Datuk Sam Mannan, born in 1957 in Sandakan, Sabah, graduated from the Canterbury University Christchurch, New Zealand in 1979 with a 2nd Class Honors, Division One, in Bachelor of Forestry Science. He has been with the Sabah Forestry Department since 1980 and had served in various positions over the years.
He was appointed as the Director of Forestry since 2004 and some of his key conservation achievements amongst others, include the launch of the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Concept in 1997, the certification of the first tropical forest in Sabah under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), i.e. Deramakot Forest Reserve, the launch of Ulu Segama-Malua (USM) for Orang Utan Conservation in 2006, and the implementation of Reduced Impact Logging (RIL).
Datuk Sam Mannan was awarded a “Datukship” by the Sabah State Government in 2006, and subsequently the “Johan Setia Mahkota” from the Yang DiPertuan Agong in 2009 and WWF Award for Conservation Merit in 2010.
