3% o ...

, it was designated as a conservation area by the Sabah Foundation (Yayasan Sabah) in 1981. Later in 1997 the Sabah State Assembly gazetted the Basin as a ''Protection Forest Reserve (Class I)'' with a total area of 588 square kilometres. The region also features Mount Lotung (1667 metres), Maliau Falls, and Lake Linumunsut. Efforts are underway to nominate the area as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

.Kaur, Jaswinder. "Maliau: Sabah’s Lost World", ''New Straits Times'', 26 June 2006 In 2011, the Maliau Basin Studies Centre opened, a large field centre to serve as a basis for studies and teaching carried out in Maliau by naturalists, biologists, and groups of field course students (e.g., Sheffield University, Griffith University, Otago University, and the citizen-science organisatio
Taxon Expeditions
.

References

External links

Official website of the conservation area

Information on Maliau Basin

Information from Wild Asia

1981 establishments in Malaysia Forest reserves of Sabah Protected areas established in 1981 Tongod District {{Sabah-geo-stub