Local villagers to collect scientific data for coastline conservation project

What say you on the issue below?

KOTA KINABALU: Villagers near here will soon take charge of looking after their coastal ecosystem thanks to a community-based coastline preservation programme.

Called the Environmental Monitoring for Marine and Coastal Ecosystems (EMMCE), the project at the seaside settlement of Kampung Meruntum in Putatan, seeks to help the villagers learn about the importance of coastline conservation.

Under the initiative, the villagers will be trained to collect baseline data about the coastline near their village using scientific means, from coastal profiling and identifying sediment composition to identifying direct and indirect threats to beaches, and coastal mapping.

It’s official: Dr Molyneux (in blue) and Clement (fourth right) at the launching of the EMMCE Sabah Chapter.

Although the type of data to be collected is considered baseline information, it is crucial to help formulate future environmental conservation policies.

This will be of great use when tackling issues such as erosions or the effects on coastal areas following the monsoon seasons, among others, and the villagers will have direct involvement in addressing such problems.

A collaboration between Malaysia’s environmental watchdog Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) and oil and gas producer Talisman Malaysia Ltd (TML), the EMMCE was first launched in Pulau Redang, Terengganu last April.

The programme in Terengganu has begun to bear fruit, with villagers trained to observe their coastline using scientific methodology now becoming trainers themselves, teaching others to better manage their coastal ecosystem.

The Sabah chapter of EMMCE was launched here recently and both the collaborators hope to see the same kind of success in Kg Meruntum.

MNS executive director Clifford Clement said, as in Terengganu, the project will provide workshops for the community on how to gauge the health of their coastline.

“There has been no prior initiative to pool basic data for scientific reference and without that we are unable to lobby for policies to ensure the preservation of our nation’s coastlines,” Clement said.

With scientific data, which is verified by third parties like MNS and TML, the villagers will have a stronger case to highlight to the government in case better environmental policies are needed, he added.

“We can also use the data, for instance, during the marine parks annual general meeting from both sites in Terengganu and Sabah and say ‘this is what is happening to our beaches’,” he said.

Currently, about 30 Kg Meruntum villagers are participating in the first workshop and the collaborators are confident the figure will rise.

The project is scheduled to end in December next year but Clement pointed out they will have a lasting relationship with the villagers and continue to monitor their progress and the data collected.

TML, which has projects off Sabah, is contributing RM329,000 to the project in both locations for two years.

Its exploration manager Dr Simon Molyneux said TML believes in investing in the communities where they operate.

“We believe the EMMCE project will help to provide a platform for local-community involvement in preserving the health and wellness of the environment,” he said.